Thread: 1974 Mustang II Build

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For us it was working our German Grandma's grape vineyard in the central valley Fresno area during the summers, fall and winter. Summer it was hand weeding half of the 60 acres of grapes(grown for raisins) in high heat, Fall was harvest season running behind tractor picking up paper drying trays of raisins out of the fields and throwing them into a collector bin, then in winter when everything was dormant and the temps were in the 30's -40's cutting canes and tying them to wire rails. It built character, and the desire not to be doing this when I was older(great incentive for school work). Grandma was the best boss, she was a task master and let you know if you were skipping a weed, etc...

We haven’t been getting much done on the 74 lately, most of the time Cade is over here we’ve been working on things we need to get done on the new house.

Yesterday we did make time to go out to the local wrecking yard I’ve been going to for years. The owner passed away several years ago and his wife passed a couple years back. The kids have elected to close the yard and crush most of the stuff.

There are only 3 Mustang IIs left (2 74s and a 77). I’ve pretty much picked over all three over the years but we decided to go out and look.

Cade and I took a pretty close look at the 77. No motor or transmission but the body is straight and solid and all the glass is intact. It was a V6/4 speed car (I bought the pedals out of it years ago and they are long gone). It’s factory air and has the Gia (1/2 vinyl top) and factory sun roof options and should have the 8" rear end.



77 Sunroof by M Patterson, on Flickr


We’re waiting to hear back on the title situation…… we need to make sure it has either a clean title or salvage title and not a crush permit (in AZ a crush permit does not allow the car to be titled and put back on the road or even sold for parts).

If the title is good and the price is right we’ll probably pick it up as a parts car/future project.


These old junk yards are all just about gone. This is the last one I know of in this area. It was good to take Cade out there before everything is gone to see all the neat old cars and show him how things used to be.


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Originally Posted by Mike P

These old junk yards are all just about gone. This is the last one I know of in this area. It was good to take Cade out there before everything is gone to see all the neat old cars and show him how things used to be.


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It's described as 'Progress' Mike.

Yeah right!

Speaking of progress Cade got his learners permit today


There is still a bunch of small stuff that will be taken care of but the car is ready to put on the road once it gets a set of tires and alignment. I've got enough work for him here that that shouldn't take too long to save for (he already has the money for the alignment.)




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That's real exciting for him!

What's really cool about this whole thing is Mike is taking the time to get Cade to do the work himself. He will (I think) take better care and show responsibility for his car. More so than " Here's the keys to a new car". Mike you can be just as proud as Cade. More parents, grandparents should get involved with kids.

I'm really surprised street rodders haven't cut out the front ends of those cars. Guys still do it up here which blows my mind! Good to hear Cade is still learning and helping ya. Shoot me a PM with your addy. I have 2 things I need to send ya I forgot about.

This is really cool, Mike. My grandson just turned 12 and I’m hoping to build his first car in a few years.

We're still spending most of the time working on stuff for the new house as Cade is saving for the front end alignment and new set of tires. He's also got a cell phone now so some of the money is coming out of what he works for to pay for the service (he also paid for the phone himself).

We've been getting a few little things done like getting the seat belts to retract. The weekend before last he took the dash apart to get the lens out and cleaned up so gauges could be read better.

I had a headlight restoration kit on the shelf so that's what we used.

Bez m2 by M Patterson, on Flickr

Taking the before picture was easy......it was harder to get a decent picture of it once it was restored. It actually looks better in person.


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That Mustang II is seeing more love than most , keep up the good work Cade !

At a car show today I got a couple of pics of a Mustang II for Cade. Although not just like his it made me think of his right away.

Thanks for the pictures Seth, I’m sure Cade will see it at some point. I remember when those things covered the earth. From the looks of it that’s a 2.8 V6 car……I also remember laughing at them back in my V8 Pinto days. Of course then again I remember building the one on page 1 of this thread some years ago too.

Speaking of oldies but goodies it looks like this one is going to get a second (third ?) lease on a new life.


75 Monza by M Patterson, on Flickr


It belongs(ed) to a friend of mine and it looks like it’s going to a 20 year old friend of his. It’s a 75 Monza that was an original 4.3 (262 CI) small block V8 car/automatic car. It currently has a (blown?) 283, ladder bars and a rear end of unknown origin in it. A few local guys still remember the car as being a reasonably stout street racer back in the day.

It’s going with a 350, set of Mirage rear fender flair, new headers, and the centerlines. I also suspect there are about 3 of us old guys that will be making a few donations of parts and (unsolicited) advice to the young man.

Does my old heart good to see some of the less popular old cars being projects again. It makes me real happy to see another generation dipping their toes in the hot rod pool too.



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The water in that pool can be cold and deep.

There is a little Mustang 2 coupe for sale in the next town over from me. Red & white paint, looks clean when driving past. But they must be asking a lot for it as they haven't sold it yet. After driving past it I "see it" as a pro tourer / pro street kinda car. LOL

I always liked the Monza 2+2's. At least they had a decent shape when everything else was going boxy. The fact that you could get them with a V8 and 4 speed helped too. Although I always heard that the plugs were a nightmare to change on the V8's.

While we're on the subject of unloved cars, I kind of liked the styling on the very early iron bumper Vega's too. The only Vega motor worth having was the Cosworth, though. I remember stopping by the local Chevy dealer to drool on a Cosworth Vega when they first came out. What can I say, American performance cars were pretty thin back in those days!

Love that Monza! My sister had the Oldsmobile Starfire version; I always liked that car.