At the 2017 St. Paul Street Machine Nationals show, we got the chance to check out some awesome cars. One car was picked out as our Editor’s Choice pick, as it jumped out at us. Here is a look at the car and inside the mind of this gearhead.

In Richard’s own words, here’s the backstory of why he’s an enthusiast:

I started working on cars in the late seventies while most of my friends were modifying cars and racing them on the streets. Back in the early 1980s, I purchased the Mustang from a childhood friend. We would criuse in this car all the time. This car holds many good memories for myself, the previous owner who still is a real good friend, and so are many of my gearhead friends.

I was a Mopar guy, but when I was offered the purchase of this car I jumped on I right away. I like the lines and curves of the 67 Mustang like the side ornaments, and the rear tail light panel with the recessed curved tail lights. Plus not many guys are doing up the coupes.

The car was in really good running condition, but I had a problem with the 427 ford engine that was in it then and put the car in storage where it sat for over 25 years. During that time, I got sidetracked by my career as a plumber and worked on other various car projects. To me, I thought that building this car was a pipe dream and I was waiting for the right time to start on the car. I then started working and accumulating parts for it about 6 years ago.

This car is a 6 year project. Brian Chartier completed his work on it in 17 months and that’s only working on it for 3 days a week because he was working out of town. Brian is the fabrication talent and ideas guy which I turned to. We would bounce ideas off each other and this car is what we came up with. For now, I’m just going to drive it and show it.

Tech Sheet

Owner: Richard Czaczkowski

Hometown: Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada

Vehicle: 1967 Ford Mustang Custom Coupe

Chassis

Frame: Art Morrison with 12 point custom roll cage.

Modifications: Had to modify crossmember to suit the oil pan on the 521 ford crate engine. Set engine back so had to modify firewall. A custom transmission tunnel had to be made to accommodate the TCI 6x transmission. Also had to modify the frame rails by offsetting them to make the seats fit and leaving more headroom in the car. The whole floor was channeled thus lowering the floor over the frame and eliminating the body mounts. All upper and lower tubular control arms, 4 link bar, motor and tranny mounts are all powder coated.

Rearend / Ratio: Narrowed Strange 9 inch Detroit locker with 35-spline Strange axles. 4.10 ratio.

Rear Suspension: 4-link with strange adjustable coilovers.

Rear Brakes: Wilwood 4-piston with 13 ½ inch drilled rotors.

Front Suspension: Art Morrison IFS with strange adjustable coilovers.

Front Brakes: Wilwood 6-piston with 13 ½ inch drilled rotors.

Steering Box: Flaming River rack and pinion

Front Wheels: Bonspeed 18 ×7 inch

Front Tires: Mickey Thompson SR 26×8×18

Rear Wheels: Bonspeed 20 × 15

Rear Tires: Mickey Thompson SR 29×18×20

Gas Tank: Summit aluminum 15 gallon

Drivetrain

Engine: 521 Ford racing

Heads: Aluminum super cobra jet

Carb / Injection: Holley EFI with Trick Flow fuel injectors.

Valve Covers: Ford Racing

Manifold: Edelbrock Victor jr with custom machining for injectors and fuel rails.

Ignition: MSD 6al with MSD Blaster 2 coil and MSD distributor

Headers: Sanderson shorty headers

Exhaust / Mufflers: Custom 2 ½” Stainless to the side tips and 3 “ to cutouts pointing down at collectors. Borla Mufflers. Stainless pipe flanges, pipe and flexes supplied by Heathrob exhaust. All exhaust pipe and brackets are stainless and brackets made custom by Brian Chartier. Side exhaust tips are stainless from Jegs.

Transmission: TCI 4l80e

Shifter: TCI outlaw

HP/Torque numbers: 650HP/402TQ

Misc: Lokar e- brake, throttle, engine, and transmission dip sticks. Intake, water pump, thermostat housing and fuel rails polished by Tony Brock, Mirror Polishing. Cooling system by Spal. Polished all aluminum radiator with twin fans and polished shroud.

Body

Style: Coupe

Fenders: Ford tooling

Hood: Custom fiberglass hood with 5 inch cowl made by VFN fiberglass.

Grille: Purchased from California Mustang

Bodywork / Paint By: Brian Chartier, Gerald Chartier, and Brandon Chartier Thunder Bay/ paint by Joe Phillips and George Daintry Thunder Bay.

Paint Type / Color: House of Colour Fine Mayan Magenta.

Headlights / Taillights: LED Halo headlights from Redline / led conversion tail lights.

Interior

Dashboard: Classic Instruments

Gauges: Classic Instruments analog and TCI mechanical pressure and temperature Gauges.

Stereo: Pioneer with 300 watt Pioneer amp

Steering Wheel: Half wrap aluminum with Mustang logo on horn button.

Steering Column: Flaming River Stainless

Seats: Scat

Upholstery By: Bob Maw Thunder Bay

Misc: Power windows, shaved door handles, Door poppers, Billet Specialties window, door cranks, fender hardware, and all brake line mounting hardware. Vintage air heater/ defrost. Kwik Wire 22 circuit wiring harness.