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Jeff & Justin R.'s Limited Production
1976
"Starsky & Hutch"®Ford
Gran Torino®
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| Jeff and his son, Justin, just finished re-building
this car. When their family moved to their current home in Oklahoma ten years ago, they saw this car sitting in
a man's yard. Justin always liked the car, but after he saw the 2004 "Starsky & Hutch" movie he had
to have it. When they purchased the car in December, 2004, it only had 61,512 original miles on it. Physically,
though, the car was "pretty much gone" from sitting in Mutt V.’s front yard for over fifteen years without
being moved. Mutt had many offers on the car from all over the country, but finally one day when Jeff went into
the barbershop, he saw Mutt and asked him if he would sell it and Mutt finally said, "yes." Justin says
he and his dad had no idea what they were getting themselves into! |
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| Jeff and Justin worked on the car several hours a day
for nine months, doing an off-the-frame restoration, to get it to its present condition. Everything in the car
is "mostly original." The major exception is the motor which was replaced in 1985, but the new one is
a 351 Windsor like the original. Everything on the frame has been checked out and cleaned or replaced. The entire
front end was replaced due to rust and decay. They coated the entire chassis with black Rustoleom paint and coated
the bottom of the body with undercoating to cut down on rust in the future. After that was done, they put the body
back on the same way they took it off, with a backhoe! |
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| The entire engine was completely rebuilt from scratch.
They put in new flat top pistons, a performance cam, an Edelbrock intake, an Edelbrock carburetor, and numerous
other performance parts. The front seats were recovered by Hicks Upholstery in Morrison, Oklahoma. Jeff and Justin
did the rest of the interior themselves, including installing the carpet, gauges, stereo, and speakers. The body
work on the car was done by Don Jones who is "one of the best body guys in the country." He was very
meticulous with his work and always replaced rusted out spots and dents with new metal instead of body filler.
The car was painted the original 2B Bright Red at Perry Paint and Body by Darren Webb. Darren finished it off with
a 1/4 inch black pinstripe around the white stripe and then clear coated the whole thing. The entire painting process
was completed in just under ten hours. Jeff and Justin painted the engine compartment, trunk, and door jams themselves. |
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After the car came out of the body shop, they were
in desperate need to find some chrome. One day, Jeff was looking at some oil wells that the company he works for
bought in Chandler, Oklahoma. On the property, behind a barn, he found a 1974 Gran Torino with all the chrome still
in mint condition. He bought the car, and he and Justin stripped it completely apart and kept all the chrome and
anything else they might need someday.
Justin says the nine "long and tiring" months of work were "well worth it in the long run."
They now have one of the rarest cars in their town and the only one of its kind registered in the state. They can't
wait to start taking this car to more car shows in the future. Great Job, Guys! |