Buyer Beware — It’s a Jungle Out There By David Marin This is one of those stories where you’re tempted to start in the middle, jump to the beginning and then to the end, then back to the middle and, oh well, we’ll start at the beginning. That takes us back to the last century when my daughter, Jessica, developed a yearning in her heart for a Mustang. This thoroughly understandable affection afflicted her long before she had a license to drive and soon a tiny herd of non-descript Mustangs trotted, or more aptly, galloped through Jessica’s life. Let’s see— there was the ’67 coupe that was T-boned and totaled, a hot little red mid-1980s T-top rocket that was side swiped, also totaled, and a later model coupe that experienced more than its share of injuries before, ultimately, being (you guessed it) totaled. Of course, none of this is to indicate in any way that sweet, wonderful Jessica was at fault in any of the preceding “difficulties”. Not the girl that enlisted in the United States Coast Guard at age 18, served in the Persian Gulf and all over the Pacific, earned a Coast Guard college scholarship, earned a Bachelor of Science degree (Magna Cum Laude, thank you very much), then went on to Officer Training School at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, graduating (with honors) and earning a commission as an officer in the Coast Guard. Suffice to say that Jessica seems to have frequent, or at least occasional bouts of “lead-foot-itis”, which has caused her driving record to be blemished with, shall we say, a handful of speeding tickets. In any event, the 90 or so new Coast Guard officers, Ensigns, to be precise, were offered, upon graduation, a ridiculously low interest rate on a new vehicle loan. Being the product of a gearhead household, naturally, Jessica interpreted “new” as a “different” car and not necessarily a “new, as in 2009”, or whatever. The phone rings and Jessica says, “Dad, find me a car.” Maybe I shoulda hung up. Instead I immediately related a classified ad that had just come in, a 1968 Mustang Fastback that had been built as a clone of the 1967 Mustang Fastback “Eleanor”, as featured in the movie “Gone in 60 Seconds” starring Nicholas Cage and Angelina Jolie. The ’68 was what you’d call a “soft clone”, similar to the movie car, but without all the body mods, stretched hood, and such. Talking to the owner brought forth the information that the marker lights had been removed which essentially made the ’68 a ’67, the car was powered by a reportedly “fresh” 351 cubic inch Cleveland engine (which turned out to be a 351 Windsor), five speed manual transmission and a 9-inch Ford rear end. The car was partially disassembled: the interior needed to be installed as well as assorted trim and other odds and ends. Too, there was a “minor” wiring issue that needed to be addressed, but the owner could and would take care of all that. Numerous phone calls ensued, photos were e-mailed, more conversation, negotiation, and an agreement was made. Then came a “post agreement” phone call. Seems that the reported “minor” wiring issue had evolved and become a major wiring issue. More conversation and negotiation and the agreement was that our resident wiring expert, Mike Muromoto would commute the 100 miles round trip and would resolve the wiring issues. Meanwhile, payment was made, the title transferred and there was a preliminary plan for Mike and me to deliver the Mustang to Jessica in Long Beach, California, her new duty station. So what had started as a minor wiring issue, became notable wiring issues requiring numerous “fixes” and ultimately became a complete rewire, yarding out everything and starting from scratch. The one highlight in the scenario was, when confronted with the need for a complete wiring kit, we turned to Painless Performance, my old buddy Adrian Murray and his cohort Gary Wright. Hey, finally, something that is what it’s supposed to be; Painless offers “painless” wiring kits for virtually everything, from top fuel dragsters to classics, muscle cars and street rods. The kits cover all the bases and the instructions are simple and straightforward. Ultimately, the rewire of the Mustang was completed and the car was transported from Seattle to Long Beach, California. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the happy ending for which we had hoped. There were issues and resolving those issues led to unhappy discoveries. First, the 351W engine turned out to be less than fresh. In fact, it turned out to be a rather tired powerplant with multiple oil leaks, a cracked intake manifold, a cobbled-up carburetor; the list goes on. Oh, yes, then there was the 9-inch Ford rearend; fixing a small leak in the housing revealed that the 9-inch was actually an 8-inch. Hmmm. What can we say? We’re not naming names or casting blame because we believe that, perhaps, the previous owner was simply passing on inaccurate information that he believed to be true. The issues are ongoing and the car, while drivable, isn’t right. Jessica, while disappointed, is working with a specialist in Long Beach, California. There is a repower in the car’s future, the question is what? Jessica’s first inclination was one of the Roush 427 cubic inch, 480 horse screamers. But that carries an “out-of-budget” price tag and would require a new rearend to accommodate that kind of horsepower. Sanity and budget make a 351 crate mill, or something along those lines, the probable choice. The point of all this is, buyer beware. The seller may be the nicest and most well-intentioned guy in the world. He may sincerely believe that everything he tells you is gospel and may be as “shocked” as you when unpleasant discoveries are made. A simple compression check, a closer inspection of the rear end, a little more homework, abundantly clear now with 20/20 hindsight. On the positive side, Jessica has the car of her dreams and has once again learned that nothing worth having comes easy. 427 Roush? Hmmm. Remember... The print version of CruZin' Magazine contains the content above, plus MANY features not available online. Pick it up at your local newsstand, or subscribe today and never miss another issue! Home | Club Roster | Calendar | Classifieds | Connections | Archives Subscribe | Advertise | Interact Copyright, 2005. Island Enterprises. All Rights Reserved.