Blast from the past
Hey everyone, haven’t checked into the forums in quite some time. I think I started posting here while I was still in college (2004?). I’ve still got my old turd, and drive it occasionally. It’s still the same basic setup. The only things I’ve done in recent years were finding a sweet perfect set of headlights/marker lamps and I finally got the courage to take my tail lights apart to clean/polish/reseal them. Oh and last summer I did put new Cooper tires on it. The old ones weren’t wore out, just dry rotted and shook like crazy (first time I’ve had to get new tires due to age, not wear lol).
Lately my interest have been on other projects. I have an ‘87 F250 4x4 that I literally replaced the entire body on except the cab (an arguably should’ve done it too). I learned a lot about welding and fab work as I replaced a lot of metal in the cab. The same guy that painted my Thunderbird then painted it for me in his garage. It’s a good “driver quality” fun truck. It was a local truck that I’ve know since I was a kid. Dad bought it in ’06 to use as a farm truck and I got it from him after selling an antique John Deere tractor I had.
Sadly my Dad passed a couple of years ago and I was thrown into working full time and taking care of his cattle farm by myself. That went on for about a year before I gave it up and we sold his cows 😢. That was a hard day as I grew up around farming and cows. My Mom knew I was having a hard time giving up the cows and in missing my Dad, so she decided to pass his Chevelle on to me. It was quite the project as the car had basically sat idle in their pole barn for my entire life (other than I few years I got it running in my teens/early 20’s).
I got it running, fixed the brakes (went from drums to disks), new torq thrust wheels and BFG’s, and last winter had a huge project of pulling the original 350 and doing my first engine build. It’s now a 355 with 9.5:1 pistons and Edelbrock performer RPM top end. Dad always said he wished it had a 4 speed and bucket seats like his original Chevelle had, so I installed new carpet, Procar bucket seats, and the crowning jewel; swapped from TH350 auto to Muncie 4 speed! Of course when I pulled the carpet I found some small rust holes in the floor pan, so my floor pan repair skills learned on the ‘87 Ford came in handy.
I also bought a ‘14 Mustang 5.0 (6 speed) about a week before Covid hit, so I’ve been enjoying it as well. It’s stock other than magnaflow lers, CAI and a tune.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. I always really enjoyed this form and the family feel of it. Fox birds/cougars will always be my favorite cars and I’m glad we have a close nit community like this one. I’ve really noticed in the last couple of years that these things are getting sooooo scarce. It’s sad really!
I’ve got some pics on my Instagram @5.0tbrd88.... https://www.instagram.com/5.0tbrd88/
Topic: Blast from the past (Read 1435 times)
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