The Pink Mustang Waiting for it's new garage

Having a love for old cars carries with it an inherent problem:  Where do you keep them all?  For the odd junker or parts car, indoor storage may not be a necessity, but for an antique that’s in decent shape it’s a different story altogether.
Unfortunately, I purchased the Mustang without a garage space waiting at home.  I was simply out of space, and until I found more, I was forced to let the car sit in the driveway, tarped and rather neglected.  The immense rush of self-guilt that came from not having a proper garage space for the old car served as excellent motivation, and within a week of purchasing the car I started construction on a new single car garage.

I priced out pre-built garages, and compared with what it would cost me to hire a couple guys and buy all the materials myself.  As it turned out, the cost to have one delivered was with about $150 of what it would cost me to build it myself, but the delivered garage would have no windows and would be 60 square feet smaller than what I would build on my own.  In addition, the flooring of the delivered garage would be lumber, whereas if I built it myself the slab would be concrete.

We poured a concrete slab instead of wood flooring

The construction itself was incredibly quick.  It took about 6 hours to dig out the foundation and pour the concrete.  We built a slight ramp into the slab at the garage door, and decided to go with a 9′wx7′h garage door which ran $138 from Lowes.

The framing for the garage took about 8 hours, and then another 8 hours was spent finishing out the roof and walls.  For siding I decided to use a smart siding instead of T1-11.  It was my first experience with the material and I can’t say enough good things about it.  For starters, it was roughly $9 cheaper per sheet, it has a hard primed exterior surface, and it takes paint much better than t1-11 does.  If you’re looking to build a cheap shed or garage, check that stuff out!

The garage walls went up fast!

Putting up a garage like this was remarkably easy.  I didn’t purchase any construction plans, all the construction was done from memory, right down (or up) to the roof rafters.  I still need to build parts shelves in the garage and put up some finishing trim, but as far as storing the car is concerned, the mustang has a pretty new garage to rest in, safe and sound!

I pulled the interior and carpet on the 1965 convertible Mustang with the intention of replacing pretty much everything.  I wasn’t sure what condition the floor pans would be in, but I’ve patched and replaced pans in other mustangs, so the prospect doesn’t frighten me too much.

Here’s what the Mustang looked like before I got started:

(I can only pray that sticky stuff on the steering wheel is oil…)

The seats and door panel inserts looked pretty good, so we decided to save them, and we pulled all the interior components out:

(One of my neighbors called the color “titty pink” back in the 60′s.  Sounds about right.)

(The secret to restoring vinyl: If you overexpose your photos, white seats always look great!)

Next I sanded down any surface rust in the pan and sprayed it expoxy primer.  I also sanded down the door interiors and dash, taped them off, sprayed with epoxy primer, and the painted with 1965 Ford interior white paint:

(Stuffing your mustang in a big plastic bag is NOT an appropriate disposal method)

I also removed the center console and re-sprayed that as well.  The chrome on the console is less than perfect, but it is still very presentable, and at the cost of replacing the chrome, I opted to instead keep it.  I then went ahead and replaced the carpeting with a carpet kit from CJ’s Pony Parts:

(The instructions said “PRE-MOLDED”.  Technically true, but hardly “plug-and-play”)

Once the carpet was done, I reassembled the interior and replaced the padded dash which had been warped over the years due to sun and age. Along with the new carpet and paint, I also replaced the steering wheel and horn ring.  Here’s what the new interior looks like:

(Strategic angles prevent you from seeing the missing kick panel)

(Now, if only I had fixed the rear window cranks while the interior was out!)

The new interior looks and feels great!  I’m thrilled to have it done, and the only thing I’m thinking of doing to the interior now is either refinishing or replacing the gauge cluster, but other than that I have no complaints.  Having done the interior on a ’65 coupe in the past, I have to say that the convertible was much easier considering that I could put the top down as I worked on it!