Inspiration

I started faithfully reading Car Craft magazine a few years ago when my father-in-law got a subscription and started giving me his copies after I would pour over them at his house while we would be there for dinner, visits, etc. I loved the fact that the writers weren't talking down to you and ran articles that appealed to the car enthusiast and weekend drag racer alike. I also liked the comments, jabs and bits of humor (read: sarcasm) thrown in the margins for fun.

Back in May 2006, Car Craft ran an article about buying a car for under $3,500. This was the issue that they introduced the Car Craft AMC Rambler, a bone stock 1967 Rambler that has now become a race car and a staple project car of the magazine. The headline on that issue of the magazine was "Build A $3,500 Street Machine." At the time that a perfect story to be bringing to me. I loved old cars, had used them as daily drivers in the past, and I wanted one of my own again badly! This article only made it worse.

In that issue they also profiled a 1969 Mercury Cougar and a 1986 Ford Mustang. These two vehicles and the CC/Rambler have been in my top five favorite cars that Car Craft has profiled in the magazine in the last few years. The Cougar was also just a slightly modified stock car that someone found locally and started making it their own while using it as a daily driver. The suspension had been upgraded and the top end of the engine updated: carb, intake, distributor, and air cleaner. While I did not like the 1969 Cougar as much as the 1967 or 1968 models this one had a certain something that I really liked. The Mustang that was profiled ran elapsed times in the 12's with a later model 5.0L engine picked out of a salvage yard and other parts cherry picked off some donor cars. Both cars rolled around on good looking Mustang Bullitt wheels. Yeah...that's what I'm talking about!

What I appreciated was these cars were being worked on by normal guys that had to work within their budget and didn't have a stack of cash to throw at a car thereby putting it into the stratosphere so the normal car enthusiast could never afford to buy it. Ahhh…a dose of reality.