As those who read my post in the 'Electrical' section know, the car suffered a 30mph impact with a guardrail Friday (the 13th, usually good days for me) and has heavy front damage (along with some wrinkles in the passenger side rear quarter from impact twisting transfer). She is wounded beyond economical saving (as she is already a half-breed Salvage-titled car). She will require frame straightening, new front sheetmetal, and the frame stubs (which the front bumper bolts to) to be cut out and replaced. Along with that, a replacement Black Dash and steering wheel will have to be sourced. In the 20,000 miles I have had her, I have become quite fond of her and have even come to like the uniqueness of her half-breed character.
With all of that stated, I am looking for a beater car to schlep around in, and will be taking the time and financial effort to fix her correctly. While into her, I will add the subframe connectors, driveshaft safety loop, floor pan stiffeners, front and rear k-member/cradle braces, and a few other reinforcements. Now will also be the time to get the other upgrades done (4.10 gears in a trac-lock unit, ASHAM8, tubular front and rear control arms (fronts with a revised ball joint location to allow for lowered driving while keeping the air strut at proper extension), Cobra brakes, tune, Cobra intake and headers, steering shaft, Navigator steering wheel with radio controls, and a few other things. Now is also the time to fix issues that remain unresolved from the last time she was pieced back together.
I see how the Mark VIII can grow on you. I bought the car to use for a driveline donor for one of my Mustang projects, but could not pull that trigger after driving her for a small time. Now that she has saved my butt AND got me home after a hard hit, she deserves to be saved, economics of it all be damned.
