1968 Ford Mustang Fastback 351W Tremec TKO Eleanor Bullitt

1968 Ford Mustang Fastback Description

You are bidding on my 1968 Wimbledon White Mustang Fastback named Leslie. Always garaged since I purchased her in March of 2000, she comes with full record of parts receipts and restoration history painstakingly and chronologically ordered in two binders which will be provided at time of sale. Car is 100% mechanically and 90% structurally restored, but will require some attention due to long-term storage. Car comes with Bill of Sale. Car can be titled easily. Buyer is responsible for any fees. Buyers are welcome to schedule a walk-through of the car prior to purchase. Please thoroughly read the description below as I have done my best to include excruciating detail from my nearly 20 year ownership of the car. The car is being sold AS-IS at its current location in Saint Simons Island, GA. Buyer is responsible for arranging pick-up and/or shipping of the car upon purchase. $500 non-refundable deposit required within 48h of end of auction. See below link for additional pictures and videos.

The History

Leslie came to me via her previous owner in NC in 2000 and was named after my then girlfriend and now wife of 11 years. She is a C-code late 1968 Mustang Fastback and was purchased as a complete shell minus engine and transmission. I began a full mechanical restoration of her starting the same year with the intent to systematically evolve her into a full-on 1G vintage racer. All bolt-on parts were removed, carefully bagged and tagged, and placed into boxes for their future reinstall into the car. The car was placed on a rotisserie where all cancer was cut from the car and new sheet metal installed where needed and as outlined per the descriptions below. All new engine, transmission, suspension, etc was installed at the same time. The car was nearly 100% mechanically restored by the end of 2005 and has less than five, yes 5, miles on it!!! In the same year, I moved out-of-state and was unable to take the car with me. Instead, I changed all the fluids and placed it on jack stands in my parents’ garage where my father lovingly started it up and let it warm up once a month for over three years! Due to health issues, he was unable to continue this ritual starting in 2008, where the car was initially started up every other month, and then no more from 2013 onward. Until last week, the car had not been started for over five years! Check out the start up video to hear her roar to life (see video; NOTE: the squeak that can be heard following startup is from the junkyard power steering pump).

1968 Mustang Fastback 351W Engine Startup - YouTube

Video will open in a new window
Using the eBay App? Paste link into a browser window:

Engine

General: The 351W engine has less than five miles on it as stated above. The rotating assembly was professionally blueprinted and balanced at time of assembly. Engine installed with new engine mounts. A compression check reveals 145-150 psi on ALL cylinders with a COLD engine at WOT. Leakage check on the same COLD engine reveals minimal difference between cylinders with a max leakage rate of 13% as indicated in pics. As any seasoned gearhead knows, these numbers are excellent and in-line with a freshly rebuilt cold motor whose cylinders have not been given a chance to be fully lapped in. Full lap-in occurs somewhere around the 100 mile mark and combined with a fully warmed engine will result in higher numbers. As such, I suggest you follow routine break-in procedure upon purchase to avoid any serious damage to internal components. Please reference the individual engine component detail below for further information:

Block: 351W, 5.8L V8 from a 1973 Ford Ranchero. Block was vat dipped and magnafluxed at time of disassembly, decked/line honed, and cylinders bored 0.040 over. Original receipt of engine work included.

Heads: Cast iron 351W heads from an earlier Ford. Heads, like the block, were professionally reworked, machined, with all new guides, valves (1.6 exhaust/1.9 intake), springs, and matching lifters/new pushrods. Original receipt of head work included. Block, heads, and intake were assembled together and deck height set/clearanced per original specs.

Pistons/rods: Silv-O-Lite dished premium grade Sniper cast dished pistons, 0.040 over. Original receipt included. H-beam stock early rods with football style bolts. ARP.

Camshaft: Melling M-select Class 1: MTF-5, 280 int./290 exh. Original receipt included.

Intake: Edelbrock Performer RPM for 351W. Original receipt included.

Carburetor: Edelbrock 1406 600 CFM with electric choke. Stock jetting. Mixture set using tach and verified by checking plug color. Original receipt included. In spite of the fact that Sta-bil was added to the gas prior to storing the car and there are two in-line fuel filters, good sense dictates that the carb should still be taken apart for cleaning and reassembled. As you can see from the pics, the carb is NEW and comes with matching Edelbrock chrome hat and filter!

Crankshaft: Eagle cast steel crank. 28 oz. external balance with reworked and balanced harmonic balancer. Two-bolt mains, line honed. ARP hardware. Original receipt included.

Water pump: Stock mechanical. Original receipt included.

Fuel pump: Stock mechanical with two in-line fuel filters between the tank and the carb. Fuel is supplied by a 20 gallon aftermarket fuel cell with foam baffling which has been mounted in a custom box in the trunk. Original receipt included.

Alternator: 100A Single-wire alternator. Original receipt included.

Cooling: Oversized aluminum 2-row racing radiator with thermostatically controlled electric fan. The fan is currently hardwired to turn on at time of ignition-on. Original receipts included.

Ignition: Rebuilt distributor with new cap, wires, points and condenser. Black epoxy flame thrower coil. High torque starter motor. Original receipts included. Timing will need to be slightly adjusted once the motor is fully warmed up since the distributor was removed last week in order to prime the engine using a hand drill to spin the oil pump drive shaft and to properly lubricate all oil channels prior to start up following a fresh oil change at the same time (see video).

Exhaust: BBK shorty headers. The driver’s side header has been “massaged” slightly to properly clearance the power brake booster and clutch master cylinder. Original receipts included.

Transmission & Drivetrain

Tremec TKO 5-speed manual transmission. Trans mounted using Dark Horse Performance trans mount. Clutch is HD with HD pressure plate. The clutch is activated via a custom-fabbed hydraulic clutch with the master cylinder mounted to the firewall and the slave cylinder mounted on a custom bracket on the transmission. I would suggest swapping the hard steel lines for flexible hydraulic to ensure greater reliability in the long-run. Original receipts included.

Stock driveshaft shortened by approx. 1” and balanced. New HD u-joints installed. New yoke and u-joint was installed at the time to accommodate the greater number of splines on the TKO transmission vs. stock. Original receipts included.

Suspension & Steering

Front end: Car has been lowered using 1” 650 drop springs up front. New upper and lower stock control arms, spring perches, sway bar with poly bushings, and KYB shocks. New tie rods and ball joints in addition to all steering linkages including a reman. close ratio power steering box. The power steering valve and components were fully rebuilt and custom-made power steering hoses were fabricated by an industrial hydraulic hose shop due to the larger size of the 351W vs. the original 289. The only component which was not changed at the time was the junkyard sourced power steering pump which will likely require replacement at some point soon as it has produced a squeak since the beginning which can be heard on the engine start up video. Original collapsible steering column and steering wheel. Original receipts included.

Rear end: New 1” drop mid-eye leaf springs with corresponding shackle kit. Completely rebuilt Ford 9” with 3.00 gears. Open (not Posi). 28 spline axels. New vent line was installed. New sway bar with poly bushings included in sale but not installed. Original receipts included.

Brakes

SSBC Drum to Disc Brake Conversion Kit installed front and rear. The front sports 11 ¼” vented rotors and rear is 10 ½” vented rotors if I recall correctly. New 2-piston calipers with pads installed. 8” dual diaphragm power booster with new master cylinder and brake hoses. I even disassembled the brake shuttle which is a fail-safe mechanism used in the event of a brake master cylinder failure to allow you to stop the car. The shuttle was disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled using new Viton o-rings. Additionally, as I was planning to slowly evolve the car into a vintage racer, I installed a brake proportioning valve next to the drivers seat on the trans tunnel. The valve allows you to adjust brake bias front to rear on the fly per personal preference and track needs. New wheel bearings. All bearing greased per spec. Internal parking brake built-in to rear calipers, though the parking brake lever which was sourced from an 80’s mustang was only prototyped for installation and therefore is considered non-functional. You will need to source new cables and fab attachment points as needed. Original receipts included.

Body and Sheet Metal

Sheet Metal: The body is straight and accident-free to the best of my knowledge. The rockers and quarters (with the exception of a small spot on the front of the drivers side quarter) are straight, true, and rust free! The car appears to have been professionally repainted once in it’s lifetime. Both rear quarters appear to have been repaired at some point prior to my ownership. Upon purchase, there were several areas in need of attention due to rust as is the case with all vintage mustangs. The drivers side floor was partially patched near the toe box. The passenger floor as well as rear drivers side and passenger floors were cut and removed and replaced with new high-quality sheet metal. The front passenger floor has a 1” diameter hole cut directly over the frame rail where I was planning on relocating the ignition system using an MSD box. Three of the four front fender aprons were replaced. Radiator support was replaced but cut as shown in the pics. Trunk floor and drop-offs were also cut out and replaced to accommodate the 20 gallon fuel cell. A custom box was created for the fuel cell and will require additional attention. At some point in time, someone welded over what I’m guessing are rust spots on the front pass frame rail (typical rust due to battery acid) as well as the drivers side torque box. Both can be seen in pics. All panels were initially tack welded in place every few inches and then a low-power weld bead was run along the perimeter to bridge the gap. It’s up to the buyer’s discretion whether to simply run seam sealer or to remove again and replace these panels to achieve a better aesthetic result, but as I have stated, this car was being built for racing, so function was prioritized over looks. The right rear tail light, a couple of small areas on the lower door skin, and small spot on the drivers side quarter will require attention. Top hats and cowls are clean; however, the driver side lower cowl was cut as seen in the picture to accommodate the clutch pedal, so new metal will be required to make this fully functional. Wheel arches are solid. !

The dash was cut out since I was planning a full cage for racing. The dash can easily be reinstalled. Pics show all detail

Body & Trim: Shelby fiberglass galore!!! The car is sold with the highest quality Shelby repro fiberglass parts including ’67 hood scoop, deck lid, end caps, and upper and lower side scoops. The fiberglass fascia is a Maier Racing one with molded spoiler, but the quality is sub-par vs. the other fiberglass parts. I also have 3” flared fiberglass front fenders as well as the matching bond-on 3” flared rear quarter panels. The hood is from a different 1968 Mustang in Lime Gold Poly. The hood itself is perfectly straight. A mock scoop has been temporarily bondoed to the hood to make a fiberglass plug from which I was planning to create a one-off fiberglass hood for racing purposes. The scoop can be easily removed with some elbow grease.

The doors are complete, but disassembled with the internal components, vent windows, etc carefully removed, bagged, and tagged.

New Auto Power 4-point roll bar included in sale.

Most of the exterior chrome trim is present and has been labeled bagged and tagged, though many pieces will require rechroming or replacement due to damage. New tail light gaskets and bezels are included in the sale. There are MANY new in the box pieces included in the sale including splash shields, hood hinges, hood springs, side markers, back-up lights, and many many more parts. It will be like Christmas opening all the new parts that come with the car!!!

Glass: All glass included is present and in excellent condition with the exception of the front windshield which is NOT included in the sale of the car. Door windows, vent windows, rear window all included with corresponding chrome trim and even door felt in some cases.

Interior and Electrical

All interior components included with the sale of the car including a partial, but mostly complete fold-down rear seat and all fiberglass panels, lights, etc. No headliner, carpet, or dash gauges present.

The main wiring harness was painstakingly checked for shorts and breaks and repaired correctly as necessary to factory spec using solder, no crimp-on connectors! Lighting and other wiring harnesses in excellent condition and included in sale.

No. 1 welding wire with lugs provides power from the trunk mounted battery to the ignition.

Literature

The car is sold with a bunch of how-to books in addition to TWO full binders, one of which has the full history of receipts since purchase chronologically ordered, and the other has ALL of the original title documentation and email correspondence with the previous owner.

Summary

You are getting a great car with a solid foundation for your next resto project. I am happy to help coordinate shipping. The car rolls, but tires are dry rotted and will only hold air long enough to get the car on the trailer.Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any additional questions that may not have been addressed in the description or included pictures/videos. Happy bidding!