In the early 90's, I think it was 1992 or 1993 I was offered a 1982 Ford Mustang LX for $400.00. It had a 2.3L 4 Cylinder engine and a 4 Speed Manual Transmission, And it ran and drove.
It looked just like this random one I found on Google.
Mine was the exact same Color with the exact same Wheel covers.
I didn't buy it to be a pavement pounding fire breathing muscle car, or a drag race track beast. I already had my 1983 Pontiac Trans Am for that at the time, Which I autocrossed the hell out of. I bought it because even though it was only a 4 cylinder, it was still a fun daily driver with the 4 speed manual, and it was a Mustang. I had grown up around Mustangs as my dad was a ford guy who had a Cobra he would drag race and autocross with, and his daily driver was a 1976 Ford Mustang II Ghia.
I ended up only be able to drive it for a week or two, before I managed to seize the transmission in 3rd gear. That was a fun drive back to the house........
Luckily for me, when I bought the 82, the guy I had bought it from also happened to have a silver 79 Mustang Ghia also equipped with the same 4 Cylinder engine and 4 Speed manual transmission that was just sitting in his yard with a blown engine (You could see the hole in the oil pan where the connecting rod had made it's escape) but a good transmission. So I ended up buying that whole car from him as well for $100.00 and drug it home.
Over a weekend my father, brother and I all pulled the transmission out of both cars, chucked the bad transmission into the trunk of the 79, and swapped the good transmission (with a decent clutch) into the LX. I also liked the steering wheel in the 79 better than the 82's, so I swapped them as well.
The (Fugly looking) one on the left was originally in my LX in the same light blue as the interior
The (cooler looking) one on the right was from the 79 Ghia, that I swapped into my 82 LX
As a side note, the Ghia's steering wheel also came with a hidden bonus. On these (or at least the 79-82's I can't speak for the newer ones, as I have never owned one, or looked over one long enough to notice) Mustangs, the horn button is not the center of the steering wheel as one would assume, and like every other car I had owned or driven at the time. But it was on the left of the steering column on it's own stalk, like the wipers?
Best Picture I could Google - Same Ghia Steering wheel I had too
You had to push it into the column to blow the horn. Weird, but it meant that under the cover for the center of the steering wheel was empty, an open space. So a person could theoretically use it to keep things you wouldn't necessarily want someone in law enforcement to find if you were pulled over for say racing, such as *cough* a 1/2 oz. of weed and a pipe *cough* OR so I have heard............😉
Speaking of racing, A friend of ours also had a 1983 Mustang GLX convertible equipped with a V6 and an Automatic Transmission. He had a hot girlfriend I wanted to "hang out with" Hey I was young, cocky, full of myself and great looking at that age. So I took any chance I could to make him look bad, by whooping his ass in stoplight races. Sure he had the bigger engine, but I was the better driver, that and I didn't give a shit about the car, anything I broke I had spare parts for sitting in my dads garage. Oh and yes, I did eventually get to "hang out" with her!
One day my old roommate and I were on our way home from work (we worked at the same car wash) doing a little "spirited" driving and apparently at some point, the battery hold down had never got reinstalled on the battery in the engine compartment. So as we went around a corner rather briskly, the battery slid off the tray and right into the metal fan blade...... DOH! Although as luck would have it, the 79 was still sitting around at my dads house, so for the next few days, with the car being a stick, we just parked it on the hill in the parking lot at our apartment, and pop started it in the morning to get to work, then at 4:30, we would have 3-4 of the part time teenage kids push the car for us, so we could pop start it to get home. Then on Saturday we went over to my dads and swapped over the battery AND battery hold down into my LX. As it turned out I ended up picking parts off of the 79 for the next year as they broke or wore out on my 82, so buying the 79 had turned out to be a very nice investment.
Another fun thing I did with my Mustang was with the emblems. Originally these Mustangs came with a Ford emblem on the left side of the trunk lid and a Mustang emblem on the right side of the trunk lid. So my buddy and I were perusing a junkyard one day, probably looking for parts for his Oldsmobile Starfire or Toyota Starlet (ahhh I miss the 80's), when we came across an 80's Buick Riviera. I looked at the emblems with the giant R on the fender and a wicked thought crossed my wicked mind. I was also able to pickup another Mustang emblem while we were there as well.
+
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I put the R from the Riviera emblem and ustang from the Mustang and voila Rustang!
Even though the only rust I had on my car were rust holes at the top of both A-Pillars, the rest of the body was just faded paint, one softball sized dent in the passenger rear quarter panel under the quarter glass, along with lots of misc nicks, scratches and dings. I thought it was funny, I put one on each side above the trim on the front fenders with emblem adhesive. I loved it!
I eventually ended up doing the redneck spray bomb paint job on it, with Primer Gray and Black
same apint scheme as Thunderhead289's Rotstang
I drove the hell out of my Mustang LX, I drove it all over the place, and I really miss it.
I have really been craving another Fox body Mustang lately, even though I have my Firebird Formula in the garage, I really think I am going to pick up either a 79 Pace Car, 80-81 Cobra or 82 GT but it absolutely has to be a stick with T-Tops. Engine doesn't matter, as I think I want to swap in a GM Supercharged Series II 3.8L V6.
Beautiful car!!
The only change I would make is to get a set of 87-93 GT "Turbine" wheels
And as I come to a close of reminiscing over one of my favorite old cars I owned, I will leave you with one last story. Something I did while driving this car, that to this day makes me smile and laugh, but also makes me realize how lucky I was to get away with it.
There came a time when the clutch eventually needed to be replaced, I can't imagine why, I mean all those 6000 RPM Clutch Popping Burnouts couldn't possibly have had anything to do with that? So for a good week or so after we replaced the clutch, I drove the car around like a normal person, it wasn't easy not for me, not at that time. Anyway after a week or so as I was turning off the main road onto a back road 5-6 blocks from my apartment to avoid the stoplights at the intersection, I figured, well it's been a few hundred miles, clutch has got to be worn in properly by now right? So I come down the road to the 90 degree corner and stop just before the turn. I look around and give the motor a couple high revs, still sounds pretty good. So I run the little 2.3 up to 5500 RPM and Pop the clutch. All of a sudden there is lots of noises as the engine revs and the tires start squealing, with smoke billowing out of the back of the car and I steer the car as the back end comes out and around the corner. So I point the nose back straight down the road again and give it some more. Then I glance over to the side of the road and I see a guy on a mountain bike excitedly strapping his helmet on as he stares hard at me. Then I also see the badge and the ******* Police Department logo on his jacket...... In the same moment I both laugh (I mean a cop on a mountain bike 😂 ) and yell "Oh Shit!" So I let off the gas, upshift to 3rd to kill the tires momentum and wait for the car to get some traction, then downshift back into 2nd as I take off up the street power shifting through the gears. I honestly must have hit 60 MPH on this residential street. Again, at my current age I know this was fucking stupid, but at the time couldn't have given a shit. Between it being dusk out, the tinted license plate cover (remember those?) I had on the car and all that tire smoke, I knew there was no way he would have been able to read my license plate, so I just flew into my apartment parking lot, around the garages and put the Mustang into my garage. Then I jumped out, ran out of the garage and pulled the door closed, and walked over to my Trans Am that was parked a few spaces over from the garages, and opened the door. As I looked up to the main road I saw the cop come pedaling around the corner and down the sidewalk at top speed. I chuckled, waved and closed the door to my Trans Am, and went into my apartment to have a small panic attack, and a beer.
Thanks for reading an old mans reminiscing
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