Newsletter published monthly for MUSTANGS & FORDS OF THE DAKOTAS car club. Meetings are held 4th Sunday of the month, 7 p.m. Unless noted in the newsletter! President: Ken Lammers - 323-9322 1618 Houston Dr, Bismarck, ND 58501 Email: klatlm@bis.midco.net Vice President: Mike Conmy 224-0169 Treasurer: Patty Owens - 391-9158 3042 Deerlodge Drive, Bismarck, ND 58504 Email: patiosjunk@hotmail.com Editor: Scott Mason - 471-8580 Email: smason66@gmail.com Website: http://clubs.hemmings.com/mfd Club Sponsor: Presidents Message Thanks to all who showed up at Rock n 50s for last Novembers meeting. It was a good time and we had some great food. Thanks for reserving a spot for us Darwin. We discussed future meetings and our annual Holiday party. We will not have a meeting in December so before I forget I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year. I hope your travels are safe. It is time to get ready for next year. We will start it off with a bang. Our next meeting will be January 26 2013 at 6:00 pm at Midway Lanes. This is our annual party and they are always a blast. The club is providing Chili, Soup and Bread bowls. We are asking members to bring hors d'oeuvres (appetizers) or desserts to share. Brian will be hosting Trivia this year, we will have a silent auction so please bring items that you wish to donate. This is a big fundraiser for the club so anything helps. We will be having a gag gift exchange again this year so please be creative and lets have some fun. Drinks and beverages are on your own. We will have some lanes reserved so bring your bowling gear. If it is anything like last year, I can hardly wait. February meeting is set for Sunday 2-24-2013 at 7:00 pm at ABRA. If anyone can arrange a shop tour or something else, please let me know. Again, Best wishes for the Holiday Season. Ken Lammers Those who would like to submit a members Ride/Profile, Please sumbit to Scott. My address is 1501 3 rd Ave NW, Mandan, ND 58554. The forms are available, ask. Or Email: smason66@gmail.com MFD on Facebook! Search for Mustangs & Fords of the Dakotas. You can check out member's pictures, and club information MFD Website Check out the website that Bryan Reinhardt put together! Go to: http://clubs.hemmings.com/mfd There is now a link to the Club Sponsors on the MFD website. Check it out! Please feel free to add the MFD link to any website that you may have.
Classifieds Free to members. Contact Scott At smason66@gmail.com 2013 Calendars For Sale: 1967 Ford 289 Engine, 1966 Air Conditioner parts Please call Eldy Herman at 223-5221 for details Wanted: I am looking for a Ford 8* posi-traction differential for my 1975 Comet. Gear ratio is not important but the posi unit is. Please let me know what you have. Call Ken at 701-226-1389. I am also looking for a 4 barrel manifold and Carb for a 302 if anyone has one they want to get rid of. Aftermarket preferred. For Sale: 1957 Ford F-100 long box pickup. It is complete & would make a good resto project. Call Les Miller, Hazen, 748-2709. The 2013 calendars are available for purchasing. They make great gifts. Get them at the meetings for $7.00 MFD Clothing Capital A'Fair Show Shirts ($10) MFD Polo Shirts ($17) If anyone wants to purchase clothing, contact Patty Owens at patiosjunk@hotmail.com or 701-391-9158.
This Guy s Garage: Barn Find 1964 Mercury Comet By: Ken Lammers President Well, we all know the same old story, I wasn t looking for a project until I found this one It is a disease we car nuts have and it is UN curable. I was perfectly content with my old 1952 Ford F1 I bought at Buggies and Blues last year. It was coming along and I had no intentions of ever selling it. I just had everything running and was looking forward to driving it on Cruise nights and to club events. Rat Rod is what I had in mind. Then a vendor of mine said one day while I was at the shop Ken, you got to look at this picture of this car I found for sale. I said abruptly, No Steve, I don t need any more cars. I m full. Steve then said again No Ken you have to look at this picture. I again replied, No Steve I am not interested. I got all that I need. Well, after that, I was curious. What is he trying to show me? I told Steve, Ok show me the picture. He showed me the picture of this 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente 2 door hardtop. My heart stopped and I immediately went into buyer mode. Steve told me his brother was thinking about buying this car but he was kind of holding out for a Ranchero. He said that this Comet did not have a motor and tranny but it has 2 motors and all the parts. Steve said he would let me know on Monday what his brother decided. This was on a Friday. I informed Steve to please let me know ASAP on his decision as I did not want to let this one slip away. Steve looked and me and said I thought you were not interested and smiled This is how this disease starts and believe me it consumes you right from the start. I was pacing all weekend waiting for Monday to come around. I could not get my mind off this car. My very first car was a 1965 Mercury Comet Caliente 2 door hardtop. After I had sold this many years ago it took me 13 years to find another one. My second car was a 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente Convertible. V8 4 speed car. It was in pretty rough shape so like a dumb kid I parted it out. So now, 31 years later another pops up on the Radar. What am I going to do? Say No? Not. I know it s not a convertible but beggars can t be choosey. Back to the story. Well Monday comes around and I give can t wait any longer. I call Steve on my way to work and ask him about the car. He tells me his brother is going to pass. SCORE!!! I thought. So I asked Steve all the usual questions: Where can I see it, who do I call and so on. I immediately called the person who owned the car and as luck would have it, Voicemail. I left a message, I texted him a message. Steve did tell me where the car was at so I immediately went over to look at the car. This is what I found: I had to have it!!!
I finally got ahold of the Mike the owner and went over the details of the deal. Mike told me the engine started using oil and he pulled it out 3 years ago and just never got around to putting it back together. He said the car comes with 2 motors. A 260 and a 289. He said the engine would have to be rebuilt, but he has all the parts that go along with it. As you can see in the trunk photo, I had just hit the Junkyard Jackpot. In the Trunk was the T10 4 Speed, a Hurst Shifter with Linkage, a Edelbrock Torker Intake, a Holley 600 4 barrel, Headers, Mr. Gasket hood Scoop with Linkage and much more. The interior had high back seat, black vinyl with crushed velvet interior. As I walked around the car I noticed that every piece of trim was intact and in good condition. I noticed the wheel wells had been arched and cut for bigger tires. No concern for a body guy. I noticed some minor rust on the lower quarter panels, Again, no big deal to me. I noticed the old school traction bars, the original 14 magnum 500 wheels with caps, the Sun tach and gauges that were installed in the dash. I noticed that the floorboards were intact from what I could tell as all 4 tires were flat. I loved everything I seen. I thought to myself, This is the car I would have loved to have back in high school. I took some photos and went back to work. I spoke to the seller again and he forgot to tell me that the car even came with the original hood and exhaust also. BONUS!!! How can this get any better you ask? Still in shock over this whole deal, I wanted to make sure I was not missing something here. Sometimes things are too good to be true. So I called my VP Mike Conmy. I asked Mike if he has some time to look at something with me. I gave him the scoop and like always, he made the time to look at it with me. Well by the expression on his face, I knew I found a good deal. Not being much of a mechanic, I showed Mike the Trunk Parts bin and we took a quick inventory. We brainstormed a little to see what we needed and what we could reuse. Then the final question was asked to Mike, What do you think? Can we get it to run without spending thousands of dollars? Mike reply was No problem. It was set. The car was mine. Now the next problem, I have a 1952 Ford F1 that I have to sell. Damn, I have not even driven it yet. Do I really want to sell it? Well, that question was immediately squashed as this was a Comet and in my world, Comets Rule. That was the end of that. Oh yea, the next problem. I had to tell Linda I was buying another car. As you just read, TELL not ASK. That s a first. She knows how I am with Comets so she backed me all the way as she usually does. What a great person. Problems solved for now.
Mike agreed to help me recover the car and get it to my house. Mike aired up the tires and they held pressure. By the time I got there, Mike already had it loaded on the trailer. What a guy. We got to looking at this now that the body was out of the dirt and she appeared pretty solid throughout. I did notice though that there were no lock cylinders, ignition cylinder or trunk lock cylinder or keys. I was told by the seller that someone tried to break in so he had to have them recoded. He said he had them but they were not to be found. No big deal, until you have to try and find a trunk lock cylinder assembly for a 1964 Comet. Thank God for Desert Valley Auto parts in Phoenix AZ. Mike came and the deal was done. Now to get it home! I asked some questions to Mike before we left about the rear end. He told me that this was not the original rear end but it was a 9 inch 370 geared open. BONUS AGAIN!!! This keeps getting better and better. We stopped by the local car wash and spent about 15 dollars in quarters to wash away 3 years of gunk from sitting outside. I figured the body and paint would have to be redone anyways but after a little polishing, she did not look too bad. Another Bonus! I figured we would have to go through the brake system anyways but when we rolled it off the trailer the Brake pedal was hard and the car stopped? Come to find out, Mike had gone through the entire Brake system before he parked it. Another Bonus! As this deal was happening, I browsed Bis Man looking for parts. Just my luck I found a 1984 302 that only had 40,000 miles on it. I made the call and the same day I had a donor motor. This thing is falling together. Long story short, I had no problem selling the 1952 F1 Truck. I wish I had 10 more to sell just like it. The Comet went under repairs. Sure we have had a few problems along the way but nothing that can t be fixed. This project would have never been possible without the help from Mike Conmy. I am truly grateful his help. Mike is the guy when it comes to engines. Thank you again. We took her out for her first test drive on Saturday November 17. She runs awesome. We still got some details to work out but overall it was quite a find. So the next time someone wants to show you a picture of a car. Look at it. I almost lost this one. Thanks again for reading. By the way, this one s a keeper. Until the next Chapter!!! Ken, Thank you for sharing this story with us.