Great Driver Quality car with all mechanicals rebuilt

1973 Ford Mustang Deluxe interior Additional Info:

1973 Mustang Convertible.
351 Cleveland motor total rebuild, now a complete roller motor with a Modern Tremec 5 speed, modular front end with coilovers,power rack and pinion steering, modern A/C, multiplelayers of soundproofing and heat shield from top of firewall to trunk. 3 point seat belts for safety. This car is a blast to drive, will rev to 6300rpm (after brake-in) and smoke the tires whenever you dare. Mild mufflers sound stock until you plant your foot to the floor.


This has been my project since 2012. Situations change, so now it is time to pass it on. It was built to be a real driver- I wanted it to handle better than stock, but look as close to stock as we could.
Car had a fairly solid body when I bought it and ran "ok". Turns out the front frame rails were rusted thru, and the inner fenders were patched many times. We decided to start fresh from the firewall forward. Only parts saved were the outer fenders and hood. New Dynacorn one piece inner fenders/frame rails on both sides, as well as new torque boxes fabricated. I have always been a "keep it stock" person- but it did not seem to make sense with my limited budget to spend almost as much money for original parts than it would be to upgrade the performance. So we added a new front suspension setup from Rod and Custom with a power rack and pinion set up and new power steering pump. New disk brakes up front, new booster, master. I did replace the rear suspension with new repro parts- springs, shocks, all bushings etc. The orig C6 was not always shifting right, so we installed a Modern Drive Line new T5 setup instead of spending for a rebuild on an old 3 speed auto. A new manual 5 speed and all new components- bell housing, clutch, cables- pedal, Hurst shifter etc. New drive shaft and all u-joints. New Air conditioning that blows very cold. To accommodate the air we re-wired the car completely with a American Auto Wire kit. The shop took it upon themselves to add a set of Dakota Digital gauges- to make the wiring easier for them I suspect..... They work great- and I am ok with them, but I would love to have the stock ones back. Stock gauges will all be included in sale- they all work except for the volt gauge. Original Speedo shows 73k miles, I have approx 2k on the new gauges.
The last item done was the motor. I was not happy with the performance after all this money spent on the above work- so I took it to Forte's Classic Garage in Largo Fla- look them up- they do great work and specialize in 351 Cleveland motors.
Engine is spectacular!!!! This turned out to be an original 4v, 4 bolt main engine. Bored 40 over, crank re-done, and heads completely rebuild with all new components. It is now a complete roller motor. Stock exhaust manifolds bought on ebay were sent to the mach. shop to be sure they were flat, H pipe with mild turbo dual mufflers. New Edelbrock carb with electric choke and intake manifold. High perf. aluminum water pump, new high torque starter. New 165amp alternator so the air and dual cooling fans would be no issue- also plenty of amps left for a great stereo. New Champion 3 row aluminum radiator with dual Spal electric fans to keep the Cleveland cool.
NASA style hood is original- per Marti report- I added the working ram air intake. Also found a set of original valve covers- the originals were replaced with aftermarket crap before I came along.
This car is very reliable- I have put approx 2000 miles on it since the engine rebuild with no issues. It went back to the shop after the break in to get serviced, and now with a little more miles on it it runs better every time I take it out.
The paint and power convertible top with full rear glass was done approx 4 yrs ago. Car has been in garage since then. I made a mistake doing paint first- I stupidly thought I had a pretty good car that just needed paint and suspension. As a result I have a great PPG paint job in the original Blue, that is now nicked up from a few years in and out of 2 shops. It was topped with 3 coats of PPG clear so we could color sand- but the sanding part never happened. We prepped for paint very well- Stripped to bare metal. I am not a paint expert, the car has an epoxy primer then a sanding primer- did a lot of primer sanding at a friends body shop- so the car really has minimal orange peel. The plan was modified to touch up the dings after all the other work, then color sand. I have not gotten to that. But- this is a driver, and I would say the paint is above average for a driver just how it i
New 3 point seat belts.New carpet, new door panels and dash. Dash is the more expensive original tooling repro.Floor has multiple layers of soundproofing and heat shield. The floor and especially the rear seat was just too hot with just carpet on a normal day. The entire floor and rear seat stays cool to touch now, even after a good drive on a hot day here in Florida. Makes the air even more enjoyable!!
Frame rail bracing connects front to rear by Tin Man fabrication. These are welded in place and make the entire car extremely stiff- you can feel the difference from stock when driving. Press on the car and bounce it around by the fenders- there is no wallowing from front to back- very solid.
All chrome replaced, including the convert. top trim.All rubber from hood, doors, windows to trunk replacedBoth rear tail light assemblies completely new as well as the 4 marker lights, grill, grill SS molding, all emblems.Power top works with no issues and is about 3 years old. Full glass rear window. Never outside, still looks new.Top well liner in place and in great shape.Original 8 track am/fm stereo in dash- lights up, but I do not have it currently wired up, also no speakers in the doors. Was going to do that last- or maybe upgrade to something new. I have a set of repro widow guides I have not installed yet.
Tires have approx 3000 miles on them and are about 3 yrs old.I started to soundproof the trunk, then decided to stop in case someone might think I was trying to hide something. The trunk floor was rusted thru, but was replaced when the paint was done a few years back. I will include the box of soundproofing mat if you want to do it. The soundproofing really gives this car a more modern, comfortable feel.
Anything else you need to know, please txt me. 727-543-0970 I normally don't answer #'s I don't know, but if you leave a VM I'll get back with you. I am not interested in a lot of silly questions from folks that really have no means to buy the car. Sorry, don't mean to be ungrateful to a potential buyer, but I am not here to provide entertainment for tire kickers.
This is not a desperation sale, but I am 57yrs old and decided to go back to college. The sale will make things a little easier with not having to work so much. I took out a 15k loan to finish up the car thru JJ Best. If bids seem to point that this will sell, I will consider paying off the note ASAP so I can have the title in hand by the time we are set to close the deal. I assume this could be worked out with the bank, but seems easier just to wire them cash when it appears it is going to sell. Well see how this goes- I can't afford to use savings to pay this off and then the have the buyer disappear. I am also going to try and sell some 70's motorcycles. If they sell first, I will stop this sale and keep the car.
I can email more pictures.