hi! i got a fox body and thought id join the forums.

sure. when i was younger i used to have nissan s13s. no drift setups for me, i used to run it at track days on road courses, primarily buttonwillow, with the goal of being faster.

i transitioned to kart racing as i wanted to actually race and not just drive laps. i sold my s13 to fund the racing and i bought a 93 gt mustang from my dad as my daily driver for 2500 bucks. it was beautiful and all stock at 63k miles. then i hit a giant deer.

the accident destroyed the car. mangled the front bumper, radiator, fan etc, headlight, front suspension, dented the frame etc. at the time the damage far exceeded the value of the car. i ended up giving it to a buddy who said he wanted to work on it and he ended up letting it sit at his parents for 5 years. he moved and eventually his parents moved and left the car and the next 15 years is a mystery.

last month i got a letter in the mail that said i had a car in impound and that if i didnt get it out they would keep it to pay for the fees. i called and explained the situation and they said i could pay the fees and have it or they would keep it. either way the guy who got it impounded would never be able to get it out.

the guy had changed the plates on the car to a different mustang and was pulled over doing donuts and had a suspended license etc. and apparently was arrested on a warrant. at least thats what the tow truck guy said, i have no idea. that was a terrible idea for him because the windshield was just as smashed as when i crashed it and there is zero chance any cop would see him and not pull him over.

i go to see the car and it is rough, it is extremely rough, but theres some great signs. theres a 5 lug conversion, theres some decent wheels, theres the cobra brakes. the windshield is smashed but the fender and bumper had been replaced. the hood is incredibly ugly and ziptied down and the guy wouldnt let me cut the zipties to see the engine.

i decided to pay the fees, 1400 bucks, and pay the 900 dollars of back registration and get my car back. it was my dads car after all and he died a couple of years ago so that was a motivating factor as well.

i wasnt sure if i needed to tow it to my house or not, but we ended up getting it started with a screwdriver and it sounded great coming out of the straight pipes. it sounded like there was an aftermarket cam but i thought it might just not be running very well. i drove the mystery car back 10 miles to my house and it ran great. it started to overheat towards the end once i got off the freeway, which ended up being an electric fan not coming on. i hardwired it to the battery with a switch and the cooling is fine.

the car is sort of a mystery. it has the cobra intake, headers and exhaust, some eddelbrock valve covers and idk what else. some different cam, i cant identify it by the rythm though. im not sure how to identify if the head is stock. theres a giant radiator, after market ignition etc. theres the disk brake conversion, its lowered and has camber plates. the car makes a decent amount of power, id guess 300hp.

it is ugly, the headlights are incredibly ugly one piece units that receive power but the bulbs dont work. the cowl, the part between the hood and windshield, is the most mangled part of the car and doesnt allow the hood to go up without rubbing. not sure what im gonna do about that. you can only start it with a screwdriver. there was no gas cap for some reason.

theres a lot of good and a lot of bad. i feel very bad for whoever put the work into the car though. i am however glad to have it back.

i am typing this on a computer and have pics on my phone, i will upload them later.

will do. i only have some night photos of it and you cant see some of the issues very well. im going where ive got it to do some work on it and ill take some more pics this weekend.

FastDriver said:

Got a smokin' deal, IMO. The engine alone is worth what you paid. The Cobra intake, especially if it's pre-chinesium, is worth $600-800. The 5-lug & Cobra brakes is one of the best things that can be done to make the car more liveable.

Similarly, after ~5 years, I recently got my old H/C/I car back (link). Got it for $3,800 in the Summer of '22. Definitely could have flipped it and made a quick few grand. Instead, I chose to turn it into my daily & an occasional auto-crosser. Now, a few hundred hours of work & many thousands of dollars later I know if I sold it, I'd lose most of the money and all of the labor I've dumped into it, but that's not a problem because it puts a smile on my face every day before & after work. I will continue to dump funds & time into it until it's exactly what I want.

So, good luck to ya. I wish you as much fun as I've had, and hopefully, the struggles with restoration will be minimal. I know the guys on the board will appreciate seeing your progress and with the combined knowledge here, you won't run into much that we haven't already seen. Please start a Progress Thread in the 79-95 Talk Forum, and start with the pics you just mentioned.

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i am not sure what chinesium means.

yeah i already did. that was the moment i opened it up. there was two sitting on a header.

in fact that makes me think they got it impounded right after they got it fired up. there was no damage to it at all. also the belts looked brand new.

i will document the process. thanks for all of the feedback.