Drag Illustrated Issue 114, October 2016 | Page 63

W hen Matt Ryan took his first fleeting glance at this 1968 Ford Mustang GT as it sat on an open trailer in the side yard of the previous owner, there actually wasn’t very much left of the car – its condition had nearly reached the point of no return since being subjected to the harsh Pennsylvania elements for an untold number of years. Amazingly, Ryan saw potential where very few others would have. His buddies told him he was crazy for even thinking about buying the car, yet he ponied up the asking price and trailered the onceesteemed muscle car home with its quarter panels flapping in the wind, slapping the frame wildly during the whole way. Undaunted, Ryan could only dream of how slick the car would someday look after he passionately restored his American classic. It’s been duly noted that, “life happens while you’re busy making plans,” and the restoration of Matt Ryan’s Mustang is an ideal example. In fact, it took 13 long years to complete. “I got married, bought a house, my wife and I had our first child, bought a second house, had another child…and so on,” Matt laughingly explained. Meanwhile, the Mustang’s pristine makeover kept getting slid further and further toward the back burner, until finally he decided to pour his every effort into completing the project. He told his wife that since they had their home and family, he’d sure now like to give having a toy a shot. “I started tending bar at night to raise money, honestly, and since I’m a mechanic by trade I also started flipping cars to make extra money,” he says. Understandably, the car needed massive amounts of body attention as well as chassis work, which he outsourced locally. The car had been previously back-halved at some point, but Ryan decided to convert it to a full tube chassis car, which was completed by Precision Chassis. “I tackled the mechanical work, wiring and plumbing,” he says. The engine in the car is a powerplant that Matt has owned since the 1980s and was previously used to power a 1969 Mach I Mustang he owned from 1980 to 1993. Eventually, the factory Ford engine was taken to Wide Open Technologies in Pennsylvania, where it was bored, stroked and rebuilt to 502 cubic inches of displacement, propelling his essentially completely restored Mustang to a best of 10.10 at 133mph in the quarter-mile. The single carb-equipped, naturally aspirated engine still features a stock Ford block and ported and polished factory steel heads and is backed by an E.T. Transmission-built Powerglide. “Eric Wright from E.T. Transmission was key in getting this car to where it is now, and if not for him I’d still be at home in the garage,” admits Ryan. Even though it took forever and a day to finish the car, his efforts yielded instant success at the race track. He won the first race he ever entered with the car at Maple Grove Raceway, when he hoisted the trophy at the Ford Nationals five years ago. He competes regularly at Maple Grove, where he participates in the facility’s popular Money Trail Bracket Series. Meanwhile, his wife actually has the audacity to tell people that the car is for sale. Ryan, however, just shakes his head and laughs. “It ain’t happening – I’m keeping this thing forever,” he says. – VA N A B E R NE THDIY DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI October 2016 DragIllustrated.com | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | 63