Bought the most neglected Cobra ever

Bought this on Copart about a year ago and have been slowly fixing it up. I've got a soft spot for this era of Mustang. This one probably wasn't worth saving, but it's well on the way. So far, it's been set to running (and well), has a new top, interior, flywheel, clutch, transmission, driveshaft, and differential (I know I'm forgetting a few things). I'll post some updated pics soon.

Speaks for itself:



Dryer sheets holding the coil packs on:


Hmm...



Gear oil soaked carpet.



Flex seal painted hood. Nice.



JB Welded injector.



And a teaser, as the car currently sits. Rebuilding the IRS right now.

WoW! Someone got their monies worth out of that one!

That’s the saddest thing I’ve seen this year. Whomever did that should be publicly flogged. Good on you for saving that car. That car could be a great weekend trip car.

TK1299 said:

That’s the saddest thing I’ve seen this year. Whomever did that should be publicly flogged. Good on you for saving that car. That car could be a great weekend trip car.

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Yep. It was a repo car. Not pictured are: (1) the broken tent spike holding the spoiler on; (2) the spray painted wheels (he painted the calipers without masking anything and without taking the wheels off the car; you can see the red paint on the IRS cradle in my picture above); (3) the neon green underglow wired with a lamp cord; (4) the orange painted interior pieces; (5) ... and so much more.

Here was the car about six months ago after a lot of work. I'll be doing paint last, trying to find someone to put a decent paint job on it for a relatively low price. What has helped is the stock of hand-me-downs from my 04 Cobra. This car got its old brakes, Bilsteins, wheels, etc.



It actually is a terrific weekend cruiser. It's all inspected and registered now; this was no small task and included a ton of new sensors, new coil packs, new GEM, and many late nights with a multimeter. I drove it to work a few times (and to my parents' lakehouse) before I took her all apart to do the IRS rebuild. Thank god I did because the bushings and other components were trashed.

Do the paint before Summer because it is busy season for majority of body shops. Busier they get the higher prices for completes can typically go up.

Being that it is a basic black color, you could also pull off doing it in portions at a time. No one ever does it that way but if you plan it right after finding the right shop you could save a lot of money. Find a shop that will do cash deals and you could probably come out of it between $4-5k

Man, what a complete disaster. The previous owner(s) abused that car to the max. The front seat "mod" had me laughing here. Seriously? But you've gone a long way to turning this frog into a handsome prince. I have no doubt the end product will be stellar. You should then send photos to the previous owner, if you can find him. LOL.

Well done. Love these threads.
I'm looking forward to updates

Awesome save, well done.

Nice work, can't wait to see the interior finshed.

If you don't mind me asking....what does something that trashed even cost? Please tell me under $2k

Wow, have to wonder how its even possible to care so little, anyway, glad you are brining it back to life

You have to put effort into trashing a car that bad. Like, it has to be an intentional act.

Makes no sense to me why someone would do that.

musclecarresort said:

If you don't mind me asking....what does something that trashed even cost? Please tell me under $2k

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The condition that car was in, i hope it was ~$500

2KBlackGT said:

The condition that car was in, i hope it was ~$500

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truth be told I'd still pass. It takes a special person to take this on. Good on ya OP

The SVT gods are smiling upon you.

Why did you replace the top? Seemed mint in that first pic?

Holy crap that thing was abused, but I think my suspension was in worse condition when I pulled it than yours. My control arm bushings almost fell out the arms and the ball joints were literally just flopping around. Scary to think I drove on that for a year.

Not neglected, it's been freaking abused. Like a Bangkok whore when the Navy is in town abused.

Stripping the floor pan of oil-soaked sound deadening:



Painted the floor pan and replaced the nasty sound deadening with Dynamat.



Removed the top, replaced the amps, cylinders, and pump. You can see the new carpet too. You can see the red spray paint that PO used to paint the trunk (?). I got rid of all of that and repainted the trunk floor.