So the big day of my new car’s supposed arrival was upon us.  My neighbor, David (Jack’s older brother) said he had seen a tow truck at the entrance to our housing development unloading a black Mustang.  I was a bit confused as I would have expected the previous owner to drive the car.  Another clue that something wasn’t quite right.  Anyway, about 10 minutes later the car pulled into my driveway with Frank at the wheel.  A quick exchange of paperwork took place and Frank was on his way.  And now I had my new acquisition parked in the driveway.  Talk about being excited.  I still had no real clue what I was in store for.  I proudly showed off the car for all of my friends.  I couldn’t drive it because I had no tags and registration yet.  Getting that taken care of was my next task.  That would prove to be a bit more challenging than it should have been.

My first trip to the Maryland MVA was only a bit discouraging.  For those people who don’t know, MVA is the acronym for Motor Vehicle Administration.  In most other states it is known as the DMV.  But Maryland chose to be different and call theirs the MVA.  On my first trip to that agency I waited in line, only to learn that the title to the car wasn’t clear as there was a lien on the car.  The former owner, Frank had purchased the car at a used car dealer and hadn’t paid off the loan.  Seems he was using the money I paid for the car to cover the remainder of the loan.  So back I went to visit Frank to see if the lien had been paid off and to get a statement that it had been.  He took me to the used car dealer where he had purchased the car.  At that point he paid off the loan he had taken out with the dealer when he had purchased the car from them.  Then the dealer provided me with paperwork that showed that the lien had been lifted and the title was clear.  Hurdle number one had just been overcome.

Now it was time to make my second trip to the MVA.  I waited in line, and when it was my turn the clerk looked over all of my paperwork.  He said there was a discrepancy with the VIN on my paperwork and started questioning what the actual VIN was.  What I didn’t know then, and only learned many years later requires a short discussion about how Ford used to assign and mark the VIN numbers on cars going down the assembly lines back in the 1960’s.  This is a shortened and oversimplified explanation of the process, but it will server to explain what was going on and why the clerk was questioning the authenticity of the VIN.

In 1967 Ford assigned VINs to a car just prior to building it.  An assembly line worker had the responsibility of stamping it on the fender apron.  The worker would enter the VIN into a machine and then stamp it onto the left front fender apron.  The fender had a cutout to allow the VIN to show through.  Since this process was performed by hand there was an opportunity for human error to occur.  There are many stories of Mustangs with VINs that were stamped incorrectly and then stamped again with the correct VIN.  In the case of my car one of the digits didn’t stamp for some reason.  There are two VINs showing through the fender cutout on my car, both of which are missing the same middle digit.  If you remove the fender, or remove the passenger side fender, a hidden VIN with all the digits correctly stamped will appear.  My car also has the original body buck tag and door plates which both show VINs that agree with the hidden VINs.  But when I went to the MVA all I had were the VINs that were missing a digit.  The title for the car had the correct VIN.  This is the discrepancy the clerk had zeroed in on, and he wasn’t about to let some teenager pull the wool over his eyes.  I was blissfully unaware of how any of this worked at the time.

The clerk pointed out that there was a problem with the VIN on my car, but didn’t fully explain.  This is assuming he even knew about assembly lines and incorrectly stamped VINs at all.  I have to assume he was aware that VIns could be incorrectly stamped, as I’m sure any MVA employee who wasn’t new would have run into this situation several times.  He began to question the legality of the car.  After quite a bit of back and forth he requested I take a piece of paper and a pencil and trace the VIN onto the paper by holding it over the VIN and rubbing the pencil on the paper.  This had to be the VIN stamped on the fender apron, not from the body buck tag or the door tag, which can be removed and replaced fairly easily.  I asked him which VIN he wanted me to trace as the fender apron had two (I was unaware that it actually had another hidden one).  That question only raised more questions in his mind regarding this teenage potential car thief. I left the MVA frustrated and disappointed, but planned to gather all the evidence he requested and return to get my car registered.

I went back home and made aa tracing of both of the VINs for him.  Then I returned to the MVA and waited in line for my turn.  When I got to speak with a clerk, it wasn’t the same person I had spoken with before.  He eyed all of my paperwork suspiciously.   After all, I was a teenager with more papers than I was required to present to him.  He questioned what I had, and I explained the story about the lien and the discrepancy with the VIN.  After some back and forth he also began to question the legality of the car and said I would need to bring proof from the state police that the car wasn’t stolen.  They could check my VIN (if they knew which one to run) and would confiscate my car if it turned out to be stolen.  I could also face criminal charges if I was implicated.  He sent me away to gather the additional evidence.  It was becoming even more discouraging, and I had now made the trip to the MVA three times, along with an hour round trip to the used car dealer with Frank to clear the lien.

At this point my parents tried to help me out.  They suggested I visit a different MVA location, preferably one closer to where the car had been purchased in case I needed anything else from Frank to prove the car’s title was clear and it wasn’t a stolen car.  So I drove the 30-40 minutes over to another MVA near where I had purchased the car.  While standing in line I felt nervous and frustrated.  What problem would they discover now?  Would the state police come and take my newly purchased car away from me?  Would I be going to jail?  Finally it was my turn to talk to the clerk.  I handed hum my paperwork and waited in silence.  He started looking it over and then stopped.  My heart sank.  He looked at me and asked “What is all of this stuff?  There’s a whole lot of extra papers here I don’t even need”.  I proceeded to dutifully explain about the lien and the VIN discrepancy.  He looked at the papers again and told me he understood about the lien and I had the paperwork I needed for that.  But he said he couldn’t understand why I had the tracing of the VIN as the correct VIN was on the title.  There was nothing stolen or illegal, and I certainly wasn’t going to jail as I had feared.  He threw my extra paperwork into the trash and issued me a title with no further questions.  The tags and registration would be in the mail in a couple of days.  I walked out of there shaking my head at all of the hassle I had gone through at the other location and grateful for how easily things had gone at this MVA location.

So now it was time to go car shopping.  I had some money saved, and it was burning a hole in my pocket for a muscle car.  I knew I wanted a small car with a big engine.  I had some general ideas.  Now to search the local classified ads for a likely candidate.  There used to be a newsprint magazine published weekly called The Advertiser.  I don’t know if they still publish it or not, but it was always filled with ads for cars and car parts.  I dutifully purchased this treasure trove of automobile listings every week and spent a considerable amount of time sifting through the car ads.  It seemed that the big block Dodge Darts were pretty much non-existent.  Big block Novas and Camaros were hard to come by and out of my price range when I did find them.  And big block Mustangs were only slightly more common than their Dodge counterparts.

Reminiscing about looking through the classified ads reminded me of one ad I looked at but could only dream about.  My friend Jack (the one with the Dodge Coronet) showed me an advertisement he had.  It contained cars that to us dreams were made of.  A company in Long Island, New York called Baldwin Motion used to advertise brand new big block Novas, Camaros, Chevelles, and Corvettes.  But these were no ordinary brand new muscle cars.  Not by a long shot.  They were brand new, built to order, custom modified, fire breathing versions of these cars.  They even included a written, money back performance guarantee.  Their phase III cars were guaranteed to run at least 120 mph and 11.50 in the quarter mile, provided they were driven by an approved driver on a sanctioned drag strip.  For me and a few of my friends this was something to drool over.  But of course they were priced way beyond what meager funds I possessed.  These cars are collectors items today and extremely valuable.  The company still exists, and is still doing what they are known for, creating built to order, tested and proven cars for performance enthusiasts.  You can find more info on their website.  Here’s one of their ads for the Phase III Camaro.

My search wasn’t going quite as successfully as I would have liked.  My friend Jim suggested I consider Ford Fairlanes that came equipped with the 390 engine.  He even had a mechanic friend of his inspect one for me before I went to look at it.  It was a red 1966 Fairlane GTA.  The A in GTA meant it had an automatic transmission.  Jim’s friend looked the car over and the only item he found was that the car needed a new starter.  Sometimes it would start and sometimes it wouldn’t.  Knowing what I do today that is a pretty easy fix.  But at the time to me a car that wouldn’t start consistently was a pretty big deal.  So I let that one go, even though it was most likely a much better buy than what I ended up with. The paint was pretty faded but other than that it looked very much like this.

The next car I looked at was a green 1967 Ford Fairlane, similar to the red one I had just looked at.  It wasn’t a GTA, but the owner said it had a 427 engine in it.  I remember it had a hood scoop that went the full length of the hood.  I don’t remember if it was supposed to be the original engine or not.  If it really was an original 427 Fairlane that was a fairly rare car, as very few were ever ordered with that engine.  I vaguely remember checking the VIN number, but I’m not entirely certain that was the case.  So it may or may not have been an original 427 Fairlane.  The issues with that car were that the hood and the gas pedal weren’t bolted on.  So I was not able to test drive the car.  That pretty much put an end to that purchase.  And in case anybody is wondering whether the engine really was a 427, all I can say is that the block did have the cross bolted mains unique to the 406 and 427 Ford engines.  The heads of the cross bolts were visible on the side of the block.  I knew enough to look for those bolts, but I didn’t know much more unfortunately.  The car was a dark green and looked pretty close to this one.

After weeks of searching I came across an ad for a black 1967 Mustang coupe with a red interior, 390 GT engine, and a 3 speed manual transmission.  At last, something that matched my original criteria.  I got very excited and rushed over to look at it.  It was being sold by Frank who lived in Landover, MD.  On my first look I saw a black 1967 Mustang coupe with the factory styled steel wheels and bald tires.  The paint was original in some areas and some sections had been repainted in a less shiny black.  A white tape pinstripe followed the contours of the front fenders and swept back across the doors and onto the rear quarter panels.  The right front fender showed what looked like some body damage that had been repaired.  And opening the hood revealed an original 390 GT engine.  It had a chrome top on the original air cleaner and the factory chrome valve covers.  The man selling it was quick to point out it had a “Harley” carburetor and mufflers that made it sound “bad”.  He meant Holley carburetor, which was what came originally on this engine.  I was ecstatic.  This was just the car I was looking for.  I asked if I could test drive it.  He said he would take me for a drive.  It accelerated pretty well and rode fairly smooth.  There was a groan whenever he made a left turn, but I didn’t realize what that could mean about the health of the car.  I just knew this was the car I wanted.

I was pretty much sold on this car, but there were a number of warning signs that if i had been more experienced would most likely have been telling me to either get out of there now or make a much lower offer than the asking price.  He wouldn’t let me drive it.  It groaned in the front end when turning left.  This turned out to be a badly bent left front outer wheel bearing, which after I discovered it necessitated replacement of both the bearing and race.  Both front fenders were rusted and had poor quality patches over the rust.  It turned out to be old rags stiffed into the rust holes and covered over with some type of plastic filler.  The rear quarters were almost completely covered over with a very thick coat of plastic filler.  I mean somebody had created quarter panels out of filler it was so thick.  The right front fender had some very crudely repaired accident damage, again including a thick coat of plastic filler.  Large sections fo the car had been repainted, and repainted badly.  This included the trim and emblems on the fenders which were now flat black.  The original steering wheel was in the trunk and had two of the three spokes broken off near the center hub.  Somebody had attempted to weld them back on but they had broken off again.  The back of the hood didn’t align properly as it stuck up too far.  And the trunk hinges were badly bent and the spring mechanism that holds the trunk open was missing.  I did notice several of these things, but youth, ignorance of what these warning signs meant, and my unbridled enthusiasm got the better of me.  I bought the car, but agreed to let the gentleman deliver it to my home for me.  My search was over.  But i had no clue what I had gotten myself into.  But I would soon find out as my problems began before I was even able to drive the car.

Unfortunately I have no pictures of the car in its’ as delivered condition.

So now that I was bitten by the car bug, I needed to search for just the right car.  My bright idea was to find a smaller/lighter car with a big block engine in it.  There were several cars I saw regularly that I really liked.  None of these cars were actually for sale at the time.  I only mention them because they were the type of car I was searching for.

There was a 1969 Nova SS with a 396 and 4 speed I used to see all of the time.  I don’t remember the owner’s name, but he worked at a local restaurant where my family frequently bought pizza.  It had the cool feature of having front bucket seats that swiveled to facilitate entry and exit from the vehicle.  That car was always one of my favorites.

Another big block Nova SS I saw frequently was owned by Fred.  I don’t believe it was the original engine, but he had a built 454 in it.  I never rode in it but saw it run on many occasions.  It was loud and it was fast.  It was reputed to be capable of doing a wheel stand, but I was never a witness to that feat of power. One day I was walking along one of our country roads just at the start of a short straight section that ran for something less than 1/10th mile at the most.  An older woman was just approaching the straight.  I don’t remember what kind of car she was driving, but she had an SS Nova or Camaro (I can’t remember clearly which) just behind her and Fred in his Nova just behind him.  As soon as they got to the straight away they both took off and blew by the woman who had a look of shock and terror on her face.  She looked scared to death from the noise alone.  They both had hit the gas right when they were next to me. The sound almost blew me over and I was immediately moved back several feet from the road and into the weeds. Fred passed not only the woman, but the other Nova as well.

Here’s a picture of a 1969 Chevy Nova SS.  Both of the big block Novas I mentioned above were similar but in a lighter shade of blue.  I believe they both had Cragar wheels as well. 

I also used to see a 1968 or 69 Dodge Dart with 383 emblems parked at the local shopping center every day.  I don’t think I ever saw the owner or the car being driven.  But I was intrigued because big block Darts were not a common sight.  Plus I thought the car was cool looking, even though nobody else thought a Dodge Dart could possibly be cool.  Here’s a picture of another 383 Dart in the same color.  I always liked the bulges in the hood for some reason.  I don’t remember what wheels the one I saw had on it, but otherwise this car looks the same as the one I remember.

I also felt that a big block Mustang would fit the bill. I had gotten a glimpse of the then new Mustang at the New York Worlds Fair in 1964.  Back then it was popular for breakfast cereal manufacturers to include a prize for kids in the cereal box.  Including a treat for kids ensured that the kids would be asking for mom to buy them that brand so they could get that toy prize.  My favorite cereal was Post Rice Krinkles.  They don’t sell it under that name anymore.  I’m assuming that the rickshaw boy on the box cover wouldn’t be considered politically correct today.  When the Mustang first came out Rice Krinkles included a small plastic model of the Mustang coupe.  I remember playing with that toy quite a bit.  I also remember that Ford chose to release the Mustang coupe and convertible first, and the fastback came a few months later.  So when the fastback body style was released, I had to power through the remaining Rice Krinkles so that my mom would have to buy a new box, hopefully with the fastback inside.

I also clearly remember my dad’s friend dropping by with a shiny new red 1965 Mustang with a black interior and getting to ride around the neighborhood in it as a back seat passenger.  Dad was in the market for a new car at the time so he was curious to see his friend’s car.  Dad liked it, but ended up purchasing a 1965 Chevy Corvair instead.  One factor in that decision was that he didn’t like Ford.  In 1967 Ford restyled the Mustang and made it big enough to install the 390 engine similar to the one that had powered my friend Jim’s big old Galaxie.

Here’s a picture of a 1967 Mustang with a 390 engine.  People who know me might recognize it as the one I eventually ended up with, although it didn’t look like this when I found it.

So now that I had some ideas it was time to search for a likely candidate that was within my budget.

So what got me interested in cars in the first place you might ask?  My biggest influence was my friend Jim.  I met him at high school in 1973.  Jim had a 1968 Ford Galaxie with a 390 2bbl and a C6 automatic transmission.  I don’t know if it was Jim’s skill as a driver, my inexperience with faster cars, or if that car was a genetic freak.  Jim always said the car was built in Canada and was put together right.  All I know is that when he stepped on the gas it really pushed me back in my seat.  Jim used to say he could get to any location in the county within 15 minutes in that car.  That sounds pretty reckless looking back on it, and I knew it wasn’t feasible, but that was his claim.  Several other friends also drove Galaxies with 390 engines as well.  They also could move fairly well when called upon to do so.  But Jim’s car was the one I by far spent the most time in.  It also felt like the fastest of the bunch.  I helped him do routine maintenance and other repairs on it which started my learning process.

This Galaxie isn’t the same color as Jim’s, but it’s the same body style.  Jim’s car had some damage so the body didn’t look quite as good as this one.  But you should get the idea.  Definitely doesn’t have the muscle car look, but it was a fun car for cruising.

Probably the fastest car I rode in was my friend Jack’s 1969 Dodge Coronet RT.  It had a 440 4bbl and an automatic transmission.  The car was handed down to him by his older brother.  One of our neighborhood friends was a really good mechanic and he rebuilt the engine for that car to earn a grade at trade school.  He added headers, a Crane Fireball camshaft, and a bigger carburetor.  That car would really get up and move.  I got the opportunity to drive it on a couple of occasions.  Unfortunately it wasn’t running at it’s best any of those times.  But I still had the chance to floor it (at Jack’s urging) and feel what it was like to drive a car with lots of torque and power.  I still have two of the wheels from that car in my garage.

This isn’t Jack’s car, but here’s a picture of one just like it.  Jack’s was the same right down to the color, vinyl roof, and wheels.  The hood is interesting as I rarely see it on other cars.

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At this point in time I didn’t really know what I was doing, although as a typical teenage male I probably didn’t realize that.  I had enough experience working on my friend’s cars to be dangerous.  And I knew that whatever car I owned needed to have a big block V8 engine in it.  I wasn’t stuck on the brand name all that much.  Just that it had to be a muscle car, even though I wasn’t familiar with that term yet.