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7 | The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,July 11,2019 theifp.ca Furnace Air Conditioning Gaslines Boilers Water Heaters Radiant Heating 905-877-3100 proud local dealer of Canadian made products .ca Furnace Air Conditioning Gaslines Boilers Water Heaters Radiant Heating THE WAY WE WERE The Drummers Snack banner spans the McGibbon Hotel, while excited crowds gather on the streets below in July 1912. EHS photo I have never consid- ered myself an impetu- ous person when it comes to purchasing things. I research every aspect of the purchase long before buying it. The Sidekick gives me a hard time about my cautious behaviour - I've taken months of 're- search' before deciding. But a few weeks ago, that theory went out the win- dow. It was a Friday morn- ing, and I enjoyed my cof- fee while checking emails. One caught my eye: it was a 1967 Mustang for sale. Hmm ... I read it to the Sidekick. "Call the number," she said in her typical mat- ter-of-fact, damn-the-tor- pedoes attitude. "Oh, I don't know," I re- plied. As usual, I retreat- ed into my 'cautious' mode. "Oh, call the telephone number," she said, "What's the worst thing that can happen?" I knew the answer: I could become the owner of a 1967 Mustang without the required two months of research and obligato- ry background check. I sent an email to ask for details (that seemed saf- er). The seller responded in minutes, outlining some of the history of the car. I learned that he was the second owner and purchased it from the es- tate of the first owner in June of 1979. When he bought it, the car was 12 years old and had 18,000 miles (not kilometres). He also said it needed some body work and wir- ing repairs - neither is- sues seemed that monu- mental. We agreed to meet at his place in Toronto. I found the car was pretty much as he de- scribed it. A wiring har- ness was destroyed, so the motor wouldn't start. I could turn the water pump fan and the crank- shaft was free to turn, so the motor was not seized up. There was some rust, but nothing more than I'd expect on a 52-year-old car. And all four tires were flat, no big surprise. Equipped with a V8 automatic, it was parked in the fall of 1992. And 27 years later I was looking at it. We've all read about those 'barn finds,' where a car was parked in some remote barn a half a cen- tury ago and 'discovered' decades later. All was not perfect with my find - one front wheel was seized up, re- quiring transporting it home on a flatbed. Once home, I inflated the tires and three of the four held air. The spare in the trunk also holds air, so it replaced the leaking tire. So we now have a 'pro- ject car' ready to be built/ restored. Since I had no time to research it prior to pur- chasing it, I now can shop around for the parts that we'll need. I learned a lot of back- ground from the seller, and he gave me the ser- vice invoices to back up the repairs; he also had a few stories about the car. He first spotted it as he visited a family member at Mount Sinai Hospital in 1978. Parked in the same place every day, he decided to leave a note under the windshield wiper telling the owner that if the car was ever for sale, he'd be interested in purchasing it. A year later, he re- ceived a call from the ex- ecutor of the estate of the original owner. Did he still want the car? The rest was history, and that 1967 Mustang be- came a longtime member of their family, with 18,000 miles on it when he bought it and 68,000 miles when he sold it to me. Two of his three kids came home from the hos- pital in that car, and it was the subject of many fond family outings. And now the '67 starts another new life with the Sidekick and I. It will be a long-term project - years, for sure. But I'm excited to take it on. And in doing so, may- be we'll create a few mem- ories of our own. Ted Brown is a free- lance journalist for the IFP. He can be contacted at tedbit@hotmail.com. A 'BARN FIND' IN A TORONTO GARAGE? OPINION '67 MUSTANG A LONG-TERM PROJECT, WRITES TED BROWN TED BROWN Column