Look closely at the pictures of this F-series motor compartment and you’ll see there’s more than just horsepower under the hood, there’s dogpower. When the FordMuscle staff saw this picture of “Chester” posted to the Garage forum by subscriber Andy Simon, we had to know more.

So here’s the story. Andy and his brother Paul are from Lonsdale, Minnesota and as you will see below, both are avid outdoorsmen. Each has there own hunting dog. One day while scrappin’ around the yard, Paul’s dog Chester went after some mice. Those mice drew Chester right up underneath Paul’s hunting rig until the determined canine wedged himself between the Ford’s I-6 and master cylinder.

What looked to be a dire situation turned into a happy one when Paul crawled under the truck and grabbed Chester’s back legs (no, that’s not Chester dangling down there!). At that moment, Paul’s wife said, “I think he wants to come out the top.” The dog managed to crawl out the top of the engine compartment and stood on top with an expression of “Now what?” Chester hopped down and Paul’s F-150 lost one dogpower and .75 foot lbs of torque.

The Ford Muscle
In pursuing Andy for more information about Chester, we asked him what brought him to the site. Well here it is, his 1973 Mustang notchback work-in-progress.

We asked Andy to tell us a bit about the project:

Right now I have a running 302 and a T5 which I swapped in with the help of FordMuscle’s T5 article. I have the Cleveland that I pulled out of it, which needs some work. A friend of mine that is going to school for engine machining is doing all the work for me as a school project. I just picked up a pair of CNC ported Aussie 2Vs and I hope for somewhere around 400 at the crank. I’m working on the bodywork now, which is slow because I am learning as I go. I’m planning on painting it orange with black stripes and a black interior. Once I get the car streetworthy I plan on upgrading stuff such as gauges and the weak stock T5, as time allows. I have learned everything I know from FordMuscle and the awesome forums, its the only thing that allows me to make any progress. I’m pretty busy since I’m a freshmen mechanical engineering student at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Thanks Andy for the great story. For that we’ve sent you an FM T-Shirt.
Cheers,
The FordMuscle Staff