This is my first attempt at creating a blog, and I will be using it to document  adventures with  my 1965 Mustang 2+2.  First, a brief history of me and my car.

I was born in 1960 in Presidio San Francisco at Letterman Army Hospital.  I grew up the son of a US Marine and a housewife from El Salvador.  My father was mostly stationed in California after I was born, and did three tours of duty in Vietnam.  When he was overseas, the rest of us grew up in Southern California, mostly in Orange County, so I consider that home.  I joined the Army in 1979, and was stationed in Fort Jackson, SC; Fort Lewis, WA; Fort Huachuca, AZ; Schwetzingen, Germany; San Bernardino, CA; Yongsan, Korea; and then back to Fort Huachuca, AZ where I retired from the Army.  After retirement, I started working for the Arizona Department of Corrections, and have been there for 22 years.  Not sure when I will retire from this job, but looking forward to that day  :).

I purchased my one and only Mustang in 1980.  I had been in the Army for almost a  year and was tired of bumming rides from my fellow soldiers and friends.  I started scanning the classified ads in the Tacoma News Tribune newspaper, and was looking for either a late '60's Chevy Nova or a Mustang.  One day I found an ad listing a 1965 Mustang available at a used car dealership in Puyallup, WA for $1000.  I took $1000 out of my bank account, put $800 in my wallet, and the remaining $200 in my front pocket.  I caught a ride out to Puyallup to take a look at the car.  It was a 1965 Mustang 2+2, flat brown in color, with the back end completely covered in various stickers.  I got in, and it smelled like a wet dog.  I took it out for a test drive and it drive fairly well.  I got back to the dealership and offered the salesman the $800 out of my wallet - I  never saw the money leave my hand, and all I heard was, "It's yours".  I drove it back to the barracks where a friend and I spent a couple of days scraping off stickers, cleaning the interior, putting the correct size tires on it (the tires it came with would rub against the fenders in a harder than normal turn), and some hubcaps from a local wrecking yard.  I went back to the dealership to pickup the license plates because the car was a trade-in from California, so the CA plates had been removed.  The salesman's eyes bugged out because it didn't look like the wet dog I drove off the lot a few days before.

The Mustang is a "C" code, automatic transmission.  Basically, a two-barrel 289 with a three speed C4 transmission.  When I bought it, it had a recently rebuilt engine with dual exhaust coming off the stock exhaust manifolds.  It did come with power steering, but no air conditioning.  One of the first things I did to it was pull the power steering system off and toss it in the dumpster...I don't like power steering.  I like to feel the road through the steering wheel, and the power steering pump and hoses sit right on top of the driver's side of the engine, in the way of everything.

Now the Mustang still has a 289, but it has been rebuilt several times.  Currently it has a 4 barrel Holley carburetor, a set of BlackJack or Cyclone headers (from 1980!), a Weiand Stealth intake manifold, Pertronix II distributor with a Flamethrower Coil, Ford Racing sparkplug wires, a CompetitionCam hydraulic camshaft with roller-tipped rockers, a Boss 302 windage tray, HiPo 289 connecting rods, SpeedPro forged aluminum pistons, and a pair of Twisted Wedge TW170 aluminum heads.  The drivetrain consists of a Toploader 4 speed manual transmission out of a 1965 "K" code Mustang, a Hurst Competition Plus shifter, stock driveshaft and an 8" rear end with Traction Lock 3.55 gears (Posi to you GM folks).  Brakes consist of Kelsey-Hayes 4 piston disc brakes that came out of a 1965 GT Mustang and stock drums in the rear.  The front and rear suspension have been upgraded with stiffer springs/shocks, a 1" Shelby/Arning drop on the front, and polyurethane bushings.  The paint is 1970 Ford Grabber Blue.

I drive this car as much as I possibly can.  It's not so fun in the summer here in Arizona without AC and a black interior, but I survive.