Never let your Dad babysit your Mustang…

So I will start at the beginning….Not of my life, but at the beginning of my obsession with the Ford Mustang.

My dad on the right...obviously :)

About 13 years ago, actually probably a bit further back than that, my Dad started restoring old cars. He has had many beautiful vehicles over that period of time.

My Mustang story starts in 2000. He had bought two Mustangs, did some work on both and then was going to resell them, so he could buy the 56 Crown Victoria that he has now.

At the time I lived on a very busy highway in Stories Beach, a perfect viewing spot for him to park one or both of the cars, the decision was made. They were coming to stay at my house!!

My best friend at the time and I road tripped over to Gibsons, to pick up the cars. Initially I was loving the red 66…but driving it was another story, it was manual steering and no power brakes, and not nearly as cool as the other in the daylight….

Enter…Jezebelle the 67….

I loved her….instantly.

The second I got in and started the engine, I knew she was going to be mine.

My dad on the other hand, begged to differ.

I told him as I was pulling out of the driveway, that she would be mine, somehow, some way, I was going to talk him in to selling her to me. There was never a question in my mind about it. It just was…

Now the deal was supposed to be when I got the cars home, they would go out in the yard with the signs on them…well, one of them did.

I am stubborn, and I was in love. I don’t fall in love easily and I go down hard…hell, I had already named her for god’s sake…

So with much negotiation with my father, I FINALLY convinced him the best place for her was with me. I still have no idea how I talked him into it.

He told me that I was the mother of two young boys, and there was no room in my life for a hot rod…hahahahah.  He told me it would be a money pit….he tried everything.

I am stubborn, and when I want something, I generally get it. I convinced him to let me make monthly payments on the car, and I promised I would love her like she was one of my children. I have.  I have to admit the last couple of years, I haven’t had the time or the money that I would like to have had to put into the car, but I have done a lot of work to her so far.

I have totally done the interior of the car, except for the carpet and the headliner, my Dad did that when he had her. I have done the seats, the entire dash, the door panels, and tons of engine work. I have done all the work myself, with a little bit of supervision on some of the engine work. She is now in need of an engine rebuild…I will get it done, I really will :)

I have actually thought about selling her a few times this year, but you know what? I am thinking not so much at this point, I wouldn’t be able to stand seeing someone else driving her…

So…to the Dad part…

I have taken the car to car shows for years…I have met hundreds of people and I love the crowd you get to hang out with when you go, everyone is having fun and loving the same thing!! It is a really great hobby to be involved in.

There is a really great show in Gibsons, where I am from, every year on 7,8,9 th of August. It is called Sleepy Hollow Rod Run, the show starts on Friday night, with the Rod Run, followed by a carshow on Saturday with a party at the Golf Course on Saturday night, there are drag races on the Sunday if it isn’t pouring rain out.

The year before last I went, but didn’t take my car, that sucked, won’t do that again…but this year, I vowed, I was going, come hell or high water…I got the days off work….and planned my mini vacation!!  As usual it was a great time, my best buddy Penny came and did the Friday night Rod Run with me…we laughed our asses off and had a blast, as we did for the rest of the weekend, we have so much fun together!!

So after the weekend was over, I went to the Mainland to Bills house for a week or so, I had asked Dad if I could keep the car at his house for a bit, until I found somewhere to store her.

I was sure I was going to be moving way sooner than it has turned out, and needless to say, I have milked the storage of my car. It is in his shop, so it’s kind of in his way.

So the thing with my baby, is she is persnickety…she needs to be warmed up, yes… but you have to supervise at all times. She is like me that way….

Dad, in his loving Dad way, thought one day, not long after I had left her there, that she needed to be warmed up…now remember, my Dad hasn’t even DRIVEN this car in ten years…

…no boys have….

Well one did, but it was embarrassing and I made him get out, he drove it like a girl…Jezzie goes best fast….nuff said.

Anyways…Dad got in, and warmed her up and then got on his tractor…and left her running unattended in the shop.

Apparently not long afterwards, the heroic Betty Lou looks out the window towards the shop, and sees smoke billowing out of the doors…in a panic she runs out to the garage.

Now, this is a perfect example of why I love my Mom so much, without a second thought, she goes running into the shop and shuts off the car.

Good god woman!!! You could have been killed!!!

What had happened was, the car had overheated… as it does if you let it get too hot. The thermostat is hooped and I have a dinky little fan on the rad, so overheating has always been a problem.

My dad did not know this.

Sooo, he calls me that night. Tells me his version of the story. I am nearly jamming now, my baby, who I haven’t let out of my sight in 10 years…oh my god…

After he gets me all worked up, he tells me the car is fine, I still haven’t seen it yet, so that remains to be seen, he has no idea how anal I am about my engine…

Then he decides this is a fun game…

A week passes…I get a call. “Umm…Donna? I was out in the shop working, and I had a can of spray paint that was all globby and thick, so I thought I would sit it near the woodstove to heat it up a bit, but it unfortunately blew up and sort of got all over your car…I fixed it though, I went to Ken Mac and bought a can of spray paint and just made it two toned for you, it looks great!!”

Dad…really?

Brat…

The next week…

Mom… “your Dad wants to talk to you about your car, hang on”

Dad…   “Hi Daughter…I was out in the shop welding, and I had a little accident…”

Well you get the way it is gonna go from there right??? At least once every couple of weeks I get an “incident” call … he is a pretty funny guy, I often wonder how long it takes him to think this shit up…

Today when I called him, I told him that I am going to come and get her in the next two weeks or so. Hopefully before I go back to work. I miss having her here, to dust off, to warm up…I need a fix.

I plan on taking the heater core with me, and he can help me put it in before I come home. I blew the one in the car about two weeks after I installed the new dash about 5 years ago, and you have to take the damn dash OFF to put the heater core in, so I have just never put it in. I don’t drive her in the rain or the cold usually, so I have never needed it. Now I will, a winter drive with no heat is never a good thing, and planning around the rain should be interesting.

During the conversation, my Dad happens to throw in, oh, and about your car…I wait for it, what this time? He says he warmed it up today…and it runs like shit. So, he is getting a friend of ours to come over and give it a tune up…and never mind, cause he is paying for it…really??? I love my Dad…is it any wonder why I am a Daddy’s girl? He looks after me, even when he is giving me a hard time, and razzing me non stop, like he has my whole life…I know he loves the fact that I love that car.

He has told me many times he wants to buy her back from me, but I think maybe the selling price of triple what I paid for it, throws him off a little…hehehehe…hey, fair is fair…I can play the game too!!! I am kinda thinking if I bring her back home, my luck will be that I will sell my house, probably the freaking week after, it’s how things go with me.

I know using reverse psychology on the Universe probably won’t work…but it never hurts to try. Things never work the same way with me as they do with everyone else, it is part of my charm, and I like it that way….because it certainly is never boring being in my family or living the blessed life I have…

once again…I say, lucky me :)

Peace ♥ out