Should I bother (re)investing into my 96 Mustang GT or should I sell it?

Adrift98

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Jun 15, 2018
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Ohio
So long story short, I've had this 96 Mustang GT since around 2003/4 when I got out of the military. For many years I didn't really have the money to keep it up, and while I still start it up a couple times a year, I haven't daily driven it since about 2015. I live right next to a nationally renown mechanic college, but I'm assuming I wouldn't get more than a grand or so out of it. Listed below are the pros and cons of the car as it currently sits:

1996 Automatic 4.6 Mustang GT

Pros:

4.10 gears including Ford Performance Speedometer Re-calibration Tool
BBK Off-Road H-Pipe
Bama Tuner with free tunes for life
New Edge Lower Control Arms (for better turning radius)
Anthracite Bullitt wheels
American Muscle, Deep Dish Anthricite Bullitt rear wheels (these are extras that I don't currently have on the car that I could throw in)
Running horse center caps
1.5" rear spacers
FR500 steering wheel
Cobra-style headlights
1" cut of stock springs
K&N Air filter (that probably ought to be replaced)
Sequential taillight kit
Engine seems to still run strong
Rebuilt transmission (from over 10 years back)
Newish alternator
Other small odds and ends


Cons:

Driver's seat is broken
Dead Odometer
Likely over 150,000 miles on original engine (hard to measure since I drove without a speedometer recalibration tool after installing 4.10 gears for years, and then living with a dead odometer for a couple years after)
Electrical issue under seat causes battery drain (possible other electrical issues from previous owner)
Very occasional semi-sloppy transmission points, mostly noticeable in reverse, but doesn't happen often
Left sequential tail signal is partially non-functional/needs replaced (in fact, probably both sequential taillights should be replaced)
Suspension sags a bit
Occasional rear wheel tire rub (probably due to suspension sag)
Rust on passenger side, and relatively bad rust inside trunk
No MIL eliminators because of H-pipe, so throws an 02 sensor light
Dead amplifier, so no sound from head unit
Faded paint, including bird dropping stains on passenger side
Some slight curb rash on wheels

The big deal, in my opinion, is the broken driver's seat, which, according to a local mechanic, is the cause of the electrical issues which is draining the battery. If I had gotten that fixed, then it'd probably still be my daily driver. In the last few years, I've gotten a decent pay raise, and am driving a new car, so while money is still a factor, I could keep the Mustang around as a project car. It's obviously in pretty rough condition, but I've seen Mustangs from around the same period in much worse condition than mine. What would you do, keep or sell?
 
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Do you "like" the car?

Do you do your own mechanical work or do you pay someone else to do it?

My vote is that it's rarely cost effective to pay a professional to "fix up" an old car. In that case you would likely be better to sell it to a private party that is looking for a "project" of their own.
 
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Do you "like" the car?

Do you do your own mechanical work or do you pay someone else to do it?

My vote is that it's rarely cost effective to pay a professional to "fix up" an old car. In that case you would likely be better to sell it to a private party that is looking for a "project" of their own.

Thanks for the reply!

Yeah, I like the car. It's hardly the most popular year Mustang, so I kinda always liked the underdog thing about it, but it being a slow auto always bugged me, and I always figured that if I were going to do a project car, my money would be better spent in some sort of classic.

I had a lot of fun monkeying around with this car. I'm no mechanic, but did a lot of my own work. I could probably replace the seats, the taillights, maybe fix the odometer, but the electrical, suspension, and paint I'd have to leave to someone else.

I guess the only reason I created the thread was to gauge whether others thought it was even worth bothering with, and it sounds like the answer is leaning no, which is very helpful.
 
On the other hand if you want to learn how to fix the things you cannot right now it could be a good learning tool, if this isn't something you want to learn then sell it and buy something done.
 
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