Chapter 1
Going the Distance
by Ryan King
9/06
A journey of 3,287 miles begins with a $1,170 payment to the auto shipper.
That doesn’t mean it has a happy ending.
It wasn’t the auto shipper’s fault. I’ve used DAS repeatedly and have always been happy with their service.
No, this was caused by a disingenuous seller – again.
The last vehicle I purchased over eBay was the ‘89 LX Sedan that was featured in the Project LX section before I finally couldn’t afford to deal with its problems and had to get rid of the shell (I kept all of the decent guts I could – there weren’t many pieces worth keeping).
I was forced to buy a Saturn recently when the Project 351 ‘66 Mustang went down...and it turned out to be a dud as well. With the Saturn going inexorably belly up I was forced, again, to find reliable transportation.
I searched for over a month with no luck.
Since I don’t have the tools or information readily available to cheaply repair one of the newer mod-motor Mustangs, I decided my best bet was to find another 5.0.
Little did I realize, the 5.0 market had exploded and people were getting top dollar for junk. Anything original and in good shape with decent miles was going for outrageous sums of money.
Money I didn’t have to spend.
Especially since I had exactly $500.
Any more than that and I was going into negative numbers and I couldn’t afford to do that either. So I did the only thing I could do: take my time and carefully hunt for a reasonable car that I could get and have running reliably and strong for as little negative money as possible.
To be fair about my difficulties finding new transportation, my focus was fairly narrow. By narrow I mean I wanted another Sedan like the Project LX ‘87. Specifically I wanted an ‘89 (since I already had all the factory repair manuals as well as the tools and parts to repair one). After a month of fruitless searching, I started dabbling on eBay out of shear exasperation. It was there I found this ‘87 Sedan.
Upon first inspection, the car was a gem – a little rough, but a gem.
Even though it appeared to be a good car, it immediately had two strikes against it. First, it was on eBay and even though this car was potentially the answer to my problems, I was determined not to go through another eBay deal. Second, it had only 14,604 miles on it and with the way the market was, it was going to be next door to impossible to get it for anything approaching what I could afford or considered reasonable for the car.
Over the next few days, I continued to return to the eBay car and noticed that people weren’t bidding on it. Out of a natural and not entirely safe curiosity, I wrote the seller to ask about it.
The seller assured me the car, other than a few spots of rust (a spot on the roof, a spot on the trunk, along the lower seam on the door and along the lower trunk lip) it was completely rust free and an “eight out of ten.”
After several emails back and forth, the seller asked me to call him if I was interested and I did. We spoke and he seemed nice but very excitable. I took this as a reason to be concerned but he assured me that the car was in great shape. We talked at length about our bad experiences on eBay as well as our shared trepidation about doing another long distance deal. When I found out he had a $6000 reserve on it, I decided to be bold and offered that amount if he would end the auction early. We went back and forth a little but ended up with a price of $6,300 ($300 for his trouble getting the car to the shipper and Pay Pal fees).
Everything seemed great. We were both “protected” with eBay and I felt somewhat comfortable with the situation.
The problems started after the car was shipped.
Day 1: September 5th
The car was delivered to the DAS shipping depot in Massachusetts a day ahead of schedule. This, of course, wasn’t the issue. I was thrilled to find out the car had been delivered a day in advance.
At this point the car had a 3,108 mile trip that Mapquest estimated at 45 hours and 57 minutes of driving time.
Although it seems like it should easily be able to cover that distance in a week, due to scheduling and truck availability, DAS gave me an estimated arrival date of the 25th.
Day 2: September 6th
From Massachusetts, the Project Commuter Mustang traveled to New Jersey...four hours and 19 minutes away, covering only 240 miles. It was nice to see the car move out so quickly (DAS says a car can sit at a terminal for extended periods of time), but a little disappointing to see it cover such little distance in a day and in actuality, they managed to add an hour and 15 minutes along with 42 miles to the trip. But it was closer with 2,910 miles and 42 hours and 54 minutes left to go than when it started.
It was on this day the problems started. I called the seller since he had dropped the car off and I hadn’t heard anything from him. I found out then that he had conveniently forgotten that the heater core had been leaking when he bought the car and had rerouted the coolant lines so the heater core didn’t get any more coolant. He also hastily mentioned that he included a heater core in the trunk.
While this may seem like a minor repair, in an ’87-’93 Mustang, it isn’t. The heater core replacement in these cars is both complicated and time consuming. It requires, at the minimum, removal of the console and dash and in this case the A/C connections. To help make the process easier, it’s a good idea to remove the seats. This, of course, depending on the complications and foreknowledge of certain tasks, such as how to get the instrument cluster out (both the factory and aftermarket repair manuals skip this step and it isn’t by any means easy to figure out by looking at the assembly), can drastically impact the amount of time it takes to do. Basically, two to eight days with the tools, equipment and facilities I have – depending on the care taken and condition I want the components to be in when I’m done. Do to my schedule that actually works out to one to four weeks for me).
This was a bit of a bummer as I needed this car ready to run when it arrived. After he broke the news to me about the heater core, he assured me of the vehicle’s great condition with only the minor, specific problems he had already covered which did not include anything I needed to take care of right away.
As it was, I considered the car still worth the expense and time because it was a low mile original.
Day 3: September 9th
After three days of inaction, the 9th was a fairly eventful day.
By eventful I mean the car made two stops.
The first stop was in Pennsylvania, the second in Ohio. Because the car was hopping states, it sounds as if it was making some incredible headway, but it really wasn’t. If you aren’t from the east or aware of the size of the states over there, then it might surprise you to find that travel time across states in that part of the country is usually two hours or less. I believe they are roughly the size of what we in the west would call counties.
It took the car only an hour and 14 minutes to cover the 67 miles to the Pennsylvania stop. Another short step, but one-step closer none-the-less. On the positive side, this stop only added another two miles to the overall distance the car had to cover and six minutes to its overall time.
Thankfully it quickly continued on its way ending up in Ohio before the day’s end – this time covering another 485 miles over seven hours and 42 minutes. Again, this stop added only minutes (11 to be exact) to the overall trip time and a total of eight miles to the distance. The day ended with 2,368 miles and 34 hours, 15 minutes left to go.
Day 4: September 11th
If you consider the number of stops the car made, this was the most eventful day of the entire journey. If you consider the distance traveled it was...well...rather uneventful.
The first leg of the trip that day saw the car into Illinois, where it stopped after a three hour and 45 minute drive covering 236 miles. The second leg saw it go 11 miles and on the final leg it went another 11 miles, staying within the comfy confines of the state of Illinois.
By days end, the travel time was increased by a total of an hour but the car was closer at 30 hours, 53 minutes and 2,147 miles to go.
Day 5: September 15th
I wasn’t upset by the length of time the car took to get to me, I made a game of tracking it across the country, but it was a bit of a bummer when it would sit at a depot for any length of time, and the four days it sat between the last stop it made on the 11th and the first move it made on the 15th was the longest layover of the journey.
As I sat waiting for my car to arrive that layover turned into a bit of frustration when its next move was only 47 minutes and 36 miles – to Chicago. I was beginning to wonder if the Project Commuter Mustang was ever going to make it out of Illinois or if it was destined to remain stuck there like Bill Murray in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania in the movie Ground Hog Day.
At least the short trip managed to cut more time off the total journey and leave the car with 2,120 miles, 30 hours and 22 minutes left to go.
Day 6: September 17th
When the ‘87 moved next, it didn’t do anything to allay my fears regarding it’s entrapment in Illinois. It continued to remain there in a place I couldn’t even find on a map. Logparchi.
Day 7: September 18th
Finally, on the following day, the Commuter made its way out of Illinois and into North Dakota. The total time and distance covered between Chicago and its stop in North Dakota was 14 hours and 56 minutes, covering 906 miles over three days.
I was just happy it made it out of Illinois and was now 19 hours, 41 minutes and 1,291 miles away.
Day 8: September 19th
Although it made it out of Illinois it quickly found itself in another black hole on the map: Tamcreek, Montana.
I don’t know where Tamcreek, Montana is.
Mapquest doesn’t know where Tamcreek, Montana is.
I’m not so sure DAS knows where Tamcreek, Montana is – it didn’t leave there for two days.
Day 9: September 21st
After being out in the middle of nowhere, two states away, the car finally shows up on the grid again...in Washington...30 minutes away from me. I was hopeful it would get to the final depot that night, but no dice.
After another three days the car managed to travel 19 hours, 23 minutes and 1,266 miles.
Day 10: September 22nd
On the 22nd of September, the car made the last 30-minute leg of its journey to the destination depot, completing a 53 hour, 13 minute journey that covered 3,287 miles over a total of 17 days.
It arrived on a Friday and I took off early from work to pick it up.
Upon first inspection, at the DAS depot, the car appeared to be everything the seller said it was...except for the rear seat back laying across the rear seat.
When I got in the car to drive it home, I discovered a third problem: The brakes were nearly nonexistent.
I made a cursory inspection of the car when I got home and found more problems – a lot more.
Way more than I bargained for.
The entire undercarriage was covered in rust. The floor pans had heavy, aggressive rust all over them. Many of the suspension and brake components were so rusted they were damaged beyond use. The rest of the components were on the verge of being damaged beyond use.
To add insult to injury, two spots I specifically asked about (the door pillar and under the air box) had both surface and aggressive rust.
I felt betrayed.
I took a couple of days to gain some perspective and make a visual inventory – carefully recording everything I could find wrong with the car. I looked over my options for getting the situation resolved and then emailed the seller.
After negotiating and getting $2,700 back, I’ve decided my best option is to push forward with the project.
While the rust is both pervasive and aggressive, I could find only one fairly inconsequential place on the body that rusted through. My current level of body and rust repair knowledge coupled with all of the components I’ve accumulated from other Mustang ventures, should allow me to save this car and put it on the road in nearly brand new condition.
The next six months are going to be an interesting test of my fortitude and dedication as I make the attempt to get this thing ready before I lose the Saturn to its own problems.
| Specifications (as purchased) | |
| Vehicle | 1987 Ford Mustang LX Sedan |
| Exterior Color | Light Grey |
| Interior | Grey Cloth |
| Layout | Front engine/rear drive |
| Engine | 5.0L V8 (302) |
| Induction | Ford EEC-IV SFI; 60 mm Ford throttle body; 19 lb Ford injectors |
| Horsepower | N/A |
| Torque | N/A |
| Transmission | Borg/Warner T5 5-speed manual; OD |
| Gears | 3.35:1/1.99:1/1.29:1/1.00:1/.62:1/3.15:1R |
| Rear End | Ford 8.8"; 3.08:1; Ford Traction-Lok limited-slip differential |
| Steering | Power assist; rack & pinion; 15.0:1 |
| Front Suspension | Independant; 425/530 lb coil springs; modified McPherson struts; 1.3" swaybar |
| Rear Suspension | Solid; 200/300 lb coil springs; Quadra-shocks; .83" swaybar |
| Brakes | Power assist; disc/drum; 10"/1.75" x 9" |
| Wheels | 15" x 7" Ford aluminum 10-Hole |
| Tires | 225/60HR15 Kumho Ecsta HP4 |
| Length | 179.6" |
| Width | 69.1" |
| Height | 52.1" |
| Wheelbase | 100.5" |
| Track | 56.6"/57" |
| Curb Weight | N/A |
| CID/Weight | N/A |
| HP/Weight | N/A |
| Gas Mileage | N/A |
| 0-60 | N/A |
| 60-Foot | N/A |
| Eighth Mile | N/A |
| Quarter Mile | N/A |
| Skid Pad | N/A |
| 60-0 | N/A |