Jerry Heasley July 17, 2017

“The grass was about three feet tall, and I hate chiggers,” Jerry Coleman says.

Jerry could make out the outline of an old Mustang 50 yards behind a mobile home. “I just kind of angled around up there in the yard for a better look. Son of a gun! That’s a fastback! When I could tell it was a 1967, I thought to myself right then that I’d trade this guy an air conditioner for that car!”

Jerry owns a heating and air conditioning business in Lucas, Texas, and had driven 30 miles north to Blue Ridge, Texas, on a service call. “This guy had a gob of property, as far as you could see,” Jerry says. “Other than the house, a couple of buildings, and a mobile home with broken air conditioning, there was nothing else on that dirt road.”

The 1967 rested flat on a homemade trailer that Jerry though might have been the bottom of an old mobile home with boards laid across it.

The rear quarters were in good condition with no rust.

The man was wearing no shirt and bib overalls. He had chickens and an old refrigerator in the front yard. He asked Jerry to open the refrigerator door, get some feed out, and hold his hands open. He did, and the chickens ate the corn right out of his hand. The A/C needed a capacitor, which was a simple fix. As Jerry wrote out the bill and collected his money he asked if he wanted to sell the car.

“No, I’m going to fix it one day,” the man answered,

“I knew he wasn’t, but I said okay,” Jerry says. “If you ever want to sell that car, this is what I’ll pay you for it.’”

On the back of his business card, Jerry wrote: $2,500.

“He looked at that card and lit up like a Christmas tree when he looked up at me,” Jerry says. “He swore and said ‘I didn’t know you were going to offer that much.’ And he sold me the car right there on the spot.”

Jerry got the 1967 back home to his shop the same day that he found and bought the car.

The deal was struck. In hindsight, Jerry figures $2,500 was a very good amount for the old Mustang, considering it was mainly a shell with no fenders, no hood, no wheels, no rear end, no interior, and no engine. The Mustang fastback did have the original doors and quarter panels. Later, a Marti Report revealed this 1967 came from the factory with a 289 “C” code, originally Springtime Yellow with automatic, deluxe interior, and air conditioning. It was sold new in Texas.

This 1967 was perfect for a Pro Touring Mustang Jerry was already putting together. Six months earlier, he had purchased a 2003 Cobra drivetrain to install in a 1966 Mustang fastback. That car proved too rusty, so he sold it. The 1967 would be the replacement.

Excited to buy the fastback, Jerry literally did not work the rest of the day. He prepared his home shop for the Mustang’s arrival, which he retrieved that same day. You can see the results of his work on page 18, and also on this month’s cover.

The fruits of Jerry’s labor.