Alright, we’re back, part 2 of the interview with mart about his full Mustang restoration.

The last post gave you some insight into why he chose this car, who bought it for him, (Again, his wife ROCKS! Click here to see the article about it, again!), and what he has had to do to complete this build.

Here, we are going to finish the interview and here a couple of stories regarding the Mustangs encounter with other humans.

Where is it now, in the rebuild stage?

After four and a half years of hard, sometimes tedious, frustrating work she was completed. That’s every weekend I was working on the car, except for a few weeks of holidays. I also worked during the weekend and evenings during the summer while the light lasted.

Mart drove it as a completed restoration on February 21, 2016

Were there any special parts you have used?

(I have added several reviews Mart has written on his website for you to check out. Maybe this will allow you to see how good/bad or easy/hard a part is to work with. He has more than what is listed here.)

I tried to make the car stock as possible although I used some upgrades. American Autowire wiring loom, LED lighting,  front disc brakes, dual reservoir master brake cylinder, modern day replacement 2 speed wiper motor, upgraded sway bar, Monte Carlo cross brace, heavy duty export brace, 1 wire alternator, updated Holley 600cfm carburetor, Autolite replica grp 24 battery, steering wheel, custom door cards, custom fit exhaust, polished stainless steel fuel tank, lots of chrome and polished bits in the engine bay, Magnum 500 polished chrome 15″ wheels, raised white letter tires, original radio updated internally to take a smart phone or iPod connection, custom made voltmeter swap out, custom color paint job inside and out.

So, during this 4 year love affair,was there any help you have gotten? (i.e., friend(s), a garage, body shop, parts supplier, box store or online, yahoo videos that were helpful, etc.)

I looked on the Internet for things to help, and to be fair a lot of it wasn’t relevant. I needed brake diagrams, fitting guides all of which I found and eventually collated for my needs.

The experts at Mustang Maniac completed all my welding, panel work, paint job and prep work. They supplied me with steps that needed to be done and how I should do it. When I needed help for the heavy things they would help no questions. They set up my engine timings, and suspension alignment and road tested the car until they were happy to let me have it.

ALL my parts came from Mustang Maniac; everything was in stock from full panels to engine bay stickers. I picked their brains endlessly and wanted to learn. When I hear a noise from the car I pretty much have a good idea what it is now.

My wife has put up with me disappearing every weekend, supported me when things went wrong and has put up with me spending hours and hours writing about it all on my blog, https://onemanandhismustang.com

(You thought I was joking about his wife!)

I have documented everything that I could, I have also bought some great tools and some crap stuff too, everything I have used from paint stripper to car detailing products all of which I reviewed.

Ok, so, this is the end of the interview part of this post. Next are a couple of stories Mart e-mailed me to go along with it.

(From Mart) I can tell you a couple of little stories which could be a little note you can use which wasn’t really on my blog posts.

Once my car was completed it was taken straight to the Birmingham NEC Classic Car Show in November 2015. Most of the people were fantastic asking lots of questions, taking pictures and being interested in the car and how it was all done.

After the three days were finished I noticed that my voice had got considerably horse after all the talking I had done.
On the second day I had a old guy come up to me and said that the “Pony corral was not up to standard in the middle of the front grill”. I must have looked a bit confused as he said it was broke. He was correct, one of the mounts was broken, but I repaired it and you couldn’t really see it unless you looked hard at the back of it. I went on to explain that I wanted to keep as much of the car original as possible. So that included the chrome work around the glass which shows a few small signs of age, but they all shine up pretty good, as well as the Mustang corral he was talking about. I went on to explain that the badge (for the want of a better term) was the “soul” of the car and probably one of the most recognizable parts of the car, along with being a surviving original part of the car.

He disagreed and said “I should change it”, as if it was his car!

In the mean time I had a couple more guys stand with us to listen what I was saying. They agreed with me and understood where I was coming from and made their comment to say, “I think it’s a nice tribute”.

That guy’s first negative comment has stuck with ever since, so much so that at any car shows I subsequently attended when anybody looked at that corral, I wonder what they are thinking, “what a rubbish restoration” or “half a job” maybe, but they wouldn’t understand my reason unless I explained. In fact it got to bother me so much that I changed it about six months ago for a new replacement. I felt as though I had to justify why it was like that all the time, defending my decision if you like.

Yes, the new one looks nice and shiny and its not broke now. That one bloke sort of tarnished my car for me. I have kept the old Mustang corral and I intend to make a desk display out of it mounted on a wooden plinth.
That same weekend on the last day I had somebody come up to me and say I had the wrong radio aerial fitted. Correct, it’s not the correct aerial for that car, but as the original aerials never fully retracted down I wanted one that did. Any car cover for these cars has either a purpose cut hole in it or just rests on top of the aerial.

As I wanted to cover my car properly with a indoor dust cover the retractable aerial seemed logical. I eventually found one to fit and it works great. It also gives me piece of mind that if I park it up somewhere, the aerial won’t be “accidentally” bent over by a jealous person should we say.

I did tell this particular guy, I wanted it like that, being as it was my car after all. Another little fact on that note, I haven’t even switched the radio on in the car while I have been driving it, I’m more than happy to drive with the window down to hear the growling v8 as I press the loud pedal. That engine is just music to my ears and all I need, and I can’t see me ever tiring of that sound. However I do have on my phone (which plugs into the original radio that has been modified internally,) a list of classic 50’s and 60’s classic Rock and Roll tracks to play when I do, just so I can feel the era of the car even more fully. If that makes sense?
I did ask these guys at the show what cars they had, both of them had new(ish) bog standard run of the mill, euro box wind tunnel designed cars, all of which you see in their thousands. They didn’t even have a classic car of their own to talk about. Everybody who has restored a car for their own benefit and not just to make a quick buck, puts a little of themselves into that project to make it theirs, that can be anything from the color of the paint, wheels, exhaust note or just a sticker placed in a certain position. That person would have thought about all these things, trust me they really do.

This concludes the interview and stories you won’t get on his blog. This has been great and I hope, one day, to get to meet Mart in person and see his Mustang.

Make sure to spend some time at his blog, let him know you heard about it here.

To go back to Part 1, click here.