You Ever Wonder...

"Agrajag" (Agrajag) 05/10/2016 at 22:18 • Filed to: None

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...about a cars backstory?

Random thoughts as I approached this car:

How did this end up in Pennsylvania all the way from Oregon? How did it even make it? It looks like it fought its way across the country. Neat, no passenger side mirror. Tires are in good condition, maybe they take care of the mechanical bits. That creepy lady over there is probably the owner. I’m leaving now.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Agrajag 05/10/2016 at 22:34

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I actually think about it a lot.

interstate366, now In The Industry > Agrajag 05/10/2016 at 22:41

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My project car’s backstory has intrigued me since I bought it. I got it Carfaxed about a year ago. I knew it had been wrecked once, since it has a reconstructed title, but I found out why (hit a ditch) and that it was the 2nd accident (1st one was minor). I also found out over half of its 170,000 miles came within its first 3 years (it’s a 2001) and I’ve wondered who would buy a new manual Prelude as a long-distance commuter car.

Agrajag > interstate366, now In The Industry 05/10/2016 at 23:06

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I’ve wondered who would buy a new manual Prelude as a long-distance commuter car.

Assassin.

Die-Trying > Agrajag 05/10/2016 at 23:13

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i get a pretty good laugh, when i think about the poor fool that ends up with the junk that i have enjoyed..... as in

why does this thing have 4 fuel filters?

why were the battery cables replaced with 00 welding leads.

why are there grounds EVERYWHERE

dual 3 inch exhaust?

massive bumpers??

why does it got a 50 gal gas tank?

why is there red locktite on EVERYTHING??

why is the engine the only thing that ever got washed??

good times

interstate366, now In The Industry > Agrajag 05/10/2016 at 23:14

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Probably. The backseat isn’t really usable for live people, and the automatic transmissions for them were made of glass.

My bird IS the word > Agrajag 05/11/2016 at 00:22

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How did somebody let a car get in such shitty condition? is usually a question I ask myself. It is amazing how little shits some people can give about something they use.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Agrajag 05/11/2016 at 01:22

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my personal car’s too new for one, but i’ve got a reall good one from my uncle and grandpa! First off, a visual representation of the car (not the actual car, as i don’thave any pics of it)

Yep, a 1970's Ford Mustang II; the pintostang! Now, what makes this story special is the fact that this particular pintostang found it’s way to a socialist european country, Yugoslavia!

The story goes like this: my grandpa always wanted a mustang, but since the mustang was never sold over there, he wasn’t sure he could ever get one. Fortunately for him, my uncle worked at the Belgrade city airport, and knew people who could ship stuff in and out of the country. With this in mind, he went to my grandpa and said that he wants a mustang as well, and that if they can order one, that they should do it as soon as possible.

Enter a friend of my grandpa who lived in Canada.

My grandfather wired him the money, and the exact specifications of the mustang he wanted. I’m not sure about all the exacts, but i know the list went something like “302 V8, 4-speed, baby blue outside, baby blue inside.” the friend then drove down in to the US, where he ordered the car (and paid for it in cash) at a US dealership. This was halfway through 1977.

After the car was delivered in the last half of 1977, my uncle sent a letter to our canadian friend, asking that the car be modified as parts were available and cheaper stateside. His list went something like this: “Remove emissions bullshit, performance exhaust, Cragar wheels, Hurst shifter, new carb. new cam.” apparently the friend followed through, and the little, once-anemic mustang II was now making about 245hp, according to my uncle.

Now came the issue of shipping it. That is a whole other process.

The car was driven to port on the east coast of the US, but couldn’t get shipped from there by a Canadian for some reason. From there, he drove the car to the Canadian border, drove through Canada (on dealer tabs mind you, the car was yet to be titled) and put in a container and shipped to Europe.

Few months later ,the car arrived in west Germany. There, a friend picked it up in my grandpa’s name, and put German plates on it, and his name on the title. The car was then driven to Yugoslavia, where he sold it to my grandfather for a dollar, and put the car in his name; thus making it the only 1977 MY ford mustang in all of Yugoslavia.

They got the car in April of 1978, around my grandma’s birthday, and named it ‘vera’ after her.

My uncle and grandpa drove that car all the time and everywhere. The car saw it’s demise when it was stolen from my gradfather’s work one afternoon in 1982. Being that it made about 5 times what most police cars made, the crooks were not caught until they drove it off the road at such a high speed that “when the car hit the tree, it literally snapped in two” (quote from my uncle)

For the 4 years they owned it, it always turned heads and garnered thumbs up. They proudly took it on holiday, they took it shopping and it was even featured in a newspaper article once!

Agrajag > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power 05/11/2016 at 10:42

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Awesome story! Shame about the cars demise,though.