A67-P51
Hi l have been meaning to share my experience in getting my 67 Convertible on the road back in 2008 for a while so here goes. If it all seems like too much reading jump to the 2nd half and you’ll get the gist of it all.
I bought the car back in 2002 as a 75% complete runner or as l thought. It was RHD, with new suspension and disk brakes, new windscreen. And parts including new chrome bumpers, new grill, new seat trim, new interior fittings and new vinyl roof. Since then we’ve moved house, landscaped the garden and had a long service leave traveling holiday with the wife and kids. And obviously been way to slack during the winter months, but she’s been on the road trouble free since 2008.
I am mechanically minded and always liked tinker, but have never done a car resto before. Let alone thought to do some online research on inherent mustang problems eg,( Rusted Cowl Panels) and Not Quite Right RHD conversions.
l got my newly acquired pride and joy home and started to pull it apart and see what l might find. To start with the Forum and other sites on line are a god sent and answered a lot of my queries Turns out the cowl panel was shot and the RHD conversion was not what l wanted with a Gemini heater box and remote vacuum boosted brakes.
Sourced a replacement cowl panel got it zinc dipped by a friend at a local plating place, Classic Chrome in Geelong so it should out last the car. l got the bonnet turn signal vents and rear quarter vents chromed for my own touch. And had a mirror firewall and dash made up as well. Found an original 67 vacuum brake booster and mirrored a 67 heater box for under the dash.
The motor not original, needed some lovin so l rebuilt the 302 with some tuition from a mechanic mate of mine. Needless to say he said while it’s apart it would a crime not to do a bit more. So it got balanced, ARP rod bolts for the bottom end, a little bit of a cam. Flat top pistons to counter the open chamber heads which got 351 inlet valves with hardened seats guides and match porting with a 600 Holley sitting on top. Now the only other thing l always wanted was a manual Mustang, so that still plays on my mind to drop a 5 speed in.
Now all this was good to do and learnt heaps along the way, but getting her on the road is why l am sharing this with you.
So l got the engineering certificate and roadworthy done with no big problems, l had to tone the exhaust down a bit. Had heard along the way from mechanic, panel beater and engineer that not having an import certificate could be a problem comes rego time. So l got in contact with Dotar’s and they ran the vin number and sent me a letter of confirmation saying the car had never been on the road.
Now Dotar’s also confirmed the process to getting an import certificate which involves putting your pride and joy into a shipping container and sending it to New Zealand and on return you will receive an import certificate. This process costs a few thousand dollars to do and you can’t just pay the money the car must go on a short holiday and return. How crazy is that?
But this was not my big problem. l made an appointment with the RTA to register my car, took the morning of work to do the deed. On arrival took a ticket and waited to be seen, my turn came along and after showing proof of purchase, Engineering Certificate and RWC the next request was for the import Certificate. Alas l only had the letter from Dotar’s to which he replied well you won’t be getting registered today take a seat while we do some checks.
Well on his return he said the motor is stolen, don’t go anywhere we have called the cops and they will be here soon. At this point l am thinking you can have the bloody motor l just want to take my car home. But apparently they become a matching pair, stolen motor, stolen car. The two officers arrive and one pipe’s up nice car mate, to which l reply thanks can l take it home. And she replies we’ll see.
So l am told to take a seat while they have a bit of a chat, by this time my brain hurts. After a while it’s been over 2 ½ hours since l got there. They returned and inform me that since the motor wasn’t reported stolen until 3 years after l bought the car. They were surmising that the car my motor came out of received a transplant some years back but never had its motor details updated.
This car was subsequently stolen some time down the track and bingo the little red flag was just waiting for somebody to submit the engine number.
Now is when my luck began to improve they let me take the car and motor home and lock it in the garage, which l promptly did and then lay down to rest my weary head. A few days later l received a call from one of the officers to say they had tracked down the owner of the motor and as they guessed an old fairlane was stolen while at the panel beater years earlier.
More good news was to follow it turns out the same guy was also the original owner of the Mustang, brought it into Aus back in the early 80s. All of a sudden l had some history on the car and as it came into the country before import certificates were required. All l needed was a statdec from the original owner and the rego branch would be happy to register it.
So after due course l got (A67-P51) on the road and haven’t looked back, she’s not concourse and not a show car but its clean straight and reliable. It’s got over five thousand trouble free miles on the clock now. She gets driven to work every so often and out and about over the warmer months, a bit less over winter, not a daily driver but gets out a bit.
Cheers Frank.B
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