General Information
I picked this beauty up in Farifax, SD last April. We were taking our Giant Schnauzer for a haircut, and were early to the appointment. We started cruising around, and, as I turned a corner, I saw the grille sticking out in the middle of a bunch of Ford trucks. I looked at my wife, and she kind of sighed. It was close to my birthday, and I had just finished up her 1966 fury III daily driver. She said if it was cheap enough, we could talk about it. She told me I could not just throw all our money into it, but, if I took it in small steps, it would be ok. She was thinking a 3 year project...
We owned a Maroon '71 sedan when we were newly married. I think we drove it from 1994-1999. I regretted selling it the day after we got rid of it. Life got in the way, and I wasn't sure I would ever get to own another one.
Anyway, I stopped and knocked on the door. No one was home. I went across the street, and the lady who answered the door was the owner's sister-in-law. She gave me his number, but said he usually didn't sell things, he was more of a hoarder...
I gave him a call, and explained That I was not a derby guy. I was planning on fixing her up and driving her every day. He said he bought it from the neighbor's estate in 2004, and he was the second owner. He drove it, and put a little money in it, but it started to nickel and dime him, so he parked it in 2006.
He said he had around $600 into it, but didn't figure it was worth that much. I asked if he would take $400, and he agreed. I picked it up the next week!
I had a couple hundred in my in my car fund, so I bought a new fuel tank, and rebuilt the brakes. My brother came to visit from MT in July of 2015, and brought a 3.31 rear pumpkin out of a '62 Dart we had sitting around.
In September, we decided to move back to Helena, MT May of 2016. My dear sweet wife told me I should just take some money out of savings and get the car going so we didn't have to haul it.
I pulled the original 360, and the bore was still in really good shape, only about .004 out, so I had it honed for moly rings, and reground the crank. I had most of the gaskets laying around from previous repairs on my truck, and only had to buy a few pieces and parts, and a new 4 barrel carburetor. I went Holley, because they have such a good price on factory refurbished parts.
I had a set of heads from my '86 W250 that I had mildly ported and polished, so I saved the J heads for later. The heads cc'd at 68.5 on average, and I ended up with around 8.7:1 +/-. I also had a 268/276 .460 lift Comp cam sitting on the shelf, so it went in.
I was going to do the transmission myself, but the repair shop in the next town over could rebuild it with a shift kit for about $50 more than what I was getting parts for, so I farmed it out. He hooked me up with a new 2200-2400 stall converter for another $100 (yes, we are friends).
I traded most of the bodywork and paint for rebuilding a hopped up 225 for a guy at church, and here we are! I drove it to Helena in March, and will have to jamb it and change the interior color when I get there.
We owned a Maroon '71 sedan when we were newly married. I think we drove it from 1994-1999. I regretted selling it the day after we got rid of it. Life got in the way, and I wasn't sure I would ever get to own another one.
Anyway, I stopped and knocked on the door. No one was home. I went across the street, and the lady who answered the door was the owner's sister-in-law. She gave me his number, but said he usually didn't sell things, he was more of a hoarder...
I gave him a call, and explained That I was not a derby guy. I was planning on fixing her up and driving her every day. He said he bought it from the neighbor's estate in 2004, and he was the second owner. He drove it, and put a little money in it, but it started to nickel and dime him, so he parked it in 2006.
He said he had around $600 into it, but didn't figure it was worth that much. I asked if he would take $400, and he agreed. I picked it up the next week!
I had a couple hundred in my in my car fund, so I bought a new fuel tank, and rebuilt the brakes. My brother came to visit from MT in July of 2015, and brought a 3.31 rear pumpkin out of a '62 Dart we had sitting around.
In September, we decided to move back to Helena, MT May of 2016. My dear sweet wife told me I should just take some money out of savings and get the car going so we didn't have to haul it.
I pulled the original 360, and the bore was still in really good shape, only about .004 out, so I had it honed for moly rings, and reground the crank. I had most of the gaskets laying around from previous repairs on my truck, and only had to buy a few pieces and parts, and a new 4 barrel carburetor. I went Holley, because they have such a good price on factory refurbished parts.
I had a set of heads from my '86 W250 that I had mildly ported and polished, so I saved the J heads for later. The heads cc'd at 68.5 on average, and I ended up with around 8.7:1 +/-. I also had a 268/276 .460 lift Comp cam sitting on the shelf, so it went in.
I was going to do the transmission myself, but the repair shop in the next town over could rebuild it with a shift kit for about $50 more than what I was getting parts for, so I farmed it out. He hooked me up with a new 2200-2400 stall converter for another $100 (yes, we are friends).
I traded most of the bodywork and paint for rebuilding a hopped up 225 for a guy at church, and here we are! I drove it to Helena in March, and will have to jamb it and change the interior color when I get there.
