Thread: Mustang II

Tweet

I think one of the things that happened with the smog era “performance cars” was that due to a lack of real performance they were pretty much despised by the car community and considered a bad joke. I also believe that contributed to the low survival rate on these cars once they were worn out.

I’ve personally always considered a body not much more than a wrapper for a drive train, so basically whatever body style struck my fancy was what I built. Ken kind of hit it with his comments on the late 60s-early 70s Nova. Some of these cars would still make neat builds if you come across one on decent shape.

Most of the old timers here know I have a soft spot for the Mustang IIs…..but definitely not in stock form. I did the 77 Cobra II several years ago and I (well the wife) still has the 351 powered 77 Coupe.

A couple of other cars I kicked around as potential projects were;

a 74 GTO ….yup Pontiac actually slapped GTO stickers and a Firebird shaker on a 350 powered Ventura. I actually had a line on a couple of Ventura bodies and a Pontiac stick setup at one point. I kicked around doing a clone but stuffing a 455 and 4 Speed in it. Too many other projects at the time made me decide to take a pass. On a side note, the decal set is still available


74 GTO by M Patterson, on Flickr



I also kicked around doing a mid 70s Pontiac Sunbird (Vega clone). At the time I was just thinking about a SBC and 4 speed…..these days I’d probably look more to an LS and 5 speed.

76 sun bird by M Patterson, on Flickr



.

Originally Posted by Mike P

I think one of the things that happened with the smog era “performance cars” was that due to a lack of real performance they were pretty much despised by the car community and considered a bad joke. I also believe that contributed to the low survival rate on these cars once they were worn out.

I’ve personally always considered a body not much more than a wrapper for a drive train, so basically whatever body style struck my fancy was what I built. Ken kind of hit it with his comments on the late 60s-early 70s Nova. Some of these cars would still make neat builds if you come across one on decent shape.

Most of the old timers here know I have a soft spot for the Mustang IIs…..but definitely not in stock form. I did the 77 Cobra II several years ago and I (well the wife) still has the 351 powered 77 Coupe.

A couple of other cars I kicked around as potential projects were;

a 74 GTO ….yup Pontiac actually slapped GTO stickers and a Firebird shaker on a 350 powered Ventura. I actually had a line on a couple of Ventura bodies and a Pontiac stick setup at one point. I kicked around doing a clone but stuffing a 455 and 4 Speed in it. Too many other projects at the time made me decide to take a pass. On a side note, the decal set is still available


74 GTO by M Patterson, on Flickr



I also kicked around doing a mid 70s Pontiac Sunbird (Vega clone). At the time I was just thinking about a SBC and 4 speed…..these days I’d probably look more to an LS and 5 speed.

76 sun bird by M Patterson, on Flickr



.

It's funny you should mention the idea of a Sunbird with the LS swap. In 1975 Motor Trend was testing a Monza V8 Town Coupe, their Car of the Year, and they speculated how much better it would be with an aluminum V8. They said the engineers did a great job disguising the weight of the SBC, but would it be great to have V8 power without the weight. They even said with an aluminum V8 you wouldn't need power steering in the Monza, more weight saving.

Early Nova It came with a 6 cylinder so I added 2 more and did a little custom work on the tail lights. Ford 9" 454 4TH400. Lots of fun to drive.