Sep '09

Written by Scott Grev | 31 August 2009

September 2009: Scott Grev’s ‘66 Fastback

My love of Mustangs can be traced back to an event over 40 years ago. I was lucky enough to accompany my mom Joyce on a trip from snowy Minnesota in March of 1969 to Hawaii to meet my dad Ells for a mid-tour R&R from Vietnam. On one day of that week, Dad rented a Lime Gold 1969 Mustang from Hertz and we drove up Waikiki Beach to Diamond Head, and then over to Pearl Harbor and the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. My memories are fuzzy (I was only 6 years old), but I still have the picture of Dad leaning against that beautiful car. It was certainly much sportier than our Country Squire

Fast-forward to 1981, when I was a freshman at the University of Colorado and 1,700 miles away from my folks who lived in Virginia. My very cool 1976 Triumph TR-7 was spending more time broken down in the parking lot of my dorm than it was on the road (but, hey…it looked good sitting there!). I was tempted to trade it in on a used Jeep CJ, but Dad talked me into going down to look at a new Mustang while I was home for spring break. Using my savings and lots of help from Mom and Dad, $6,299 put a new ’81 Mustang Ghia hatchback on factory order for delivery in late-May. Even though it had a 2.3 liter four-cylinder and a four-speed, it was a Mustang and it was mine! That car served me faithfully for four years, until a pregnant wife and summer temperatures at Fort Sill, Oklahoma with no A/C in the Mustang put me into a family car (a story that I’m sure many of you can relate to).

While I was away for 8 ½ years in the Army, Mustangs were becoming quite a family tradition. Dad and my brother, Steve, first restored a ’66 Mustang coupe (now my Dad’s car) and then a ’66 convertible (that became my brother’s car). I was extremely jealous that they both had Mustangs, and the closest I could come due to budget and free time was the restoration of a ’68 Ranchero. I left the service in ’93 and the Ranchero had to find a new home due to a ’96 divorce from the afore-mentioned wife (probably lingering issues from having to trade my Mustang!). I began to casually search for my dream car, a first-generation Mustang fastback.

While living in the Florida panhandle, I found my ’66 fastback in the Thrifty Nickel classifieds in the fall of 1998. Dad drove with me up to Florala, Alabama to check out the car. It was originally a Silver Frost C-code automatic with a red standard interior, but at some point it had been painted white (probably in someone’s driveway judging from the insects suspended in the paint) and converted to a four-speed. The seller had bought the car for his wife less than a year before, but she didn’t like the heavy clutch pedal effort and had trouble driving it. The car was mechanically-sound, so we struck a deal. For the first 1 ½ years I did little more than routine maintenance on the car, with the exception of adding an Edelbrock four-barrel carb, an aluminum intake and new springs. My brother had found some vintage Cragar GT wheels at a swap meet, and after a little horse-trading with him I put them on the car. I debated whether to take the car back to original or to make it into the Mustang I always wanted. Emotion overcame my conservative side, so a plan was hatched to restomod the car.

As I was leaving Florida to take a job in Indiana, I left the car with L & S Rod and Customs in Baker, Florida. Sam at L & S had done the complete body, frame and floor on my brother’s convertible, and I was impressed with the job he had done. I had decided to make the car look like a GT-350 on the outside while stopping well-short of creating a clone. Sam replaced the quarter panels, tail panels, a fender and repaired a little rust before painting it Candyapple Red with Wimbledon White Le Mans stripes and installing the quarter windows. We re-assembled the car 1 ½ years later and I brought it home to live with me in Indiana. Because the engine has never been out of the car, it was in need of some work. I had the top end of the engine gone through by a performance shop in southern Indiana, where they worked over the heads and installed screw-in studs, roller rockers, a new cam, an electronic distributor and coil and shorty headers.

Since re-locating to the Charlotte area and joining the CRMC in 2003, I have made upgrades too numerous to mention, mostly to improve driveability and safety. I restored the front suspension, converted to front disc brakes, installed a T-5 5-speed transmission and put a new exhaust underneath. I have a few more goodies on the “wish list”, including a new interior and some new wheels eventually.

My parents and two of my sons (Mike and Matt) joined me here in 2004, and together we have enjoyed our association with the CRMC and attended dozens of car shows. The family tradition has continued into the third generation as well. Mike has a 2001 Saleen and Matt has a 2000 GT, and both are club members and active car show enthusiasts. We all look forward to the next car show or cruise-in, and welcome every opportunity to talk about our cars, projects and upgrades!