|
In 1987, when I met my husband Dwayne, I told him that the only car I
ever wanted was a 1966 Ford Mustang. I didn't
care if it was a
convertible, fastback, or coupe. I just wanted that car. He then made me a
promise that he would someday buy me my '66 Mustang!
Well,
that someday came on Friday, August 24, 2001. Although it started a few weeks
earlier. We recently sold my husband's 1994 Ford Ranger and were in search of a
second car. Driving near our home, we stopped at a local used car dealer who
had a 1968 Mustang convertible on the lot. I was a little shocked as he talked
about getting another truck. We asked what they were asking, as the car had
been through a lot, including a fire, and had some major body work done. The
car dealer said the owner wanted $13,000. We laughed and offered $4,000 and
left our phone number. Needless to say, the guy didn't accept our offer.
When
we got home, we got online to see what the '68's were going for. We soon came
to realize that the most people were paying was around $3-4,000. So we did
some searching for a '66, as that is what I really wanted, and came across this
little gem in Charlotte, NC.
We live
on "America's North Coast" and so it was quite a little trip to drive to
Charlotte. We talked about taking a road trip and made some calls to find out
how much it would cost to truck it up to where we live from Charlotte. The
price was really expensive, so we kind of let it go. But the car was still in
the back of our minds.
Finally, on Thursday, August 23rd, we contacted the owner, and asked if he would
show us the car on Friday, the 24th. He said sure so we piled the kids in
the car and headed for North Carolina.
After a 10 hour drive, we arrived
in Charlotte. We putz'd around the town for most of the day, checked out
the trailer rental prices, got something to eat, drove into South Carolina and
then around 4:00 PM, we drove to the owner's house to look at the car before
they got home. My husband had bought a magnet to check for bondo, and
found the car is pretty good condition. We were pleased that we made
the trip.
We decided to go back into town and see if we would be able to rent a car hauler
to tow it back, but found that none were available until later that evening.
So around 6:00 PM, we called the owner, and he said for us to come on over.
The owner was asking $2,000 or best offer so we gave the car a once over, and
decided to offer the owner $1,300 cash. He took it. We told him we
would be back around 9:00 to pick it up.
We drove back into town and stopped at the U-Haul so that we could install a
hitch to be able to pull the car hauler with our van. (Even though our van
wasn't suppose to pull that amount of weight, shhh, don't tell anyone).
We installed the hitch, hooked up the car hauler and headed back to the house.
It took about 30 minutes to push her up on the hauler, as she wouldn't start.
She had been sitting for quite some time. We secured her down and headed
on home.
By this time, it was just after 9:00 PM and we decided it was probably better to
tackle the mountains in the cool of the night, instead of during the day.
We drove until 4:00 AM and then spent the night in Staunton, VA. The next
day, we drove on home to the shores of Lake Erie. It was a long
trip, but worth it. Our kids got an extra curricular field trip and we
spent some great quality family time.
Funny thing
happened when we returned to Ohio. My husband started tracing the VIN #
and we realized that this car was made the exact day I was born. It was
fate that this little beauty ended up in our hands.
She is now sitting in our back yard
waiting to be restored. We hope to get that process rolling in the next
few weeks. If you have an opinion on our project, you can Rate My Stang at this link
below.
To follow
our progress, just click Here
| 
