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TARAfied 1's Interests
General
Most recently my passion has been my 17 plus year project Mustang. I’ve always wanted a Mustang as long as I can remember. In 1981 at age 15, I got a $500 67 that was wrecked in the front-end & another 67 that had been rear-ended for $75. 2 years of work on a low budget and lots of help from friends it was done (sort-of). After High School I built a radical small block for it. I had it for about 10 years and made a deal to sell/swap it for this one so I could buy my 1st house in 1990 before my 1st son was born. This page is dedicated to the project…
In the early 90's I started by replacing rusted floorboards, quarter panels, etc with reproduction sheetmetal.
I sold the modified small block (which I was able to keep from my 1st Mustang) to pay for the custom headers and motor mounts.
In the early 90’s, I had also accumulated many parts for the transformation.
MY DREAM CAR - A 68 Shelby GT500KR Convertable.
Having a 67 coupe and really wanting a Shelby, I was inspired by prototypes such as "Little Red" and the "Green Hornet" Shelby hardtops, to build my own Shelby type Mustang. The Mexican road racing Shelby Hardtops also provided some ideas!
I started making my own “Shelby” version,
and I would call it…
The “SUPER COUPE”
I already liked the Shelby look and had planned to add a 68 Shelby front end but then came the remake of the movie “Gone in 60 Seconds” and “Eleanor” (GT500E)
I had to copy her and make an Eleanor coupe!
In 92, I had originally swapped in a 460 from a 75 T-Bird, but it needed a rebuild so later I acquired a 1970 429. Powertrain now consists of 429/C6 with 9” Rear & aluminum drive shaft.
Little progress was made after the early 90’s as I focused on my family and career, it sat in my garage mostly untouched. In the spring of 99 It went into storage when I moved from the Chicago area to Kentucky (the first time). In 2000 we brought it down to KY to begin working on it again. I pulled the 460 for a rebuild and found that the 460 block was shot. The search for a new engine yeilded a pristine 1970 429. When I first installed it I broke the trans pump, I later found that the crank has an odd pilot bushing size. My dad had been over for a visit and helped swap the new pump in the trans. My Uncle worked at “Skunk Works” in Hodgenville, KY and modified the torque converter to fit the crank for me. The 429 went in with my wife Tara’s help but the distributor I ordered arrived and was the wrong one…
Before I could get all the right parts, we were faced with another job transfer, back into storage she went. We moved to a college town West of Chicago, DeKalb Il. In 2002 Tara’s cousin "Kit" brought it home for me. I got it running in the fall of 02, not much happened in 03 except that I added the Cougar tail-lights and Shelby tail light panel. Guess what, another job opportunity in 04. Back into storage. In the fall of 2004 we moved back to Kentucky, Tara got more involved and more work has been done since then than any other period I’ve owned it! In February 2007, I took it to “Tex Engler’s Rod & Kustom Werks” in Auburn KY where it underwent some more rust repair and the body was prepped for paint. It will never be "done" but it is closer than ever!
Check out the pics.
Music
Classisc Rock, Grunge, Alternative
Movies
Bullitt, Star Wars, Monty Pithon's Holy Grail
Television
Dirty Jobs, Mythbusters, Speed Channel, Pinks!!! and Pinks ALL OUT.
Books
The Bible
Heroes
My Dad and my Mom who fought off Cancer for 2 years before being taken away and My Wife who is everything to me. I hope I am half the father to my 3 boys that my dad was for me.
