Treasure Valley Mustang and Ford Club

Member Car of the Month - June 2008

My father left me this 1966 Mustang 289 GT Coupe as an inheritance. He passed on in 2004.

My father restored about eight 1965s and 1966 Mustangs when I was young. This one was his favorite. We lived in Portland, Oregon in a nice home on a big lot which was full of cars in which one of the neighbors always complained about the eye sore of so many cars ... Oh well ... He collected more than Mustangs. He loved all things classic - but Mustangs were his favorite as they are for everyone in my family and my children.

I was a freshman in high school when my dad bought this Mustang which was in 1976. I was driving a real cute dark blue 1965 Mustang coupe to high school at the time then a white one to college.

From the time my dad bought it, it took him 10 years to restore it with some help from my younger brother, whom has a dark blue 1965 289 Mustang Fastback that they restored together as well. In this one they put the new carpet and seat covers in and the headliner. They hired out the paint job which matches up perfectly with the original paint job from the factory. I remember how excited my dad was when he purchased the wire hubcaps for it. It sure made him smile.

All the brakes and suspension pieces have been replaced. I have the original engine in the shop at my home. I don't know its condition. So it currently has a 1980 302ci in it. When they put that engine in the engine had only 30,000 miles on it and we have only put on about 10,000 more miles. My dad used to take it to the Portland International Raceway Mustang/Car show. And for some reason an interviewer video taped a conversation with my dad about the car. My brother has the video tape.

This car is so incredibly meaningful to me and to my children. We wanted it really bad because, of course, on a sunny day only. My dad would take us for rides in the country in it. Or I would do the driving. My son drove it to Prom and other high school dances. I was driving it home from the last Club meeting and revvvvvved it up and got up to 55 pretty fast. For some reason the Porsche 911 had to show me up and speed by me - but he broke the speed limit, I didn't. I don't want any tickets. Ha Ha.

Comments or questions? E-mail us at webmaster2008@treasurevalleymustang.com