May 2005 Featured Ride:

Congratulations: 7DMACH1 (Ray Jermyn)

My car is a 1970 Mustang Mach1. I purchased it in fairly good condition in Jan. 1998. The car had been a show car for many years. It was owned by a friend who came down with MS and the car had been sitting for 9 years. The previous owner, owned a body shop and was a great painter. The car was repainted after an accident in 1987. The car was originally orange. He completely disassembled it and stripped it to the metal. He painted the engine compartment and the body in the color it is now which is 1987 Ford truck Royal Blue. He added ghost pin stripes on the sides and ghost flames on the hood. After a car sits for that long there was a lot to do. Between Jan and May we worked very hard and got it back on the street. We replaced all the steering and suspension, u-joints, hoses belts, carb, and tuned it up. It still had points so we pit a Mallory Uni lite dist in. I didn’t like the 3.50 gears so we replaced them with 4.10’s. All the brake system was redone. I drove the car for about a year and the engine started to make noise. It was a 351 cleveland with a little cam. This car was a 2v engine that the previous owner made a 4v. I decided to build a stroker. I took it to JD’s Auto and Performance Ctr.in Huntingdon Valley Pa. He has done my work for years. L&M engines was chosen to build it. It’s now a 408 with a solid roller cam, 11-1 compression, a Torker intake and a 800 dp carb and MSD Dist. I had JD replace the 2.32 first gear top loader with a 2.78 first grear top loader. He also changed the rear to a 4.30 with 31 spline axles. The engine made 567hp on the engine dyno. Well the intake was too high to close the hood. I didn’t want to cut a hole in the original so I purchased a cowl hood. JK’s Collision in Huntingdon Valley was chosen to fit and paint the hood. He was the partner of the former owner of the car. He took a poor quality fiberglass hood and made it perfect. He painted the ghost flames on the new hood just like the original. I then had the interior redone. Carpet and seats with repro parts. The door panels are original OEM NOS which took months to find had to pay $2500.00 for the pair. The car won “Best Of Show” at it’s first show. It won a few more during the 1998 season. At the end of the season they have a Best Of The Best Show where all the Best Of Show winners for the year compete against each other. I won that too and was given a trophy for “Car Of The Year”. It still continues to win Best Engine and Best Of Shows. I then took the car to Atco for a track rental day. After 5 runs I got a best of 11.42 at 118. The next run I broke the posi unit, so I know there’s still a little more in it and would probably go an 11.20. I have since replaced it with a Detroit Locker. I’m 53 years old, I live in Northeast Phila. With my wife of 31 years, my 30 year old son, and I also have a 27 year old married daughter. I work at Northeast Lincoln Mercury in Phila. As Parts Mgr. I started here in 1969. Ray Jermyn Sr. [7DMACH1]