It's a friggin' time capsule- I LOVE it! But lose the braided steel top radiator hose cover that screams 1990.
Here are some pictures Frank sent me of the car He installed a roll bar and welded a 1/4" steel plate at the fire wall so he could pass inspection at the drag races. They held races at abandon air strips. The car was red at first then around 1960 he painted the car Shenandoah green metallic, it was a 1956 ford Lincoln color. It looks like a blue metallic with a touch of green. Color looks nice Im planning to keep it.
love the car, gonna be cool, i have an extra steel dash to fit that aluminum insert... pm-ed you a pic.
Woke up and it’s 1960! Now you have a gem there. Fun project. Thanks for sharing. Don’t even think about changing the headlights and bar location. That initially dates it.
Nice find, along with getting the history. Some chassis fixes are definitely needed. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Very cool car and project! Trying to get a good look from your pictures at your engine vibration dampener...hard to see clearly, but it doesn't appear to be a k-code 271hp 289 (cobra, Shelby, k-code Mustang and Fairlane). If you post a better picture in that area, can provide confirmation.
I am keeping the lights and bar location. There are two smaller lights attached to the bar to the right and left of each head light. Here is a picture of the car about 1963 you car see the two small lights attached to the bar. Not sure how i should wire them. Or how they were hooked up. Blinkers? Parking? What are your thoughts?
The block casting for the engine is C5ae-6015-e. 65-67 289 HiPo. The top loader has is an early 1965 289 & 289 HiPo mustang HEH-T code. Dual-point distributor and looks like it has the HIPO exhaust manifolds . He said he polished the cast iron manifolds and had a friend who did chroming for him.
Wow. Congrats and best wishes on the rebuild. The hipo 289 you have is a high value engine, not for its performance, but for its rarity. Restorers of K code (hipo) Mustangs, Cougars and Falcons will pay top dollar for an engine like you have. The toploader decodes as HEH-T 1965 Mustang 289 close ratio box made between 8/20/64 - 10/1/64. As we all know 4 speed toploaders are selling for crazy numbers. That's a gem, the history makes it even better. That the PO was a top drawer guy when he was buying stuff is impressive. Now fix all the bad fab chassis stuff and you are poopin' in tall cotton. Subscribed.
A heavy bracket is bolted to the engine and is bolted to a rubber trans mount that is welded to the front cross member. Was this to keep the engine from twisting? The frame has lots of problems , it's twisted I don't like the motor mounts. It's been cut and welded in many places. Too much work was needed so i picked up a nice model A frame to work with.
Cool find....a lot of stuff was done back in the day -just think way before the internet and computers in some one's garage....carry on !
Okay, now that my brain is experiencing sensory overload after reading the story on this car I have to say I love it. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I'm not trying to rain on your parade about the hipo motor...I'm trying to confirm that what you have is indeed a very valuable k-code hipo 271 hp engine. From what I see of the exhaust manifolds on the car, they do not appear to be correct for the hipo (though it's difficult to see a good view of the driver's side...and they could have been changed for regular manifolds for the sake of clearance). Below are photos of k-code hipo exhaust manifolds. If you take a picture showing the width of the vibration dampener, that will certainly help to confirm...as will a close up of the valve springs in the heads to confirm whether the heads have the hipo only cast in pockets to stabilize the valve springs at high rpm. Once you remove the oil pan, you can look for the football shaped 3/8" connecting rod bolts, the balancing hatchet on the snout of the crankshaft, and of course the larger main bearing caps (same as the "Mexican" 302 blocks). Again, I say that is a very cool find and car!
Thanks for the nice comments on this car. As i find all this cool history about this car and and this hobby i felt the need to share this with others who love this stuff. Win. Win.
love the '63 pic... you didn't like the motor mounts... i make my own SBF motor mounts, they bolt to the heads [2 bolts right, 3 bolts left] i use flat head mounts and biscuits... don't care for any of ford's SBF mounts... got a pair i made, free for the shipping... pix .
No worries this won't rain on my parade. This engine is turning out to be a mystery. Apparently frank ordered this from a local ford dealer and installed it in the car in 1965. The exhaust manifolds are slightly different. After some researching the engine the damper is the thinner one not the "K code." Looks like the water pump , fuel pump , and distributor have the "k code" casting #'s all dating correctly for this engine. Not sure if someone would go to all the trouble in the 1960's to find and install all the correct "k coded" and date coded water pump, fuel pump, distributor for an old hotrod. Mustang yes. Wow one search on ebay and they are asking crazy $ for these parts. What ever it is it puts a smile on my face ever time i work on this car. It's my therapy to go and turn wrenches on this car. Here is a picture of the water pump with casting #.
Here is a picture of Frank with his car. He lived in Paramus NJ worked as a mechanic for the police and fire department of Paramus. If any one o the East cost has info about this car i would love to hear about it. Also a picture of the car in 1965 at the New York Colosseum . You can see the cobra valve cover in this picture. In the early 1960's he stopped racing the car and turned it into a show car.
Reminds me of that kid on American Hot Rod who wouldn’t box his frame rails. Boyd offered the kid a dream of a lifetime. I boxed a 40 Ford frame in once, heard nothing but crap from the Peanut Gallery! Good call on boxing your new frame! Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The GMC was cool. it had dual axel's , a separate gas generator for electricity and some type of power inverter. In poor shape sitting out for over 30 years. It was in front of the garage blocking the model A . A friend of mine had car jacks. We had to move the car side ways to get it out of the garage. Then we put plywood on the dirt to get the car around the house to a paved drive way so the flat bed could get his winch on the car.
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