I feel so sorry for Amy.
A long time ago, she found this website while looking around for Mustang information, and saw just how good a group we really are. This was the original motivation for her to buy a late model CS.
Then she got "the fever" to have an early model, and found one in Los Angeles. Flew down there, and drove it home (er...almost, with help from Ron M.). Once she got it there the engine pooped out, and it meant pulling the heads, etc... a big job, and parts were all over the garage floor for weeks this past winter.
With her mechanic friends there, she got it together, and I got to see it up and running last month at the Marina in Seattle. It looked and ran fine.
Amy is also the "local firecracker" at MNW when it comes to the GT/CS, and was instrumental in getting several to come to their Mustangs NW show last July.
Her accident yesterday is a clear example of what life with an old car is like. Late model owners know that they just fill up the overflow bucket at any time, hot or not. How could she know that the radiator cap would let out an anti-freeze "Old Faithful" of boiling hot water and toxic chemical all over her???
My guess is that there must have been some big chunks of scale in the water jacket that got dislodged after the head work, and it plugged up the radiator. There are so many things that we know second-nature (from learning them the hard way), that to a novice can be very dangerous. As fun and attention-getting as these cars are, there is a learning curve to know how to treat them--so they treat you right.
I told Amy that to let go of this CS is her decision, and that it won't taint or affect her enthusiasm nor her image with us at all. Her safety comes first, and she has endured WAAAY too much "adventure" with this one CS. I really do think that this CS was NOT is the kind of shape to have been represented and sold as it was in L.A. Amy did everything she could to get it running and to have fun in it. But this particular Mustang is one that needs some serious work, and an experienced enthusiast should grab it and restore it properly (the side note to all of this is that it's a Pebble Beige CS, of which less than 20 were made ((I have the exact number from Marti).
I am SO PROUD of Amy, and she is an absolute trooper!!! We owe her a lot, and we honor her enthusiasm. To risk her life to promote the CS to the NW is very admirable, and "above and beyond the call of duty"..
As for her CS...("Satan"). I told her to decide on it as a practical matter: her safety for what she has, and what life would be like with an older vehicle. "IF she offers it for sale, to whomever buys it, I would personally offer my knowledge to help it it's restoration.
We'll see how this plays out, and what happens, but I know in my heart that "we" will come through for her, just as we would do for anyone else here.
Thank you, Amy, for your GT/CS spirit and enthusiasm.
(I "knight' you: "Lady Special"...).
Paul.
