My Red Pony – A.K.A Sally
by Dave Charlton

It all started very innocently in October 1998. A red 1966 Mustang coupe on a corner used car lot in Mundelein, Illinois caught my eye. I took it home to show my wife and got her blessing by saying, “See, honey, it doesn’t need much work.”

I drove it around a few days and figured I had something to tinker with over the winter. I found and ordered several Mustang parts catalogs via the Internet. So, I started to take various components apart to clean and inspect. By the new year, the only things left on the unibody were the rear suspension and the glass. By this time, I realized that perhaps it needed more than just a “little work.” Except for the engine and transmission, everything else was inventoried and laid all over the basement floor. I went through hundreds of sandwich and freezer bags to hold the smaller parts.

Fortunately, I found Custom Classics, and Bryan Reehoff came over to look at what I had. After I toured his shop and saw completed restorations, as well as those in progress, I decided to go with them for all the body and paint work. Once they got into to the unibody, Bryan called and said it was so full of Bondo, it would be less expensive if I could find a solid unibody. Thanks to the miracle of the Internet, I found one in Las Vegas. Pictures were sent, and we decided I had to get on a plane to Vegas over the July 4th weekend. The unibody was very solid and a deal was quickly struck. Bryan arranged for the shipping back to Island Lake and I was off to the casino. Work progressed during that summer and fall and by December 22, the unibody was sitting up on two sawhorses with an incredible paint job.

In the meantime, I had cleaned and refinished or obtained all the parts needed for the restoration. This is where the real fun starts – putting it together. So, between Christmas and New Year I assembled the entire chassis and installed the drive train. During the winter, Custom Classics finished the rest of the sheet metal and fit it all to the unibody, along with installing the vinyl top. They brought it home to me by mid-March, and I finished the assembly in early June.

Sally (in photo foreground) took gold Summer 2004 at the Mustang Grand Nationals that were held in Springfield, Illinois. At local shows, she always gets first in her class and has also garnered best of show and best paint awards. Bryan is always willing to trailer her to both local and long distance shows. It was a big project, but as the saying goes, anyone with a job and a decent credit rating can have a shiny new car, but not everyone can have a shiny old car.

And then, along came Cally (in background of photo)….

Read more about Dave's second Mustang.

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