DAY 0: Idea

Eli decided that we should buy an old car and "fix it up." Notice that he did not say "restore."  We've landed somewhere between "just get it running" and "mint."  We plan to DIY as much as possible, obviously.  After calling Uncle Ned (who owns a '56 Chevy) and Pawpaw (our car/engine/mechanical expert) we learned that step #1 is to choose a car.  This negated our previous craigslist browsing for almost anything old.

After much contemplation Eli chose a Mustang between '68 and '72.  It should be noted that I tried very hard not to influence his decision here.  I would not have chosen a Mustang.  The fact that he did choose a Mustang is actually a relief to me because now I'm certain that he made the decision on his own.

So began the specific searching.  Our purchase budget, previously at $1,000, had to be adjusted due to the fact that Mustangs are apparently pretty popular and nothing local was available in that range in a condition that we were comfortable with.  We talked to who we knew, made a post on his Mom's facebook page, scoured craigslist and ebay, and googled until we were sick of it.  In the end, craigslist won out with a local post by a fellow named Steve who had inherited a '68 Mustang coup from his deceased father.  It had ~165,000 miles on it (5 digit odometer and only 1 titled owner), a non-original 200ci straight-six, some body rust, and all the wear and tear of an "every day driver" that is 48 years old.  He had the title (and the original bill of sale).  It had been sitting in a garage since the '90s.  Effectively, it seemed right in our wheelhouse for a price of $2,200.  That price was higher than we wanted, but, for what we could see in the pictures, it was the best deal available.  We set up a time to go see it on 5/8/2016.

This day cost:  $0

Project cost to date:  $0