At 8 years old, already with a love of cars and an appreciation of Fords instilled by my Dad, I saw my neighbor’s Mustang GT for the first time. The fog lights, exhaust trumpets, GT stripe with the “MUSTANG” script, “GT” emblem and special gas cap made an impression that would last a lifetime. In 1999, close to my 33rd birthday, my wife found this car in an online posting. It was built at the San Jose plant in June of 1966 (late production) and appeared to have lived in California its whole life with no evidence of major rust. Out of 607,568 Mustangs built in 1966, it is one of 12,520 “Deluxe Interior” convertibles made that year. In addition to it being a factory GT, it is also a factory 4-speed car with air conditioning – relatively rare. A deal was struck and I finally bought my first Mustang!

The car had been painted four times and the bodywork was suspect. Although it ran and drove, it was tired and needed all new mechanicals to be enjoyable and dependable. “Life got in the way” is often the reason automotive projects are delayed and that was the case here. Starting a business, raising a family, building a house caused the Mustang project to wait until there was more time and money to focus on it. In 2015 when a timing cover leak caused me to contemplate a repair to the tired engine, my friend, Paul Gwizdak, suggested “updating” the 289 to a later model 302 with a roller cam and roller rockers for better drivability. That turned into boring and stroking a late model 302 to 331 with GT40 heads and mild camshaft. In a nod to drivability, a few other mostly “hidden” modifications were chosen:

• 5-speed with a hydraulic clutch

• Detroit Truetrac limited slip with 3.55 gears

• Pacific Thunder adjustable lower control arms, strut rods and crossmember

• “Shelby drop” 1” lowering of upper control arms with new 620 LB coil springs.

• EPAS electric power steering set up.

Trying to work on it evenings and weekends took years with only small bits of progress. The initial idea of just updating the mechanicals and driving it for a while went out the window when I saw the work that Mike Grotto had done on friend’s cars. After groveling, begging, and pleading, Mike felt sorry enough for me to assist with the project in May 2023!

Mike finished completely disassembling the car, stripped the layers of paint to metal and began the repetitive process of priming and blocking. When it was time to paint, Mike and I discussed it and the decision was to paint the car the original color of “Silver Frost.”  Mike has spent countless hours attending to every detail and the near finished project reflects his insistence on the best quality build. 

Mike and I are in the home stretch now with mechanicals installed, most body details completed, and wiring underway. With any luck, I hope to attend a Calaveras Cars and Coffee in 2024! Future plans are for shows, cruises and driving it whenever I can. A 50-year dream coming true!