When you see a restored classic gliding down the road, one of the first things that come to mind—at least if you’ve been curious about such machines before—is all the elbow grease that went into bringing the vehicle back to life. And if that machine happens to be a ’67 Mustang, as is the case with the toy sitting before, the joy is guaranteed.
1967 was a big year for the ‘Stang, marking the first major revamp of the original car. And while the main changes involved enlarging the vehicle for the adoption of big-block muscle, the V8 on this unit is the base 289 (4.7L), which delivered a trusty 200 hp (203 PS) back in the day.
Still, this is enough to get us excited and with the Mustang having been given a new lease on life earlier this year, its saviors wondered whether the motor would be a proper candidate for a resurrection.
The crew over at Iron City Garage found out that the Blue Oval machine had spent more than three decades on the reserve bench and set out to grab this from Scottsville, New York. With this being an original owner vehicle, it wasn’t left at the mercy of the weather, but, even so, sitting inside a bard for that long meant there could be trouble.
Fortunately, the first sign brought a smile to everyone’s face: the engine turned over.
Here’s a 1965 Mustang that jumped over to the Mopar side!
Now, once the vehicle was brought into the specialist’s stable, some basic work was performed, with the steps involving an oil change, reworking the ignition, getting the carb to do its job once again as well as some details outside the engine, such as the hood hinges and the trunk latch.
From that point on, a gasoline-loaded bottle was all the 289 needed to sing its patina song once again—is this Billboard Top 100 material? Check out the YouTube vid below and decide for yourself.
The rust doesn’t seem to run too deeply, but it’s clear that the red pony will still require plenty of work before showcasing a shine, whether we’re talking about the exterior finish or the cabin. Then again, there’s no way of stopping the project now, is there?
