Dream 1967 Mustang Sat Untouched For 20 Years And Mice Wrecked The Cabin, But One Detailing Later The New Owner Says He Is The Luckiest Guy In The World

Every car lover has a dream car, the one they picture at red lights and in the shower. For a man named Nolan, it was a 1967 Ford Mustang, and last month he finally got one.

A gleaming red vintage Ford Mustang parked outside a building.

It was not pretty. The Candy Apple Red coupe had not moved an inch in 20 years, and it showed. The full makeover was reported by autoevolution, drawing on a video from WD Detailing on YouTube.

Twenty Years In A Garage And A Layer Of Grime Like A Blanket

Nolan picked up the Mustang about a month ago, loaded it onto a trailer and drove it straight to a detailing studio. The car does not run and does not drive, but the tires still hold air, so the crew was able to unload it and push it inside.

Under the thick grime and dust, the paint had lost its shine. Candy Apple Red, paint code T, first joined the Mustang palette in 1966 and stayed on the menu into the early 1970s.

This is an original Saskatchewan car. It was sold new in Swift Current, in western Canada, and the first owner kept it until the 2000s.

“It Needs A Miracle,” The Detailer Says When He Opens The Door

The next owner did extensive work on the car, then life got busy and he had no time for it. So he parked it, and it sat for years collecting dust instead of miles.

The moment detailer Mitch laid eyes on the car, he said it needed a miracle. Mice had turned the cabin into their playground, chewing just about everything in reach, whether it was edible or not. Spider webs covered the dashboard and gauges.

The cleanup began outside with a power wash, foam and a rinse, which took off most of the dirt that two decades had piled on.

A Live Mouse In The Driver’s Door And A Hood That Peeled

The paint was another problem. A previous owner had repainted the car at some point, and now it looked fragile and flaky. Despite being careful, Mitch ended up peeling off part of the hood while rinsing.

Nolan was not worried. He plans to repaint the whole car anyway as part of a full restoration, which this detailing job kicked off.

Inside, the cabin looked like a rolling trash bin. Mitch found several rodents left behind in the footwell and trunk that were no longer breathing. One was very much alive, playing in the maze of holes inside the driver’s door, which was missing its interior panel.

The Black Vinyl Seats Survived Thanks To The Dirt

Then came a pleasant surprise. The black vinyl seats held up better than anyone expected. The grime acted like a protective layer, and when Mitch’s leather cleaner went to work, the vinyl came up nearly flawless.

The carpet was a tougher sell. A vacuum and a stain extractor worked wonders, but the smell stayed.

The trunk was worse, since that is where the mice seem to have spent most of their time. Mitch brought out a steamer and an all-purpose cleaner to decontaminate the cabin, where every inch of every surface was filthy.

“I Feel Like The Luckiest Guy In The World Right Now”

Polishing brought back the shine to the Candy Apple Red, and a correcting compound revived the chrome bumpers and trim. In one day, the car went from nightmare to dream.

When Nolan walked into the studio, he could not believe it was the same car he had dropped off the day before. He kept looking at it, amazed at the transformation, and he could already see himself cruising with the wind in his hair.

“I feel like the luckiest guy in the world right now. My heart is pumping like crazy,” he said.

The luckiest guy in the world still has work ahead of him. The original 289 V8 was swapped out along the way for a 351 Cleveland, and that engine has to be coaxed back to life.

A Little Mustang History For The Road

Ford built 472,121 Mustangs for the 1967 model year, well short of the 607,568 sold the year before, and this is one of them. In 1967 a Mustang rolled out with a 289-cubic-inch V8 under the hood.

The Cleveland family of V8s did not appear in Mustangs until 1970. The most powerful version came in 1971 under the hood of the Mustang Boss 351, a one-year-only street racer of which only 1,806 were built, making 330 horsepower.

If You Buy A Car That Has Been Asleep For Years

Barn finds and garage sleepers are exciting, but a car that has sat a long time needs careful steps before anyone turns a key. These are general tips from the classic car world, not a substitute for a good mechanic.

Clean first and look for rodent damage. Chewed wiring is a fire risk, so inspect the harness before reconnecting the battery.
Drain and replace old fuel, and check the tank and lines. Gasoline that sits for years goes bad.
Change the oil and coolant, and check the brakes and brake fluid before the car rolls on its own.
Do not trust old tires, even if they hold air. Rubber ages out with time, not only miles.
Take photos of every stage. A record of the work helps when it is time to sell.

For Nolan, all of that comes later. For now, he has a dream car that looks like one again, and a V8 that still needs to run. As he put it himself, he is the luckiest guy in the world, at least until the first big bill arrives.

Steel Horse Rides