I've never been much for blogs, reading them or writing them, but finally decided I had something of interest to share with the world so here we are.
My name is Chris "Chalky" Chalk and I live in Portland, OR although I am originally from Perth, Western Australia. I'm a Mustang enthusiast and am particularly passionate about the '84-86 SVO. I'm a member of the SVO Club of America, http://www.svoca.com/ , where I post under the screen name chalkys_explorer, and currently own three SVO's. My black (1C-paint code) '84, strangely enough called Blackie, a red (2R) 86 bi-wing delete parts car, Wingless, (it's an SVO thing!!) and my latest aquistion, an originally silver (1E), but currently painted white(9L), 1984 SVO with T-tops.
"Wait a minute, SVO's were never available with t-tops" I hear the afficionado's say. Well to some degree this is true. Now, for those of you who are a little confused about any of this, for example, if you've never heard of an SVO Mustang head on over to http://www.svoca.com/ for a bit of a history lesson. T-top SVO's were never available from the factory. Meaning, t-tops were not a Regular Production Option on the SVO as they were other Mustangs.
Most t-top SVO's, and there are very few that we actually know of, were installed by Ford dealers trying to move these exotic, expensive, misunderstood, turbocharged, tecno four-bangers out of dealerships where they often languished while the cheaper 5.o litre GT's flooded out the doors. Again, read up for more details but it's often been said that dealers didn't sell SVO's, informed consumers bought them. Regardless, all t-top Mustangs were fitted with a kit made and supplied by a company called Cars and Concepts (C&C) in Brighton, MI. Whether it was shipped to C&C after rolling of the Dearborn assembly line, as was the case with any factory ordered Mustang, or was fitted by a dealer of aftermarket supplier, the same kit was used.
There are a few cases of Special Excecutive Orders from within Ford, and these are documented, but to my knowledge none of these cars have the TR/D codes you would find on the buck tag/ door tag of a Mustang that was dealer ordered with a t-top roof.
So, know that I've bored you with the details, lets get to the story at hand......
For those interested in rare production vehicles trawling websites like Auto Trader or cars.com is often a frivolous waste of time, they just aren't there to be found. The real jems are usually found on Craigs'list or ebay. Such was the case with this car. There is a website called http://www.jaxed.com/ that has a function called the Mash. The Mash is great because it allows you to search for a vehicle by year, make and model but it also has a filter. It'll give you a list of all the vehicles of the type you're looking for on Craigs'list nationally and also what's on ebay. Very handy for the FYI guys over on Four Eyed Pride. So you can search for SVO, and so it was that my t-top SVO was found. On Craig'slist in Fresno, CA.
A discussion was started on the svoca webboard about an 83 SVO that had been advertised. There were no '83 SVO's, but if you look at the early 84 models, the build date will be sometime in '83. In my case the door data tag says 11/83. Anyways, it was noted that the car was missing all it's original SVO specific suspension and front end peices, the interior was trashed and the driveline was missing. But it was a t-top car and the price was $800. It was discussed between a few interested parties but the price was the major problem. Securing the VIN from the owner proved that it was indeed a genuine SVO, built on 11/30/1983 with silver (1E) paint and a leather interior and was the 2516th SVO made.
Post's and PM's flew back and forward, no-one had time to go look at the car and no-one had a place to put it or the money to buy it. So it sat for a few weeks. A few weeks later, in the regular Sunday night chat session on svoca, I asked my friend, Pat in L.A., if he'd heard anything more about the car. He said no but suggested that I contact the owner and see what the status of the car was. So I sent an e-mail asking for details of the car.
The reply basically stated: "$300, come and get it or it goes to the crusher this weekend." That was Monday. By Friday I was in Fresno, CA on a 105 degree day buying a $300 basket case. The bonus was that it came with the original matching numbers engine, the trunk was full of the remaining engine parts, it came with a very rare Ford Motorsport valve cover, was virtually dent free and it'd been sitting in the Fresno desert for 11 years so apart from a covering of dust, it was rust free.
Mind you, getting to that stage had meant a frustrating week of calls to the CA & OR DMV's about getting a title for the thing as it had last been registered in CA in 1997!!! Luckily,and with help from fellow svoca members Pat, Eyelawdoc, 85ttops, fastest4d, Meotchh, 1low86svo,Horsewidower, Bendutro and other friends in the Mustang community, thanks Scott & Lois, the transportation and storage issues had all been settled and we were on our way. The titleing issues were sorted by a quick visit to a DMV in a small town, suffice to say I love grey haired old ladies, they're very helpful.
My name is Chris "Chalky" Chalk and I live in Portland, OR although I am originally from Perth, Western Australia. I'm a Mustang enthusiast and am particularly passionate about the '84-86 SVO. I'm a member of the SVO Club of America, http://www.svoca.com/ , where I post under the screen name chalkys_explorer, and currently own three SVO's. My black (1C-paint code) '84, strangely enough called Blackie, a red (2R) 86 bi-wing delete parts car, Wingless, (it's an SVO thing!!) and my latest aquistion, an originally silver (1E), but currently painted white(9L), 1984 SVO with T-tops.
"Wait a minute, SVO's were never available with t-tops" I hear the afficionado's say. Well to some degree this is true. Now, for those of you who are a little confused about any of this, for example, if you've never heard of an SVO Mustang head on over to http://www.svoca.com/ for a bit of a history lesson. T-top SVO's were never available from the factory. Meaning, t-tops were not a Regular Production Option on the SVO as they were other Mustangs.
Most t-top SVO's, and there are very few that we actually know of, were installed by Ford dealers trying to move these exotic, expensive, misunderstood, turbocharged, tecno four-bangers out of dealerships where they often languished while the cheaper 5.o litre GT's flooded out the doors. Again, read up for more details but it's often been said that dealers didn't sell SVO's, informed consumers bought them. Regardless, all t-top Mustangs were fitted with a kit made and supplied by a company called Cars and Concepts (C&C) in Brighton, MI. Whether it was shipped to C&C after rolling of the Dearborn assembly line, as was the case with any factory ordered Mustang, or was fitted by a dealer of aftermarket supplier, the same kit was used.
There are a few cases of Special Excecutive Orders from within Ford, and these are documented, but to my knowledge none of these cars have the TR/D codes you would find on the buck tag/ door tag of a Mustang that was dealer ordered with a t-top roof.
So, know that I've bored you with the details, lets get to the story at hand......
For those interested in rare production vehicles trawling websites like Auto Trader or cars.com is often a frivolous waste of time, they just aren't there to be found. The real jems are usually found on Craigs'list or ebay. Such was the case with this car. There is a website called http://www.jaxed.com/ that has a function called the Mash. The Mash is great because it allows you to search for a vehicle by year, make and model but it also has a filter. It'll give you a list of all the vehicles of the type you're looking for on Craigs'list nationally and also what's on ebay. Very handy for the FYI guys over on Four Eyed Pride. So you can search for SVO, and so it was that my t-top SVO was found. On Craig'slist in Fresno, CA.
A discussion was started on the svoca webboard about an 83 SVO that had been advertised. There were no '83 SVO's, but if you look at the early 84 models, the build date will be sometime in '83. In my case the door data tag says 11/83. Anyways, it was noted that the car was missing all it's original SVO specific suspension and front end peices, the interior was trashed and the driveline was missing. But it was a t-top car and the price was $800. It was discussed between a few interested parties but the price was the major problem. Securing the VIN from the owner proved that it was indeed a genuine SVO, built on 11/30/1983 with silver (1E) paint and a leather interior and was the 2516th SVO made.
Post's and PM's flew back and forward, no-one had time to go look at the car and no-one had a place to put it or the money to buy it. So it sat for a few weeks. A few weeks later, in the regular Sunday night chat session on svoca, I asked my friend, Pat in L.A., if he'd heard anything more about the car. He said no but suggested that I contact the owner and see what the status of the car was. So I sent an e-mail asking for details of the car.
The reply basically stated: "$300, come and get it or it goes to the crusher this weekend." That was Monday. By Friday I was in Fresno, CA on a 105 degree day buying a $300 basket case. The bonus was that it came with the original matching numbers engine, the trunk was full of the remaining engine parts, it came with a very rare Ford Motorsport valve cover, was virtually dent free and it'd been sitting in the Fresno desert for 11 years so apart from a covering of dust, it was rust free.
Mind you, getting to that stage had meant a frustrating week of calls to the CA & OR DMV's about getting a title for the thing as it had last been registered in CA in 1997!!! Luckily,and with help from fellow svoca members Pat, Eyelawdoc, 85ttops, fastest4d, Meotchh, 1low86svo,Horsewidower, Bendutro and other friends in the Mustang community, thanks Scott & Lois, the transportation and storage issues had all been settled and we were on our way. The titleing issues were sorted by a quick visit to a DMV in a small town, suffice to say I love grey haired old ladies, they're very helpful.
It was picked up the following Thursday by Meotchh and delivered at midnight the following day to 1lowsvo's house in Milwaukie, OR. I happened to be in New York City visiting my parents so I am forever grateful for their help. The following Monday upon my return the car got a thorough dusting of and it first good wash in 11 years. I've never seen so much dust!!! We did a mnor teardown of the interior and cleaned a sizeable rat's nest out from under the rear seat.
So far the discovery's are that the car is in very good overall condition apart from the parts that are missing and those that have been neglected. Overall plans for the car are unsure but I can say it will be returned to it's original silver (1E) colour on it's way to a full restoration.
More to come but I will leave you with a picture of how I found it.
2 comments:
Nice Chalky, I think this is a good idea, even though it saddens me that we are blogging, this will be a handy place to watch progress. Jeff
I love the blog chalky!!!! Josh
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