Hey guys. Finding the car was such an amazing experience. It was one of the absolute coolest things I have ever done. The story would blow peoples minds. The amount of unique cars and parts would also.
It all started with an ad being posted about a 66 Shelby steering wheel that a good friend of mine seen. After that was months of negotiations and literally hours of scouring through a couple houses wearing masks etc. The raccoons had literally taken over this house and the cars. The house was falling in.
The 65 had a cover on it when we got to it. The raccoons had been living on it, but not in it. The hood hinges were stuck and it wasn’t until after I got it back to my place that I was able to get it free by using a lot of PB blaster and wedges gently working the hinges high enough until I could get a 1/2 wrench to the bolts. Original engine was thankfully all in place but had a 2x4 Cobra intake on it with Carter carbs on it. The original intake, carb and air cleaner were in the attic with the wing nut still on thankfully preserved.
I decided to rebuild the engine, suspension, brakes, fuel lines, exhaust, rearend and go through the T10 to get the car back on the road safely. I simply cleaned the interior and it came out very nice and I didn’t have to replace anything.
The Cragars were polished and new Blue Dots were added. The calipers were redone by Jimmy Grindle back to concourse specs. The car runs and drives amazing.
One day I will paint the car and restore it top to bottom. For now, it will remain looking like hell, but in my opinion different from the others and still badass.
We pulled the car out in January of 2020. I spent 6 months going through it and took it to a local show in July, then the Indiana Fall classic. I’m sure this year it will go to a few shows.
Thanks for all the positive comments. It was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life and I’m grateful to have the experience and to own 5S269 which I plan to keep for a very long time.