Jerry Varble: Best of Show Grand Champion Car 2016
First of all thanks, for asking me to give a little history and background on my 2005 GT. Let’s get started! Back in 2004, the Mustang was reintroduced with a new body style coming out in 2005. So my wife & I went to the car show in St Louis, and we noticed they had one on display – but you couldn’t even get close to it! We scooted and nudged toward it, and there was Terry Yates and his wife, our founder who organized our club. So we looked at it over and over looking at the dislikes and likes about it. The likes outnumbered the dislikes. If you don’t know me very well, I had a game plan on a way to modify it and personalize it my way. To this day at car shows or even at a gas station somebody will come up to me and ask me if it’s a Raush, Salleen or whatever. Then they will ask me what is a S-197, which is on the front two fenders. By the way, it’s the code numbers they gave the 2005s through the 2010 Mustangs. Look at it this way: Remember there was a group called The Mamas and the Papas of the ‘60s and early ‘70s? Mama Cass had a song called “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” and I say, “Make your own kind of Mustang.”
We can still do this for right now unless the government steps in and says we can’t. The first modification was to get rid of the ugly rims they came out with. I replaced them with 18” Salleen rims with BF Goodrich tires. The car was lowered front and back. I put ceramic-coated Ford racing headers on it with a Bassinie X Pipe. As of right now it has a straight pipe muffler system on it.
The engine has numerous parts that are chromed and has baked on DuPont paint. I made the fuel injector covers myself and had them cleaned. The throttle body is a BBK 62M twinset up along with a BBK cold air setup. The front fascia, or I call a bumper, is a Stage 3 and an Eleanor-type front grill with the fog lights that are close together, which I had to modify to fit the front fascia.
The hood scoop is a replica of the model Mustang with the turn signals built in. This is just a few of things I have done. You have to see the rest including the under carriage which I think is a big part of a car when you’re showing it. I am not shy to put a mirror at the rear end to view it when I am showing it.
Steve and Kim Strickell: 2017 Grabber Blue Mustang GT, 6 speed with Raush Axle Back Exhaust
Ron Kinder: Jeremy's Car
Before
After
I want to tell a story of a sad little Mustang brought to life! My son wanted a 1965–1970 Fastback but did not want to spend a lot of money. I had restored a 1969 Mach I. For a year, I kept looking for a car. I live in Illinois and wanted as little rust as possible.
I finally found a Mustang in the Champaign, Illinois, area. My good friend, Fred, went with me to look at it. It was a 1970 Mach I. The seller said he had gotten a divorce about 10 years ago and the car was in his ex-wife’s garage. When we opened the door it was in pieces. Parts were everywhere – even in the rafters. All the car parts were new. Fred and I have restored several Mustangs, so we decided to go ahead and purchase car, parts and all. We came up on a cheap price – so we thought!
We pulled the car out of the garage with Fred’s truck. We had a 20-foot trailer and filled it with the car and parts, which overflowed into the truck bed and crew cab. I did some of the repairs: floor pad, inter and lower fenders and the rough work. We found a guy who would restore the Mustang, and we negotiated the price with all the parts that we did not need. We loaded everything up and took it to him, and he did good work. Then, I found someone who does street rods to finish the bodywork and paint job. It was excellent!
While we were having bodywork done, my son decided he wanted more power, so I had Part Stop stroke the 351 motor to a 396 putting out 450 to 500 horsepower. Then added a 5-speed transmission and possie rear end. We redid the front seats and reinstalled the flop-down rear seat (sport deck) – what a challenge!
Some of the problems we had: Mustang Unlimited sent us a new hood with a shaker hole. The shop that did the finishing work could not get the hood to line up with the fenders. He measured the front end and it was exacted. Come to find out, the hood was 1/4" shorted on one side, so we had to order another hood. We also had parts that were missing, bought a parts car for miscellaneous clips and small parts.
Taking a car that was torn apart by someone else 10 years ago, and you put back together is an awesome feat, and we’re proud of the outcome!
Steve & Kim Strickell: Beauty & Beastly
Beauty
Beastly
1968 Mustang Coupe: "Beastly": “Beastly” was restored and remade over a 20-year period using parts and pieces either directly ordered from Ford or over the Ford parts counter in 1968. The interior was modeled after the ’65-’66 "pony interior" with a custom light aqua and white two-tone, featuring upper and lower consoles and in-dash 8,000 rpm Tachometer with trip button. The exterior was enhanced by a ’67 Shelby hood, ’68 California Special duck tail spoiler deck lid and finned aluminum taillight panel with pop-open gas cap. The vinyl top was originally dealer installed and ’68 c-stripes were added. The original 289 C-code and C-4 transmission was replaced by a 390 with 428 crank and topped off with ’67 Shelby dual-quad carbs and 427 medium riser heads, flowing through a C-6 automatic transmission to a Ford traction-lock 9" rear with 350:1 gears. Since its completion in 2012, it has won numerous awards in local car shows and Bronze and Silver awards at MCA National events.
1978 Cobra II Mustang: "Beauty": Purchased in August 2014, “Beauty” is currently under restoration. The car was completely stripped down and sand blasted revealing many unknown rust areas. It spent 18 months in paint and body and finally returned home in June 2016. Since then, the entire suspension and brake systems have been rebuilt/replaced and an upgrade to 5 lugs instead of the standard 4 lugs of all Mustang II's. The 4-speed transmission was rebuilt and all wiring gone through and reinstalled into the car. As of January 2017, we are finishing up the last of the wiring installation and preparing to lay matting down prior to interior carpet and seat insulation. We hope to have a 302 crate engine ordered and installed by the July 15, 2017, car show. This photo shows club members helping us get her home.
