Good Lord...The Mustang Aftermarket is Truly Glorious

"That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms" (thatbastardkurtis5)
09/20/2015 at 18:51 • Filed to: None

Which is good, because I need it.

There’s definitely something to be said for owning a rare car. You’re not going to see it everywhere, people will ask you about it, and the community is probably tight knit and well connected.

But there’s also something great about having one of the most ubiquitous enthusiast cars around, which is what I have in my ‘86 Mustang notchback.

If there’s a part you can’t get for your Mustang, it’s probably because you don’t know what to call it and can’t look for it properly. That happened to me the other day, actually...I was looking for what are apparently called door hinge plates. I couldn’t think of what to call them, couldn’t find them anywhere, then apparently hit the right combination of words and BOOM, 100 results on eBay and parts shipping to my door.

So now I’m just looking at parts I don’t even need, just kind of in awe of the fact that I can get them. Headliners? Sure. Quarter panels? You bet. Those little clips that hold the upper shift boot to the bezel? WE CAN’T EVEN IMAGINE NOT SELLING THEM!

Allegedly I’ve got all the hardware I need to put this car back together, but the bags don’t seem particularly well labeled. So I think I’m gonna spend $50 and pick up an interior fasteners kit, which comes with every screw I need to put the interior back together, labeled and bagged according to what they hold. If I had that, the interior goes back together in an afternoon, which would unclutter my garage quite a bit.

To this point, I’ve really only added one thing: I bought a set of seat rail extenders to move my seat back a little bit. I’ve also got a new shift lever coming...the car has a Pro 5.0 shifter, and I hate the tiny little lever it has on it. With the seat where I want it, I have to lean forward to shift, which doesn’t work for me. So I bought a Hurst lever that should bring it up about 4 inches and back 5...going to put the knob right where I want it, if my measurements were right.

I think for the money I spent on the car, this is really about as well as I could have hoped to have done. It’s all there, it runs great, and it’s cheap and easy to modify. Can’t really argue with it.

DISCUSSION (5)

Birddog > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
09/20/2015 at 19:00

It’s tough to go wrong with a Fox body.

It’s funny to think that the Fox Mustang aftermarket is as strong as it is for Classics that are 20+ years older.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > Birddog
09/20/2015 at 19:33

You’re right, that’s kinda interesting. I think maybe its because the Fox cars were born after the whole car culture became a huge thing. Like nobody really thought of 60s cars as collector cars when they were new, which is why they’re worth so much money now: lots of them were ‘just cars’ and were treated like it.

With the Fox bodies, you already know that people my age (30ish) look at those cars the way the baby boomers look at the 60s cars, so they’ve kinda gotten out ahead of it with the aftermarket. Not to mention that there’s just a lot of them that, you know, need those parts. However it’s happened, I’m glad for it; its great to know that you can pick up a Mustang that needs almost anything and you’ll be able to get it.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
09/20/2015 at 19:37

Dunno...

I think I prefer higher performance versions of boring vehicles. Stuff that you write off until it leaves you for dead.

Taurus SHO, Malibu/Malibu Maxx SS, Cobalt SS, 300C, mine (winkeyebrowswink)

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
09/20/2015 at 19:42

Those are a lot of fun as well. My dad has a 300C that’s approaching 190k miles (just did his 6th spark plug change...16 plugs per change, so he’s now sent 96 spark plugs to Valhalla), can’t beat that car. And I think it’s actually faster than his ‘94 Z28 (176k miles, original clutch), which is kinda hilarious.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
09/20/2015 at 20:24

300c was 2 plugs per cylinder? TIL etc