COCHRANE— Rolling around town in an unmistakable ride, Tom Cropper's poppy red 1964.5 Mustang stands out from the crowd.
Cropper’s wife found the ride for him in town under unusual circumstances.
The Mustang was purchased by Husky Oil and fully restored in 2003 for a raffle fundraiser.
Husky rebuilt the engine for the contest, he said, and it has the original 289 four-barrel engine.
The man who won the Mustang was a truck driver and rarely drove it.
His wife saw him driving around Cochrane with a for sale sign in the window. It turned out he lived two minutes away from them, Cropper said with a laugh.
After a quick conversation, the Mustang found a new home in Cropper's garage.
Husky did a fairly good job in restoring the Mustang, Cropper said, adding he has done some mechanical work and made some changes to the engine, differential and transmission.
Cropper has had the Mustang since May 2006 and has been meticulous in his maintenance of the ride to keep it on the road.
The Mustang is to spec, aside from the carburetor and the duel exhaust— All added by Cropper.,
It boasts a D-engine with 210 horsepower, Cropper said, noting the compression was lowered in the machine to help the Pony get better gas mileage.
Cropper's 1964.5 Mustang has its original interior as well, he said, including the original truck liner.
“I love the look of it, I like the style of it, and it’s fun to drive,” Cropper said with a smile. “It makes you a good driver because it has drum brakes— When you want to stop you got to pay attention.”
Cropper estimates he has put about 20,000 miles on the Mustang in the time he has had it.
“From my records that car had maybe 57,000 miles in it,” Cropper said.
The Mustang is a light ride, weighing in at around 2,400 pounds. When the car was first on the market it sold for $2,395, or less than a dollar a pound, Cropper said with a grin.
“It’s not a big car. It’s a short wheelbase, it’s not wide,” Cropper said. “Even when they got the bigger models in the 70s they were only 3,400 pounds, 3,600 pounds.”
The Pony is a fun car to have and one of the easier antiques to work on because parts can be relatively easy to find.
“You could build a car from nothing,” Cropper said. “Buying the parts might cost you a whole bunch of money, but you could do it.”
Cropper has always had a love for cars and getting his hands on a mechanical project.
While he loves his Mustang, Cropper said, he has always had a fondness for the Mercury Cougar.
He owned a 1969 Cougar at one time but traded it in when he had a family.
Cropper estimates he has gone through 100s of cars in his lifetime, mainly because he used to be a demolition racer.
“I destroyed about 100 I imagine [racing at Stampede Speedway and Circle 8 Speedway in Calgary],” Cropper said with a chuckle. “It was a lot of fun, I was only 17, 18, 19-years-old.”
