Mustang II story ??

DUVAGA · 07-26-2006

I have a 67 Mustang coupe I intend to give to my son soon. It's alot of fun to drive and brings back memories of my first Mustang. People probably don't expect to see Mustang II kill stories, most don't even consider them real Mustangs. Anyway...
I was 19 when I bought a 78 coupe for $100 with no motor/trans, just to play around with. I bought a used 302/C4 from a friend who only knew that it was out of an "early Mustang", slapped it into the car without any rebuild, built my own dual exhaust, bolted on an aluminum manifold and Holley 650. I stripped off everything I could to reduce weight but still make it look stock outside, I figured the power/weight ratio would make a fun car, and I only spent less than $500 total! The car was a complete sleeper, looked like a granny car at best. Was baby blue with the original 14" skinny tires w/ hubcaps.
So my first day I got it running, I took it to the local unnofficial 1/4 mile backroad. When I pulled up to the line, 3 guys that were sitting by the roadside in a early Chevy Nova started laughing and pointing. I don't know what engine he had, just remember it was definately a V8 and sounded real good. I waited for the driver to pull up to the line and off we went. This was my first time road testing it, I fully expected to get spanked. I scared myself when I got on it and the cheap 2 ply tires screamed and lit up, so I backed off and the Nova jumped out ahead of me. I feathered the gas until it got traction and it just started pushing me hard into the seat. When it hit 2nd, it broke traction again and I had to get out of it again. I was surprised when I still ended up beating the Nova to the line.
I drove that car for a couple of years, never did anything else to it until it was eventually stolen. Wasn't much for impressing the chicks, but hey, I was poor. It never really bothered me to drive such a wussy looking car because I knew I could smoke the tires for about a block any time if I wanted to show off. I could give more than a few stories of embarrassing so called muscle cars that were all show but no go. I'd get beat sometimes, but I could still embarrass them by ribbing them on how my $500 granny car gave their money pit a good run.