The '71 Sportsroof

Another Mustang to look at today. The photos in the ad looked OK but I was weary because the owner seemed a bit dodgy. He also acted funny when I asked him for the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number). Again I brought a friend and my camera. It's very important not to rush things so I walked around the car 20 times and looked for nearly an hour. Ask about everything and look everywhere! In the end the owner took me for a spin as well. It seemed to drive OK.

So this was a '71 Sportsroof. Nice model actually, do not confuse it with a Mach 1. It had a smaller engine in it with which I wasn't too pleased about. A muscle car needs... muscle, yes.

Another thing I noted on the door sticker was that this car was actually exported to Switzerland straight after production. Just imagine through how much snow and salt it's been driving! These American cars do not exactly have great reputations when it comes to rust you see...

But then when you look real close you come across all these funny things. So, you remove rust, weld in a new piece but you don't weld it completely closed? And then you leave it to rust even further? Obviously you don't give a fuck about the car then...

The corner of the door was rotting away so bad that you could stick your finger in all the way. Seriously bad! There were other bits of rust in very funny places as well.

And then this little hole. When I pressed just underneath, water came out. There was water in the window sill. I mean, nooooooo!

This was so not going to be my car. Real pity. I felt screwed because the photos in the ad were obviously from way back when this car wasn't such a pile of shit...

Neeeeeext!

The baby blue hardtop

So I'm out there, looking for my own car now. I'd love a '73 Mustang, not necessarily a Mach 1. There are not too many Mustangs for sale that are in drivable condition.

I saw an ad for a '73 hardtop and today I went to look!

That's it. Not looking as hot as in the pictures with the ad. When we arrived I just saw the owner drying the back window with a towel, on the inside... Red alert!

So I really took my time inspecting the car. I brought a colleague as backup and I photographed all the bad things I came across to have another look when I came back home. This crack in the windshield didn't make me happy.

Rusty pockets in the trunk...

Inside it smelled damp. And you could see that it was damp because there was condensation on the inside of the meters. That seemed very bad to me! Another big disappointment.

Apart from rust in bad places the interior wasn't in great shape either. This piece is hard to replace I believe. My colleague and I also think that this car was involved in an accident that caused this crack because the hood of the trunk was funny as well. It was out of alignment with the rest of the body. Very odd indeed.

I had seen enough to know I wanted to pass on this car. It's good for someone who wants to buy it for maybe 2000 and then spend a lot of money on a full restoration but I don't have the knowledge or place for something like that.

I felt a bit crushed after my first viewing, bad start.

Got my license!

Today I passed my Dutch driving test! I'll pick it up in two weeks because first I'm going on holiday for 2 weeks :-)

How it all started...

Classic or iconic cars have always had my interest. Simply because often they are just works of art. They are the "they don't make 'm like that no more" type of car. Beautiful and/or powerful. But I never had my license so never really thought about buying my own some day.

So, many years ago when I lived in Australia and where I got my first driver's license, I visited a "Show and shine" where I fell in love with this Mustang:

I had no clue about Mustangs at the time, now I know it's a '73 Mach 1.

I moved back to Amsterdam and today I flipped through some old photos and came across this Mustang again and I posted on Facebook that one day when I was "big enough" I'd get one and an old friend (Marco Drost - Thanks!) said "well, you may not wanna wait much longer coz you are pretty big already". "Big" referring to my age btw ;-)

This made me think. I had some money and I figured what good is money in the bank? And I felt I deserved something nice after the last couple of years. And also, I just got my license and what good is a license without a car? And if you're gonna get a car, it's gotta be something awesome in MY opinion...

So I want to get and keep/restore a Mustang. And that's what this blog is about, hope you like it :-)

PS: I do not actually have my Dutch license yet, but will have that soon! ;-)