I've had 14 of them since I was 15 years old. The first was a '75 which I still own. Dad and I made a project street car out of it when I was in high school. It had a 200/3 speed originally...no radio, no AC, no power brakes, no power steering, 2.79 8" rear and steel wheels...didn't even have hub caps! But I got it for $50 and drove it home, title and all. We ditched the 200 and dropped in a mild 302 and a C4. The 302 had a small cam, but the iron heads had been worked over by a local porting pro. Dad took it out for the maiden voyage and decided that it was WAAAAAY too much power for a 16 year old kid. So it was destined to become a race car from that day on. I still race it, though the lowly 302 is gone, the C4 was lost somewhere along the way. Nothing is the same except the body. Now it's a big small block, powerglide, 9", 14x32 slicks, 4 link, mustang 2 front, etc etc.
The other one that stands out in my mind was a '74 2 door LDO car that I bought from a dark neighborhood about 30 min from here. It WAS a street car and that is the reason I bought it. Gave I think $125 for it, IIRC. We redid the interior--used 89GT seats, early mustang console, floor shift, reworked the entire plastic parts, seat belts, carpet/insulation, headliner (which is a pain), everything. Painted undercarriage, under the hood, trunk area...etc. First was the ORIGINAL 302 that came out of the '75...the one that dad said had too much power for a street car. Fun car to drive even with 2.79 gears...LONG winded though. I'd grab 2nd gear at about 65 mph. Drove it like that for...good gosh, probably close to 10 years. Got the turbo bug and fabbed up a custom header, pipes, and bolted on a powerstroke turbo....of course cooked the cast-piston short block in no time but I built a forged bottom end 302 and beat on it for a couple years. That was FUN! Then I picked up an '84 Mustang GT 5 speed car and lost interest in the Maverick. Gave it to my brother and he sold it. Yesterday we saw the car at the strip...man I miss it. Those weld wheels really looked good. Found out today that the new owner of the car rolled it at the strip last night after we left. Supposedly the kid that was driving it drove through the shutdown area, over a dirt pile and put it on it's top a couple times. It's destroyed from what I hear. Makes me wish I'd have kept it
Also had a '71 2 door, a CHERRY '73 4 door (250/C4), '76 4 door parts car that became a convertible (thanks to a sawzall and torch), a '77 4 door that was hit (parts), a '70 2 door (parts) among several others. Funny part about this whole story is...I want another one for a street car, but now that I am looking for one, I can't find one ANYWHERE for less than $2000. Not even a junker! 5 years ago they were everywhere....
Lowered and with the right wheel/tire combo they look great. They are NOT aerodynamic at all though. ABout like pushing a barn door through a 30 mph wind. In factory trim (especially the LDO's) they aren't that light either...the '74 LDO I had was just a shade over 3100 lbs, and close to 3300 with the turbo setup. My '75 that I still have...2320 without me in it but it's gutted. And I'm a measly 180 lbs. Started out running 12's in the 1/8 mile...now I'm running 5.80's.
Today
