Hello fellow Corral members, my name is Don and ive been on Corral since 1996 but became a member in 2009.
I thought it was about time to make a build thread about my beloved 1986 Mustang Coupe that I've owned for 32yrs.
It was my first car I bought when I was 16 in 1990. I'm almost 48 now in a few months and I love it still as much as I did when I was 16.
Now for some history on my love for Ford's and especially my love for Mustangs. Ford trucks is all my Grandfather's and my dad would drive. Both my grandfather's were farmers and totally depended on those trucks daily for heavy abuse. My dad was a John Deere master diesel tech for 40yrs and only drove Ford trucks. He was a field tech which ment he had to go repair farm equipment that was broken down in the field. Seen his F150 4×4's come home muddy as hell a many a day from having to go out in the middle of a muddy field to repair a tractor or cotton picker.
My love of Mustangs started around 6-7yrs old. My moms brother, uncle Jimmy, had a Wimbledon White 1970 Boss 302! We lived next door to my grandparents since we lived on a huge farm and on every Sunday after church he came by in that Boss 302. I vividly remember staring at those Boss 302 hockey stripes at eye level then..lol. But it was the rides he would take us on that are truly seared into my brain till death. I remember seeing that Sun Tach hit 7500rpm on every powershift he performed thru that T handle Hurst shifter. Watching that shaker hood scoope rock back and forth when he would punch it was awsome. It was a rare Dragpak Boss with oil cooler and 4.30 geared Detroit Locker 9in. It was destroyed in a crash but he saved the block and was given to me before his death, more on the block later.
Now around 12-13, I started subscribing to every Mustang or Ford magazine there was. Even Hot Rod and Popular Hot Rodding. Couldn't get enough of classic Mustangs and a 1970 fastback is what I REALLY wanted for my first car. But hopes and dreams became gloom and doom real soon. See, this was 1989 and the 60's-70's muscle car market was starting to explode. I had saved up $2500 over 3yrs working all kinds of odd jobs, mostly on the farm or for other farmers,I could drive and disk land with a big ass John Deere tractor at 13rs old. So me and my dad went looking for a 70 fastback, for an entire year we went and looked at basket cases for my $2500 budget. My dad would NOT let me drag home what he called straight junk in his eyes. It needed to be a driver, not a restoration project. My hope for a Mustang to be my first car was looking slim to none. But that all changed soon.....
I landed a job as a painters helper at a local Chevy dealerships body shop in 1990, a few months before I turned 16. The painter I worked for his name is Scott, real good painter and taught me a ton about painting cars. I was his helper and he paid me to sand and tape up warranty paint jobs. I sanded a lot of damn peeling Chevy Corsica's and Beretta's..lol. Scott was the original owner of a bright red 1986 5.0 coupe. He bought it new right out the Navy in 86. One day he came into work needing to borrow $2000 for a family emergency situation and no one was willing to help him out,even the dealership. So I offered him the $2000 for the Mustang...at first he was hesitant because he really didn't want to sell the mustang since he bought it new. But a couple hours later with title in hand,it was mine.. this is 2 days after I bought it...
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I thought it was about time to make a build thread about my beloved 1986 Mustang Coupe that I've owned for 32yrs.
It was my first car I bought when I was 16 in 1990. I'm almost 48 now in a few months and I love it still as much as I did when I was 16.
Now for some history on my love for Ford's and especially my love for Mustangs. Ford trucks is all my Grandfather's and my dad would drive. Both my grandfather's were farmers and totally depended on those trucks daily for heavy abuse. My dad was a John Deere master diesel tech for 40yrs and only drove Ford trucks. He was a field tech which ment he had to go repair farm equipment that was broken down in the field. Seen his F150 4×4's come home muddy as hell a many a day from having to go out in the middle of a muddy field to repair a tractor or cotton picker.
My love of Mustangs started around 6-7yrs old. My moms brother, uncle Jimmy, had a Wimbledon White 1970 Boss 302! We lived next door to my grandparents since we lived on a huge farm and on every Sunday after church he came by in that Boss 302. I vividly remember staring at those Boss 302 hockey stripes at eye level then..lol. But it was the rides he would take us on that are truly seared into my brain till death. I remember seeing that Sun Tach hit 7500rpm on every powershift he performed thru that T handle Hurst shifter. Watching that shaker hood scoope rock back and forth when he would punch it was awsome. It was a rare Dragpak Boss with oil cooler and 4.30 geared Detroit Locker 9in. It was destroyed in a crash but he saved the block and was given to me before his death, more on the block later.
Now around 12-13, I started subscribing to every Mustang or Ford magazine there was. Even Hot Rod and Popular Hot Rodding. Couldn't get enough of classic Mustangs and a 1970 fastback is what I REALLY wanted for my first car. But hopes and dreams became gloom and doom real soon. See, this was 1989 and the 60's-70's muscle car market was starting to explode. I had saved up $2500 over 3yrs working all kinds of odd jobs, mostly on the farm or for other farmers,I could drive and disk land with a big ass John Deere tractor at 13rs old. So me and my dad went looking for a 70 fastback, for an entire year we went and looked at basket cases for my $2500 budget. My dad would NOT let me drag home what he called straight junk in his eyes. It needed to be a driver, not a restoration project. My hope for a Mustang to be my first car was looking slim to none. But that all changed soon.....
I landed a job as a painters helper at a local Chevy dealerships body shop in 1990, a few months before I turned 16. The painter I worked for his name is Scott, real good painter and taught me a ton about painting cars. I was his helper and he paid me to sand and tape up warranty paint jobs. I sanded a lot of damn peeling Chevy Corsica's and Beretta's..lol. Scott was the original owner of a bright red 1986 5.0 coupe. He bought it new right out the Navy in 86. One day he came into work needing to borrow $2000 for a family emergency situation and no one was willing to help him out,even the dealership. So I offered him the $2000 for the Mustang...at first he was hesitant because he really didn't want to sell the mustang since he bought it new. But a couple hours later with title in hand,it was mine.. this is 2 days after I bought it...
