Mustang II Network - Car of the Month - November 2006

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Car of the Month - November 2006

Steve Howatt's 1978 Coupe

	Last fall I purchased my first Mustang II. I have always wanted a Mustang since I got my drivers license (over 20 years ago), but never found myself at a point when it made sense to get one. Last fall, I finally decided that I would pick up a Mustang as a project car. It was to be a hobby, a fixer-upper, and lastly something that I could drive around in the nice weather. I started looking for Mustangs, without knowing anything about the MII. I was never a big fan of the '64-73 muscle cars, and was somewhat partial to the Fox bodies (mid to late '80s, especially), but as I studied up on the various years, I gradually became more interested in the unique 74-78 Models. I was able to find a decent project car, that required no structural work, and had good floor pans, etc....something solid to start with. It is a '78 coupe, with about 87,000 original km on it (52,000 miles). The car has an original V6, 2.8L engine, with a three speed automatic transmission. I began with a cleanup of the engine bay, including freshening up the valve covers, air cleaner, etc with a little powdercoating. Then I tackled the interior - new carpet was about all it needed, but I also picked up a console (thanks to a member on your website), and installed a new CD player and speakers. The body needed a little work - wheel wells and lower door skins needed replacement - other than that, little bodywork was needed. A rear spoiler (off a junked Sunbird) was added as a simple mod. The car was painted in the winter, using 'Sonic Blue' base and several coats of clearcoat. Finally, since the budget was blown, rather than purchase new wheels, I blasted and powdercoated the stock wheels. So, I am now the proud owner of my first MII. I plan to keep it, and add to it regularly... not sure what the next step will be, but I am interested in the 5-lug conversion as well as the 302 conversion Thanks for keeping the website - I could not have done this without the help from it's members.

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