My convertible was purchased on August 16, 1996 a mere 5 miles from my parents' house. I went through an unbelievable series of events throughout the previous 8 years to track down and purchase this car. As they say, fate sometimes becomes destiny, and I truly believe this car was destined to be mine.

This is what the car looked like on the day that I bought it. Within the first few hours of ownership, the chrome hips and pinstriping were removed, and the wheels were swapped with those from my '86 coupe.

Unfortunately I didn't get to cruise with the car very much that summer--not only because it was rather late in the season, but also because the car had a major setback.

To make a long story short, I went on a trip to a Mustang show in Atlanta with a few of my friends. When I returned, all the oil from the motor was collected in a rather large puddle beneath the front of my car. Apparently the last idiot to change the oil stripped out the drainplug and decided that fiberglass resin would help keep it in. Wrong. With no job at the time, and with little cash in pocket, paying someone to change the oil pan was out of the question. So off to the salvage yard I went, in search of a good 5.0 oil pan. As luck would have it, sitting on the motor pile by its lonesome was a nice, undented, rust-free 5.0 oil pan already off the engine---no tools necessary! A mere $10 for the pan, and another $25 for the gasket, and I was ready to go. I learned quite a bit about the car from changing the pan...and I did more than my fair share of "talking to God", as my dad calls it. But more than anything, I had the satisfaction of being able to do the job myself and not rely on paying someone to do it for me.

Over the winter I began the first physical transformation of the car. I started by painting the molding body color, as well as the grille and headlight buckets. A set of factory 14" polycast road rims were painted white as well, just to get an overview of what the car would look like.

Later on in the spring I painted an XR7 front bumper and installed it, along with the factory Marchal fog lights. Also installed at this time was a set of freshly-painted 15" XR7 turbine rims and painted mirrors. Note also the wide XR7-style side molding--this was in preparation for the side skirts.

A power-interrupt problem with the top made me force the top shut one night. Once I figured out what the problem was--a corroded Scotch-Lok connector--I finished putting the top up, then down. Well, one side went down, the other didn't...and the glass window popped right out in little pieces. So I had a plastic one made. Another life lesson learned the hard way: through the wallet.

A shot of the engine bay all dressed up. In March of '97 my mechanic and I did the HO conversion. At that point there wasn't any information about it on the Internet, and we had to go with common knowledge, a pile of parts, and gut instinct. Fortunately it turned out just fine and we learned a lot in the process. I dressed up the engine bay as best I could.

The ground effects kit was painted and applied, and made the exterior mods complete (for the time being, of course). The grille was blacked-out also.

My buddy bought me this BMW M3-style rear spoiler once, and I decided it was time to use it. Turns out it was about the most perfect spoiler I could have used. Note also the two large exhaust tips hanging down: those were part of the Dynomax CVX system we installed with the HO conversion.

The interior at this point remained largely stock. The only changes I made were the sport steering wheel and Thunderbird brushed-aluminum style factory dash panels.

The rear seat was chopped and narrowed by the conversion company, eliminating the rear fold-down armrest. They also made the side panels completely from scratch out of sheetmetal (heavy but sturdy). The top boot was a great feature too.

This was largely a carry-over year, with so much work being done in 1997. I made a set of white headlight covers for the outside.

Inside I attended to what I felt was one of the major flaws on the interior. The conversion company simply cut the factory 3-point seatbelts and made them lap belts only. Apparently this was legal for 1986 but it still didn't make me feel any more comfortable about wearing just a lap belt. My buddy gave me a set of matching burgundy 3-point belts that once saved his life in his Mustang. So I figured out a way to bolt them up, and then installed them. In the process I had to make a corresponding rear panel to cover up my, uh, handiwork. This worked out fine, as I added some speakers and a cool rear ashtray out of a newer Taurus.

This was the Turbo Coupe disc brake rear end that was in my old black '86. I pulled it before selling the car and had been working on it for about a year. This was finally the time to install it, so I painted it black, gave it new brake hardware, and added a shiny chrome cover. Installation went fine for the most part.

It was finally time to install the new engine that I'd had sitting on the stand for about 5 years. I'd built it for my old black '86 but then sold the car. The engine was too pretty, too built, and too powerful to not use it. I made the decision to drop it into the convertible. Of course, there was nothing wrong with the old engine whatsoever. It's just that...well, I'm a guy. We do these sort of things with no logical explanation.

The old engine and transmission. They looked ugly but performed flawlessly.

With the engine out it was time to repaint the engine bay. It desperately needed paint (as did the rest of the car) and now was the perfect opportunity to do so.

The hardest part was masking everything off. After that...piece of cake.

I had a buddy stop over and weld all those Swiss-cheese holes in. He and I both struggled with them; that was a pretty labor-intensive job that started out innocently enough. We both agreed that we'd never do that again. But it looks nice anyway.

The completed engine bay with the new HO motor installed. Throughout 1999 I added a few dress-up items, like the chrome air intake tubes and the chrome radiator pipes. Things were looking pretty good inside and out. Car still needed paint though, and I'd hoped to get enough money saved up for that in 2000. Turns out that fate didn't work its way for that.

I opted for more interior and dress-up work for 2000, as I wouldn't be able to afford getting new paint just yet.

I added white accents to a lot of the interior, including the door panels. This helped break up the monotony of the burgundy.

The conversion company had put the original electroluminescent C-pillar emblems in the custom rear panels...and then wired them so that they only lit up when the doors were open. Strange. Anyway, I wanted to see them so I stuck them up front in the door panels. Turns out that was perfect for me, since I have vent windows and they wouldn't interfere with the light housings. I also experimented with newer-style Ford door lock switches from a T-Bird. That panel is also covered with white carbon fiber simulated vinyl. I know, kinda cheesy but I though it was cool at the time.

I finally installed a console this year, along with the floor shifter conversion. Note the cool Motorsport floor mats; it's a shame they no longer offer them.

Out back I built a permanent subwoofer box into the trunk well. This helped me save usable space in the trunk while still having bump. I also moved the battery to the back to help with weight distribution. This was a cool idea at the time....for me, though, it proved impractical.

A great rear quarter view.

Note the sag on the rear spoiler. This was to get fixed in 2001.

My buddy had just bought Cobra R rims for his Mustang, so I got first dibs on his old chrome 16" Pony rims. I found a place online that sold blank chrome centercaps, and then I etched the Cougar logo in them.