Military Mustang Finale

Previously on search and restore with over 1700 man hours in the car already. Our professional and volunteer build team worked their way down the checklist with the goal of getting the mustang turned over this week.

That happens.

And the simple shakedown run almost turns into a shakedown by a woman with a B

the final week of the build means

the thrash is on

millions of wires, millions of places to hook up. We're all working on it so hopefully it won't take too long.

This pony has come a long way in just three weeks time.

Yeah,

there's a Mustang. We started with Paul Taylor 67 Mustang Coup. It was tired, it was smoking. It was real crusty around the edges. We went out there, loaded it up, brought it back to the tech center,

blowed it all apart.

Figured out it was a little bent, had that straightened out, brought it back to the shop and we started whaling metal working on this thing. A whole bunch of guys all at once.

Then we spent what felt like 11 billion hours sanding body work in this thing. So it was all straight

while that was going on, a 363 crate motor was being worked up for it,

but there's still a long way to go. We're down to the parts now that are very time consuming.

One task left for the final week was the car's wiring American auto wire made it easy by donating one of their complete classic update kits.

Hooking everything up was a group effort.

The wiring in the car has to be correct. We have to have circuits

that, um, are exactly where they belong. We have, we can't have any circuits crossed between ignition systems, gauge systems, sound systems.

Today, we're putting the doors back together, door, windows,

quarter windows,

uh, the door roller right mechanism, door latches. Many of our professional volunteers from tear down, returned for the Mustang's final assembly like Alan Shepley from Byron, Georgia

and Dave Neil from Peoria, Illinois.

I don't wanna go golfing. I don't wanna go fishing at night.

I'd better go to the shop. That's what I do to relax. Calm down

more. Wyotech Grads came in for the final button up.

Antonio. Hey,

Tim Tim

Tony

for coming

to help

30 year old Tony Vargas from the Fremont campus proves it's never too late to learn.

I was working for another company for about 9.5 years and I got laid off, you know, what, why not go do this,

you know, start off fresh start to me. I want to do

and here I am today. He's gainfully employed as a leading missions tech, but took vacation to be here and I need cutters and crimper. Thank you.

Hey, Tony,

you said you were gonna quit calling me, sir. You got it,

sir,

sir.

Hey, Dave, I'm Tony, buddy.

Hey,

man, nice to meet you man. Dave

Acosta graduated after studying a year of automotive technology at Long Beach.

We're gonna Mount B

7.5. Even if that's a little bit

different than

he had no problem finding his place. Among this shop of characters.

I have a new friend named Homer

and this man has apparently been carrying a toothpick in his mouth for quite some time.

It uh helps him stay away from, from smoking.

And so I decided that uh it was time to try and recreate his persona with a toothpick of my own.

So that's what I did.

You have something in your teeth?

No,

not at all.

I'm not

two more volunteers brought essential goodies with them. Mark Bowler, president of bowler performance transmissions donated the overdrive trains we installed last week

and Jay Roach

from power train control solutions supplied a trick paddle shifter and the electronics to control everything.

The day of the trailer queen is gone, the day are going and sitting behind your car at a car show with a lawn chair

is gone. They wanted drive, they want to enjoy

late model electronics overdrive. It's the only way to do it

because that's the biggest question is, can I use an electronic transmission

in a non electronic control engine?

The answer is yes.

You know, with today's technology, you have remote TPS, sensors, you can hook it up just as an old like ad 10 cable once you go in there and, and we do our massaging of parts and loving to the inside of the transmission we can make

to handle up to about 650 horsepower, about 650 ft pounds of torque.

And why the paddle shifter? Oh, it just gives you a way to manually shift your automatic transmission without having to touch the shifter in the console. I mean, just grab both hands on the wheel. Having fun. Classic instruments offers a replacement gauge panel for the 67 Mustang. And since they also do custom stuff, we had them go one step further. Dye the face is green to match the rest of the car

ahead.

Will the boys finish the Mustang in time for a road test? Find out

plus world class builder Chip Foose stops by for an assessment of our creation.

And as an artist, you want to show people how cool you can make something.

And that's what Tim and the guys have done here.

As I always say the last bit, putting these things together doesn't look like much to all you at home when you're sitting on your couch.

But this is the stuff that makes or breaks. The hot rock,

the brakes have to be bled. Right. The wiring has to be right. The stereo has to work, turning signals, flashers, cooling fans. All that stuff can be a nightmare

and make

this less of a nightmare are the dozens of vendors who stepped up with the high end parts necessary are a steering pump and reservoir

to give Sergeant Paul Taylor one world class Hot Rod Jones racing products sent the good stuff.

All the pumps, pulleys and brackets necessary for a Ford small block

Jones racing product stuff is really nice. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's on the car.

Paul 67 never had factory air

feels like it's 100 degrees. We need to get this air conditioning working so we can cool everybody off. So to provide a cool breeze behind the wheel,

Michael and Dwight from Classic Auto Air flew in from Texas to install a new perfect fit elite system. One of the few things our soldier asked for.

We're, we're excited to be here for that and I'm glad that he mentioned us because sometimes it's one of those lost items out of a car.

So

to actually really enjoy your car nowadays,

you have to have some kind of climate control, climate control that's fully electronic retrofitting to existing systems or in our case, a direct bolt in with little mods,

not only the National Parks Depot, send us all the sheet metal and restoration parts.

They got everything you need for weather strip, you got door, you got trunk, you got all the gromit,

the floor plugs,

the wing vent, weather strips, the window, beltline fuzzies, everything, even the screws to mount all that stuff. One stop shopping, baby

putting power to the wheels is this custom heavy duty shaft donated by Denny's drive shafts.

Now, all that's left to do is to install everything

and the clock is ticking.

Stay. So

obviously a little nervous about firing this thing up again. We've moved some things around,

who knows what's going to happen?

It is time for the Mike and John Show. We'll be right back.

You guys ready. I'm gonna turn the key. You, it's, it's time for you to shine, son

that

a canon at that point I can take it down, but it's gonna get just real rough. Idol,

something good,

right?

Like it there.

I'm gonna check all of them real quick

to take us due for a spin.

And since nature called for our build leader, Tommy and John jumped in for the mustang's first test drive.

Sorry, Tim.

He uh stomped on that. No, he didn't.

I've rode with Tommy. No, he's being nice to it. Still.

You too bad.

Do you have

any idea how fast you were going?

About

45

ft

up

here? Are you serious?

You were going way over 45 miles an hour? Just not right?

I apologize

after a couple of tweaks to the cooling system,

Tim and Steve were ready to give the Mustang a legitimate shakedown.

When you're building a hot rod, there's many little stages that really makes me excited. You see a little light at the end of the tunnel. You don't know if it's a light at the end of the tunnel or a train coming your way to run you over. But the one thing that makes us all happy when we get close to the end of the build is the first test drive when we go down the road and it actually makes it back under its own power. That's when, you know, we've done a good job.

This baby is pretty much a one off true hot Rod. It's got the big motor, it's got street rod interior, some stuff that I've never seen in an interior

and

this car could be

so competitive, so easy just because, I mean, the suspension components, the steering components. Yeah. You know,

boil over shocks.

You

step on this thing yet or what?

Nice.

This car is a blast to drive

the corners like it's a slot car. A matter of fact, I'm gonna check and see if there's a pin under the bumper when I'm done. A

lot of response is really, really good, uh, especially coming out of those corners. Uh, absolutely. No lag at all. This thing is all over itself and, uh, it'll take whatever you give it. It's uh pretty impressive.

A

car looks great. An old friend of Tim's is WD 40 S Chip Foose. This Hall of Fame designer knows a thing or two about building world class Hot Rods. We showed him video of what Paul gave us compared to what he's getting back. All he asked for was a V8 automatic transmission

and air conditioning.

Well, he's got way beyond that. These guys actually put passion into the car tomorrow morning when Paul comes in and sees his car, his response is what will fuel the next build. Paul is going to be absolutely blown away with the 67 Mustang because these guys have done a beautiful job

next on search and restore the Mustang and it to are our center stage for the big reveal. Stay tuned.

So here it is. After just 25 days in the shop, this is our take on a 67 Mustang coupe.

We've added up all the hours. We got a little over 2000 man hours in this baby, bringing it back to what you see right there.

Paul Caylor and his family made the 1200 mile drive cross country to our power block tech center.

Hi guys. How are you? Welcome, welcome.

And in just a few moments, they'll get to see their Mustang for the first time since it left their driveway four weeks ago.

This car is beautiful. It looks great. Everyone pulled together. What an awesome team to work with.

Paul's gonna love it. The thing's gonna drive really strong and the good thing is it's a drivable piece. That's what's really great about it. I think he's just gonna be astounded by the look of the car, how everything turned out.

He must be the Taylor. We are. How y'all doing? Good

buddy.

Well, I'll start with you guys. What color do you think it is? Black, black,

yellow, like bumblebee? All right,

I'm thinking Heart peak. Nah,

we won't go to that extreme.

Ok, Mike, we're ready. Bring him on down.

All right, here he comes, man. They're stoked.

Hey, how you doing? Good to see you

everybody.

This is Paul Taylor, his wife, Jennifer, Nate Christian and Jeremy.

That was the trip.

It was a long drive.

You drove all the way

and

with him.

Any worries on what we did to your baby?

I can't say that I really do. No color worries. No, II I figure it's gonna look good no matter what all these guys stand behind me are the guys that volunteered their time. Their companies gave products and a lot of these guys shut down their shop for a whole month just to come work on your car.

I got somebody else. I wanna introduce you. This is John

Bouchard. How you doing, man? Good. How you doing? Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. I wanted to uh congratulate you and your family on this build uh, I personally been to Iraq as well in the Marine Corps Infantry. So I know exactly what you've been through and we got the option to do this car. You know, we're really excited about it for a veteran and we just hope that what's underneath this, uh, cover

will give you and your family a lot of fun for a long time. I'm sure will.

So I think we're ready to uncover this thing. All right.

Sure. Are you ready to see this?

Ok.

Uncover that. Are you ready?

Oh my God, you guys are kidding me.

OK.

It doesn't even look like the same car. It is. It would be easier just to go buy another one and put a paint job on it. But we fixed your car. You put quarter panels, front end back in full floor pans in it. I saw the picture of it before but, uh, to see it in real life, uh, and actually done

is just awesome.

Wanna see what's underneath the hood.

Yeah, you could be OK. Oxygen for this man.

Oh my God.

Ford. Racing. Shore block Edelbrock, top end Jones racing, front assembly, everything new.

That is so bad.

Look at this interior.

I was in shock. That particular color wasn't on my mind

and it looks amazing.

Amazing.

Awesome,

great colors.

Amazing.

Go ahead. Sit in that thing

all the way.

Let's see if this thing will start up.

Yeah. Al Qaeda,

I think he's gonna let you drive it

so

bad.

All right, John Myers from Kicker Audio gave Paul the once over on his sweet new sound system.

And Tim presented Brian Stubs Ski's original artwork that inspired the build signed by all the builders. So I wanna thank you for all you've done for our country

for what you've done. And guys like John, we get to do this, we get to build hot rods for people. We get to work and do things like this.

So it takes a special person to do what you've done. So, thank you. Thank you, man. You're welcome.

So

now over to the lift for a look at the suspension components.

Hey, Paul, I'm Brett with Ride tech and uh we did the suspension on your Mustang

and uh

you live in Colorado. So you got a lot of nice twisty curvy roads. So this ought to be really great

here. We got the tubular control arms that we call strong arms and we got the lower one here and the upper one up there,

the

shocks you can see up in the shock tower there, big muscle bar, sway bar here. They also put you on the, the uniter

rack and pinion and the big w wood brakes here.

And then on the back, we've replaced the leaf springs with our bolt in uh four length assembly.

Amazing.

It ought to be just the thing you need.

Hi, I'm Melissa. We,

I work with

Wyotech

and it was a real honor for us to have our graduates come out and work on your car and give a little something back to someone who's done so much for our country. So thank you.

Thank

you.

Thus ends yet another successful search and restore bill.

The producers want to thank the dozens of aftermarket donors and hundreds of volunteers who gave their heart and soul to help make automotive dreams come true

and we're not done. Tim and the team have already begun searching for next season. So tell us your story

and our truck and trailer just may find its way into your driveway.

So

30.