1997 Mustang - Who Needs Enemies?

Slammo and I are friends. Last week he sent me a message asking if I could store a Mustang he was picking up because his HOA was going to put him in jail if he parked another car in front of his house. Sure, what are friends for?
Last night at 9:30 he dropped it off. 
It's a V6 five speed car. Something like 175k miles on it. For reasons that no one can understand it starts right up and drives around. It also leaks exhaust, and coolant, and water into the interior, and gas if you fill it above 1/2 tank. Probably leaks other stuff too. To say the car was dirty is to suggest that the Sahara is a bit gritty during the dry season. If it were mine......well.....it wouldn't be mine, but I'd push it out into the street and light it on fire which would be shockingly easy. Since it's not mine I just spent an hour power washing it. This is not my project, I swear to god, this is Slammo's project. Keeping in mind that he's never seen this car in the light, I present to you, without further comment, pictures of the car pre-cleaning.

I want you to keep in mind that he DROVE this car about 45 minutes to my house. No trailers, he's hard core. 

I had one of these for a short while, same color and everything. It was decent enough.

Interested to see how your storage (not project!) goes!

There's something Greek theater about the detail photos; like I found myself assuming that if these were the bits you could show us, they indicate that there must be much even worse that we haven't seen.

I was a little surprised that the full-car pic didn't look worse based on the detail photos. Then I realized that the principle here is probably that the further back you step, the better it looks. See, it looks great in this photo:

Oh muh gawd I did not even check the tires.  Guess that explains why it does burnouts so easily.  Are those holes in the trunklid, presumably for a tacky wing that is thankfully long gone?

I drove that???

Slammo said:

I drove that???

Your tetanus booster is up to date, right?  RIGHT???

Pretty sure the first thing M'zdeuce said when he saw it was "You overpaid."  The car was $300.  I'm afraid he's right.

For those keeping record, I did clean off the windshield at the first gas station we found.  Before that, there was a pile of sticks/leaves/dirt there and on the cowl.

In reply to Ransom :

Context provided by the first round of pictures is very important for this next one. 

I do admit that I have a little bit of a soft spot for V6 Mustangs. 

Ok that's a nice picture but where's the car I dropped off last night?

Slammo said:

Pretty sure the first thing M'zdeuce said when he saw it was "You overpaid."  The car was $300.  I'm afraid he's right.

It's rust-free and drives, doesn't it? Bring it up north and make a healthy profit if you want rid of it.

Yeah... Seth just turned that into a $3000 car up here in the rust belt...  maybe a bit more if the interior cleans up as well.

I’d still light it on fire if you’re truly his friend

I have a theory that pony cars both produce and amplify optimism in people.

They're fundamentally flawed. Coupes, RWD, bad sight lines, poor mileage compared to "sensible" cars. You need to be an optimist about your life to buy one. You know what they are, but you can handle it, it's all good. 

At the same time, a bad day evaporates at the sound of proper exhaust and a push in the back. You thumb through a parts catalog and you know you can save the few dollars needed to make the car better. Chicks dig it, dudes dig it, hop in and feel better. 

The car is washed and moved into the grass with it's good side toward the camera. I didn't even wait for good light, it's maroon, has crappy wheels, and it still looks good. It has the remnants of an alarm and a bunch of stereo work and being repeatedly fixed, if poorly. People keep buying this car, and cars like it, and smiling and dreaming. I should really light it on fire, but I can't help look at it sitting in the yard and thinking that maybe it has just a little bit left. I, or preferably Slammo, just needs to poke around and find it.

I feel the same way about neglected sport trucks. And neons. And.....

Dusterbd13 said:

I feel the same way about neglected sport trucks. And neons. And.....

Im were neglected neons go to retire.... 

Professor_Brap said:

Im were neglected neons go to retire.... 

Based on the stuff you've posted, I'd say you give them a second life.

I'm fairly shocked that the baked on dirt came off but the paint didn't.

Clearly, this one wants to live..

Seth,

FYI, unrelated PM sent.

:)

In reply to a_florida_man :

La la la la la I can't hear you talking about helicopters lal la la...... 

If my wife asks, I did NOT spend half an hour with the polisher after dinner figuring out how bad the paint is on a $300 car that I don't own. The cruelest thing I can do at this point is clean the car up well enough that Slammo wants to keep it. 

It's getting pretty close to dark so it was hard to take a picture. We'll see what tomorrow's light brings. 

Hijacked FB Content:

This looks fun.  In to see what comes of it. 

The best part of it being a 3.8 is with the right flywheel and factory mounts a junkyard 351w  out of a 90’s f250 drops right in.....just saying

If my wife asks, I did NOT spend half an hour with the polisher after dinner figuring out how bad the paint is on a $300 car that I don't own

Seriously.

Seth needs an article in the magazine.  Maybe even an editorial a year... Your writing style, it's captivating and interesting.  

(note, in case the editors have done this already my latest issue is sitting on the kitchen counter unopened as I've been working 12's for 2 weeks straight.)

So, the fuel leak, thats an easy fix.  <$10 IIRC.  The rubber fuel neck gaskety thing was eaten by ethanol as they werent rated for it, Ford superseded the part with one formulated to take the ethanol, so it should be a fix it once problem.   I had to do the one on my 60k mile 97 cobra. You can do it without undoing the tank straps.

To my experience, 3.8's have weak headgaskets, but that could be limited to the earlier cars. We had a '94 V6 auto convertible and had gasket issues at 90k miles. 

I'm not cleaning, I'm evaluating.