My first car was Henry the Ford. A ‘71 Galaxy 500 four door hardtop with a 351 Windsor. Henry was a hand-me-down that Dad bought used for a family car. My aunt put a big dent in the door, and we couldn’t find a replacement, so I guess the “Old Man” figured I couldn’t hurt it much.
Henry was known among my friends for tossing the hubcaps off doing donuts and jumping through covered bridges!
We had a salvage, and when I turned 15 Dad give me a choice as to what I wanted to fix up. A 76 Cougar XR7, a 68 Camaro with a 350, a 72 Mustang fastback with a straight 6, and a 72 Monte Carlo with a bigblock 402.
He said they’d all be roughly the same amount of work and money, so whichever one I picked was ok with him. Those two great big valve covers in the Monte made the choice pretty easy.
I worked on the thing for a year before I ever put a mile on it. New quarter panel, door and fender & bumper. Wet sanded it all and my cousin painted it “Russet Metallic” a copper color brown with metal flake. I hunted up a set of factory Rally Wheels with rings and centers.
I’m not bragging, but that freakin thing was immaculate, and the torque of the 402 made it quick.
7mm
