Dennis Henry, The First FordMuscle Golden Wrench

Dennis Henry (aka Dennis111) deserves special recognition from the entire FordMuscle Community for being the first Tech Exchange contributor to reach “Golden Wrench” status. In fact, Dennis crushed the final Tech Exchange interval by submitting back-to-back-to-back-to-back tech articles, all in the past 10 days. Since FordMuscle implemented the Tech Exchange program, Dennis has contributed 10 articles. As many of us know, disciplining yourself to slow down and document your garage work can be a true test of maturity and patience when you just want to try out your latest modification as quick as possible! For all his hard work, Dennis earned $100 and an extra $100 on top of that for being the first FM member to reach the final interval. Watch your mail Dennis! He also gets a lifetime FM membership and an admirable golden icon next to his forum username. FordMuscle is proud to have created the format to inspire regular guys to write Ford performance tech articles. Thanks Dennis for making the most of it!

Here are links to all 10 of Dennis’ Tech Exchange articles, most of which revolve around his 1965 Mustang GT:

• Relocating Your Seat Tracks
• Air Compressor Installation Ideas
• Heater Core Installation for ’65-’66 Mustangs
• Installing Aftermarket Pistons To Rods
• Victor Jr. To Super Victor Jr. Appearance Mod
• Installation of Calvert 90/10 Drag Racing Shocks
• Street & Strip Friendly Exhaust
• Manual Transmission Install Made Easy
• Driveshaft Safety Loop Installation
• Air-Cleaner Base Modification

We asked Dennis to share something about himself, here’s what he had to say…

I’m 53 years old and live in a very rural area, 1 hour south of State College, PA. I work as an Electronic Maintenance Technician in a large factory. The equipment and expertise found in our factory’s machine shop allows me to do some special automotive mods on my car as needed. I have a BS in Management and an Associates degree in Electronics. Being prior Air Force, I’ve lived in Mississippi, Louisiana, Colorado, and Texas. I’ve also lived a total of 7 years in southern Italy (I took a baby blue ’66 Mustang with me) and in Germany for 3 years.

I bought my first Mustang in 1972 for $500, it was a plain Jane Candy apple red 6 cylinder 3 speed coupe with no fancy options. Since then, I have owned either a ’65 or a ’66 all my life. I have restored several coupes and convertibles and still have a very loaded Texas bought ’65 GT convertible in storage waiting for me to work a little magic on it… I am saving it to be my retirement project.

I handle all aspects of the restorations, from the mechanics, to bodywork, painting and interior. I learned most of these tasks from reading up on the subject and then putting what I learned into use. I’ve even installed a couple of convertible tops along the way. With age, the stuff I learned as a youngster has become second nature.

My current GT, actually a clone, was bought in 1978 when I lived in Shreveport, LA for the sum of $200. It already had a blown up 351W in it and an automatic transmission. I fixed the 351w, swapped in a toploader and completed its restoration in 1980. It still wears the same Rangoon Red paint that I put on it in 1980. It’s a little chipped here and there, but is still a decent 20 footer. The interior is deluxe black pony. It sports a Scat 393W with AFR 205 heads, a custom solid lifter camshaft, a Vic Jr. intake, and a 750HP carb. The rest of the drivetrain consists of a wide ratio toploader, and a 59′ Ford 9″ rearend with 4:11 gears. I also have subframe connectors and various other owner desired modifications such as Caltracs for both street and drag strip use. The car’s best track time so far has been a 11.52@121.29

Here are some pics of Dennis and his 1965 Mustang GT: