1968 Mustang: Somewhere in the middle.

In September of 2010 we visited my grand parents in Moore, Oklahoma. During this visit I got my first look at the Mustang in years. Now, as an adult and as the time grows closer to pick the car up and begin the journey of restoring it, I am able to see it as a project and not as a fantasy. It is not a GT500, and it's name is not Eleanor but it certainly has been my unicorn over the past 20 years. Naturally, I took some photos. Lots of work ahead...

My grandmother is going to hate that I'm posting pictures of her garage right now, but let's be honest. She's probably one of the only people reading this right now. The others will include my father, aunt, uncle, etc... everyone knows it's messy. Anyway, this is where the car has been resting for a hundred years or so.

As restoration projects go, it's not in horrible shape. It's battered, beat down and in a general state of disrepair, the interior is trashed and there are bumpers removed but it is rust free and all of the original parts are still around. There isn't anything missing! The bumper is in the corner of the garage leaning up against the wall.

The original 289 is intact, and it freely turns over when rotated by hand. Nice! We thought it would be seized. We found an interesting little... gift. It was sitting on the alternator. See below...

This is everything you think it is. A mummified rat! Sitting on top of the alternator. There is no question, this little gem died of old age.

The interior. All intact, at least the original seats are all there and can be recovered. It looks like hell and everything is dry rotted. The interior will be, by far the hardest part of this restoration, but it is still fairly straight forward because there isn't anything missing.

So there you have it! I'll post another update whenever we're loading it on the trailer sometime in September of 2011.