Meet Georgia

So here is a look at what's been going on with deeda's Mascot - the '67 Mustang. As you know - '06 was the start of our "Mascot" project which began with the following endearing quotes:

1. "This thing is being held together by the roof."
2. "If you drive this car you will likely die from any of the following:

• Car will explode due to leaking and crushed gas tank.
• Front and Rear rails and sub-frame have rotted so badly the car can break in half over a bump.
• The entire front clip of the car can come off at any time.
• Whoever installed (insert any vital car part) was an idiot.
• Your fuel pump is sitting on the exhaust.
• Your brake lines will crumble if you touch them.

By our deeda.com launch over New Years Eve we had corrected all of the above issues and finally had a running vehicle. We grew used to the fact that the car had no power steering (no really we did) since driving it this way matched its looks. This car is seriously tough and mean, and overcoming all these major hurdles made her feel more at home on the road. It was as if we rescued her after decades of neglect and abuse, and now we were being rewarded for all our attention and doting.

And the sound... we'll have to save that for a later post... but it has to be the most intoxicating engine scream any of us have ever heard.

However, by February she was acting like my girlfriend and leaking oil everywhere. Err... well okay --- not really like my girlfriend --- but she was being temperamental nonetheless. What we ended up having to work on was:

• Leaking oil from the rear gasket seal
• Need New Brake Lines
• EFI ECU is acting erratic - Fuel is cutting on and off as engine heats up.
• We blew the T5 transmission and need to rebuild a new one
• Overheating causes radiator fluid to dump out of the overflow can

We spent February through April fixing all of that. It was a nightmare at times, but we got through it with some great help from the guys at Atomic Transmissions in Villa Park. By the way, it was Chris over at Mustang Restorations in Dundee who helped us last year with the extensive frame work that had to be done. Joe would have helped out a bit more if he wasn't busy working on deeda's sister car (a black '65 Fastback)-- more on that later.

Anyway, aside from all of this work getting done the spring ended with me wet sanding the paint to a brilliant shine. Like everyone else who looked at our car, the famous quote: "I don't know how to tell you this, but..." applies to the paint as well. It turns out the morons who originally owned this car never got around to finishing the paint. They just sprayed clear coat and went for a drive. However, after a day of careful wet sanding the original Wimbledon White body with Guardsman Blue stripes have come to life.

Here is what we have today:

In honor of where we found her, she has been christened Georgia.

What's left on our list of things to do this winter:

Shelby Rear Tail
Shelby Upper and Lower Air Extractors
Side Exhaust
Hood Pins