My second car was a 1967 Ford Mustang Sports Sprint. I had no idea at the time what a Sports Sprint was. Still not quite sure. I saw an ad in the classifieds for a 1967 Mustang for I think $1200. I went and looked at it. It had a big hole in the windshield like a base or rock had landed on it. The car could stand to be cleaned up a bit. I offered the guy $900, and amazingly, he accepted. After signing the papers, and exchanging the money, I asked if there was anything about the car I should know. Did the gauges all work, etc. I said everything worked great.
The car had 2/3rds of a tank of gas, so I drove it home. I was almost home when the car stalled out on a steep hill. I couldn’t get it started again. I had flashbacks of my previous car dying just after I bought it. I called my Mom, and she towed my car home. I seemed to be getting spark, and checked various things. After a while I got down under the car and knocked on the gas tank. It sounded empty. I added some gas, and tried to start the car. It started right up. I learned the fuel sender unit was bad. I bought a new one, and installed it. Many of the parts were interchangeable with a Ford Cougar which made things easier sometimes.
The car came from the factory with a 289 engine and a 2 barrel carburetor. But somewhere in it’s life, someone replace the 289 engine with a 302 cubic engine. I was told it came out of a 1969 Mustang. The transmission was a 3 speed stick. That was totally weird. It was geared high. If I stopped on a hill, I had to gun the engine, and pop the clutch or I would stall out. Second gear was only for getting from first to third. I could take the car up to 50 mph in first gear. The car ate clutches and flywheels. Something about the weird combination of engine mated with the transmission. It seemed like they would only last a year or so.
I had the car up to 90 mph a couple times, and it shook badly, like it was going to fall apart.
It was the most unreliable car I have ever owned. It the mornings after a rainy night, the car wouldn’t want to start. I think moisture would collect on the top of the coil and would short it out. I would dry it off, and sometimes get it to start. Usually after trying to start it a handful of times, the battery would be drained. Occasionally I would get a jump start. But more often, I would be push starting the car in the parking lot after an all night shift.
I had good times in that car though. I remember driving it around Mt Rainier blasting The Doors and The Beach Boys (this was in the 1980’s btw). Or driving it around Tacoma, scouting pawn shops for a Fender Stratocaster. It was a fun car to drive.
The car was destined to kill itself. The first time, a rusty control arm collapsed send the car into a 360 degree spin on the freeway. I hit the barrier on both side of the car, munching the front end. I totally redid the front end replacing fenders, control arms, sway bar, and even corroded sheet metal in the engine compartment.
The next time was when it shot a tooth like a bullet out of the differential. The rear-end locked.
But the last time was when it somehow got into second and third gear at the same time while I was driving on the floating bridge. The rear end locked, and I skidded into a barrier, and the car flipped up onto it’s side. The tranny was toast, as was the side of the car. I sold the car to a salvage yard that specialized in Mustangs.
I miss having it sometimes. It would probably get really crappy gas mileage, and cost a fortune to keep running though. Hondas are much more reliable.

Posted by Rob in My Car on May 29th, 2009 | No Comments