Starting with a solid original car, this 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 was rotisserie restored and then built into a tight and fast pro-touring monster. The builder started by stripping the Ford down to bare metal and then building out from there with lots of tastefully placed details and quality pro-touring parts. Thousands of dollars in parts receipts accompany the car for your records and the rest of the proof is in the pudding.
In today’s world if you want to build a nice driving Muscle Car, you have to start with the suspension and brake components. Without a solid foundation, you’re back to square one – lots of power with scary handling and brakes that make you wish you went to church last Sunday. All of that old technology was scrapped on this car and replaced with components that actually perform. The front end received a tubular a-arm kit with four way adjustable coil over shocks. Completing the front end is a precise and crisp power rack and pinion kit. No more of that sloppy gear box feel and hello performance! The rear end of the car is now complete with a Heidts 4-link with four way adjustable coil over shocks. The rear end is a Ford 9" with 31 spline Moser axles, and a True-Trac Posi diff with 3.50 gears. Urethane bushings were used between all of the steel which in combination with the upgraded components provide a nicely refined ride. To complete the chassis, subframe connectors were used to stiffen up the uni-body and 4-wheel disc brakes were added with a Strange mastercylinder.
Now that the antiquated suspension components are gone, it time to work on the heart and soul of the car – the 460 big block with gobs of torque and a snappy top end. The 460 1970 "DOVE C" code block was taken down to bare bones, boiled out and then built up from the bottom. The engine builder used an Eagle 3.850 stroke crank, gave her 2.19 int stainless steel valves – 1.78 exh stainless steel valves, .030 SpeedPro flattop pistons, Comp Xtreme cam 584/588 lift 284/296 dur, a Comp lifter kit, Comp springs, custom headers, etc… To get a big hot spark, an MSD 6A box was used and for good measure and looks, a billet distributor was thrown in. On the front of the motor we see March pulleys and a 28" wide aluminum radiator to keep things nice and cool. How does all this sound you ask? Big and fat running through the FlowMaster exhaust! This motor makes tons a torque and great horse power and would destroy a factory clutch set up pretty quickly. That’s why a high performance McCleod clutch and Ram billet flywheel set up was used. It has nice strong engagement but it’s still user friendly on the road.
So we have a modernized coil over suspension, a thumping 500 plus horse big block engine, more than adequate cooling capabilities, 4 wheel disc brakes, but what about the transmission?? Well, what if we told you that the builder used a standard Ford transmission? That’s right, you would punch our lights out. Guiding that power-house-motor through the gears is a brand new Tremec TKO 500 transmission with a .68% overdrive gear. This top loader transmission is the gear box of choice for a modern muscle car build. The shifting is smooth and crisp, and with the overdrive 5th gear, this Pony car cruises out like a modern sports car on the highway. This car has the best of both words – quick, off-the-line acceleration and easy going, low RPM highway driving.
Need we say anymore?
You might win some shows, or you could drive her cross country on the Power Tour but neither of these things will happen if you sit on your hands, or consult your better half too many times. Valentine’s day is over and it’s time to do something nice for yourself.
