The Purchase and Where to Start

I met the owner of the Mustang this morning in Richmond at 9AM.  We talked about the car for a while about how he got the car, the work done, the limited use he has had, and his plan to sell it to get a different daily driver and send his son to college.  My wife continued to talk to him as I checked under the car, all the fender wells, confirmed the VINs matched, looked at panel alignment, and then generally looked over the car rather closely.  I don't like the two rust spots I found in the paint but otherwise the car was quite solid.  I expected it to look a little worse in person and it does but not by much.  I was overall generally pleased.  

I asked for a quick drive and he took me on a drive for a couple of miles.  Everything inside the car worked and I didn't see anything concerning.  The car had not been started that morning and started without any delay and without any smoke.  Everything seemed to line up enough reasonably to make an offer.  

He wanted $15,000 for the car which was well over what it was worth.  I honestly expect it was worth about $11,000 or $12,000 mostly due to miles and not necessarily the condition.  However, I'm not super price sensitive right now and offered $13,000 in cash.  After a little hesitation, we made a deal at that amount, signed a bill of sale, and I left with the title in hand.  Within an hour, I made the purchase and was back on the road with my wife driving along behind me.  

As with the '67, I had a pad of paper beside me which I started to list ideas as I drove.  The car drove well and the only major item was that the shifter is about 2-3" a little too far forward and is a little too much of a short shifter for my liking.   

I drove some back roads home through Hempstead and stopped a retro Pizza Hut for lunch. The place is styled just like one from the 80's and has a buffet at lunch time.  It was a quick lunch and then we headed back to hit the road.  The entire trip was uneventful.

Upon returning home, I was rather eager to start on the various fun upgrades you can make to a 1993 Mustang but need to get some basics out of the way first.  Initially, I need to ensure all basic maintenance work has been performed, clean the car exceptionally well, and then perform a slight restoration of anything that is damaged.  The goal being to ensure I have a relatively stock appearing, well preserved and running vehicle.  

The slight restoration mentioned above will primarily focus on the inside of the vehicle.  The outside has been detailed quite well so I don't think I'll need to do much there.  The seats are stained, carpet is old and dirty, it is missing floor mats, and there are things I'd like to change like the door block off plates in black vinyl instead of a color matched OEM style pocket.  A nice interior is a big plus when driving around so this will be an early priority.

There are a few things that might fit into the damaged category which I'm not sure if I will immediately fix.  The one I certainly know I will is that the air conditioning does not work and hasn't since the previous owner purchased the car.  He hasn't had it checked, added any freon, and doesn't know if the system has any dye in it.  He only knows that the blower works and bypassed the header core as a safety measure (didn't leak at the time).  

The second most probable item I immediately fix is an airbag issue where a chime sounds when the car starts and the air bag light is on.  The previous owner hasn't done anything with this but believes it simply involves unplugging something behind the AC.  I researched it a bit and it isn't hard but takes some time.  Removing the box stops the issue but also stops the air bag system from functioning. 

What I expect I'll wait to handle is the loose and sagging headliner.  This will take some work as all the interior panels must be removed to take it out.  The headliner board is fragile and tends to break when removed so many replace it with an ABS version that is over $300.  With the other things I need to handle first, this will probably end up waiting.