Nick's Original Mustang Ranch
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This is where it all started, the home of Manic Mechanic Wekiva. After the death of our '98 Jeep Wrangler, which Nick had just gotten done rebuilding a month or two earlier, we took the insurance money and purchased Nick's '67 Mustang. Ann, Nick and I went to check it out... Well, Nick checked over the car while Ann and I watched. He looked it over and under and everywhere else. Then the question, "What do you think?" It was a 200 cu in inline six, so my answer was, "If you're looking for a V8, then I think you should keep looking." Well, obviously the search was over...
This is the condensed version, mainly since the Mustang has moved a number of times since then. First to our new home in Mount Dora, where Nick bought one of those "temporary" carport tent thingies to put it under since the car really wasn't weathertight anymore. He tried his hand at repairing the rusted sheet metal he found every time he removed something else. The deeper he went, the more he found needed replaced. He soon found that every time he needed to get under the car, it was mud, not dirt under there.
The Original Mustang Ranch...
That prompted the move to the original Mustang Ranch, a commercial space Nick rented, larger than a two car garage with high ceilings. The first thing was to add some air conditoning... Well, actually, the first thing was to get the electrical working. It seems the other hot of the single phase 240v wasn't working. We made some "modifications" to the electrical panel and got it all working. With a window unit air conditioner and the electricity working properly, Nick soon had everything setup the eway he needed to begin his restoration in earnest.
He got a better welder, a MIG unit better suited to job than the old stick welder, which he ended up giving to our neighbor, Dave. There's a bit of a story there, but the short version is they have a large, butcher blocked topped, heavy metal framed table with swing out metal seats. The seats are round and made of thinner stamped metal, tack welded to what appears to be a cast iron arms that they swing out on. One of them was loose and the neighbors always had to caution everyone not to use it, for fear of it breaking off with someone sitting on it. Nick eventually ended up tack wleding it back together for them using that same stick welder. I don't think Dave ever did end up doing anything more with it though.
Anyway, now that Nick has a better welding rig, he has to find a shielding gas supplier. He's back and forth with whether to buy his own bottle or rent theirs. I don't remember what he decided, but he tells me not to forget to turn off the bottle when done welding. At least, not if you want to have any gas left the next time you want to weld that is... He makes great progress, both on the car and "improvements" to the ranch, like better lighting and more tool boxes and such. Eventually he gets to the point where rather than patch the floor pan back together piecemeal, he decides to replace the entire thing as a unit.
He fashioned a wooden frame to mount the body shell to so he could "tilt" it up off of the suspension to afford much better access for working on the floor pan. First he had to remove the doors and weld supports in place to keep the body rigid. I would take a run over there with him after dinner every now and again to help with whatever he needed help with, but for the most part, he was self sufficient. He rigged a remote controlled winch to one of the beams over the car and connected it to the tilt frame to allow him to raise and lower the body at the push of a button! That's my boy! Well, he's a man now, but you know what I mean!
Media blaster? Everything covered with media dust? A/C not capable enough? Much more I can't remember at the moment. At some point he actually started driving my F150 most of the time, like it was his. At least he was very possessive of it, especially when his sister wanted to borrow it. But that was more like every time he'd put gas in it, she'd borrow it and then return it on empty, so can't really blame him there. All I know is the more the two of them used it, the more dents appeared in it...
Eventually he added another Mustang during his stay there, a '72 or '73 Mach One, I can't remember which.
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The Now One And Only Mustang Ranch...
Finally we moved both of them Mustangs to the now one and only Nick's Mustang Ranch, their current home. He bought a house of his own with a big two car garage and an attached single car garage! Over time he added a lift to the detached two car garage. I've helped him when I could, but he's really very self sufficient. I am very proud of Nick. He has stuck with it and continually progressed on his '67, albeit with other things taking priority over it at times. He is doing what I only wished I could do when I was his age... Talk about living vicariously through your children!
More to come, so stay tuned...
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