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"Well, like many of us here, most of my story has been posted before, but I do have quite an interesting story that newer members might like to read. I'll keep it as brief as possible.\n \n\n\n\tIt all started for me back in 1972 when I lived in Birmingham, England. I was walking along the downtown main street with a friend, when there it was. It was a Grabber Lime (I didn't know the name of the colour at that time) Mach 1 with all the black goodies, interior, stripes, hood. Absolutely gorgeous and I fell in love........ with a car! I said to my friend, \"one day I'll own one of those\", to which he said, \"yeah right!\". At that time I did not know that I would move to Canada 8 months later. Fast forward to 1974, I bought my first Mustang. Not a Mach 1, but a 71 Fastback 302. I had that car until I got married and we had a child. In 1980, we split up and I bought a 72 Mach 1 Q code, 4 speed. I only drove that car in summer as I had picked up a second Mach 1 H code automatic as a parts car that turned out to be better than that, so I \"fixed it up\" and drove that as my winter beater for 4 years until I sold it. The Q code stayed with me until wifey #2 came along and I sold that car in 1991 for 2500 bucks, all I could get for it at that time. I SHOULD have kept it!!!\n \n\n\n\tFast forward again to 2008, I was in a position to look for another Mach 1. I started with local ads on Autotrader, Kijiji etc. then to the internet. I found a beautiful looking Mach 1 on the Hemmings website, but the price looked wrong. I sent an email to the owner asking for more information and to confirm the price. I got a reply next day, but he did not confirm the price (unfortunately as it turned out). Me, being the suspicious type, went back to the Hemmings site to get a copy of the ad, but it had gone. Not having that copy almost cost me the car when I imported it. ** Always print a copy of an ad when you first see it**. After a few phone call the owner who lived in the LA area, I decide it was time to go see this so called rust free car. I flew out to LA from Detroit to meet Tony and see the car first hand. This car was everything he said it was. Zero visible rust anywhere. It had been repainted in the original Light Pewter, but that was all. The motor and engine bay were totally original other than of course, service parts. The interior had new seat covers, but the rest was untouched. After lookin git over, it was time for a test drive. Now, some will remember a recent post of mine regarding a broken throttle cable. Just as we were about to pull out of the diveway, the cable snapped. A good start for sure. So we took Tony's car and headed to Ventura and NPD to buy a new cable. As I had already decided to buy the car, I picked up a few other items I knew I'd need to be shipped back with the car.\n \n\n\n\tAfter a great weekend with Tony, we arrange to ship the car back to Detroit via Reliable Carriers. It arrived a week later and this is where the real fun started. A friend from work had access to a car trailer and offered to go with me to collect the car. I thought I had all the paperwork done and ready, but noooo! First, I got to the US customs office by the Ambassador Bridge, only to find my export papers had not been cleared despite giving them more than the require 3 days notice. After some haggling, they stamped the papers and we were on the way over the bridge. Arriving at the Canadian customs things got really interesting. I knew I had to pay the 5% Federal tax, so after pulling into the secondary inspection area, we were ordered out of the vehicle and separated. Three customs goons started questioning us and I won't go into all of that, but bottom line is, they did not believe what I declared I paid for the car. Fortunately I did not lie. After 2 1/2 hours of interrogation, they finally let me go with the car. Remember I did not have a copy of the ad, well if I had I would not have gone through hell at the border. I simply did not have proof showing a price close to what I paid. The car was valued at double what I paid by these \"experts\". \n \n\n\n\tI will add more later, time for the British F1 race. \n \n\n\n\tWhat a race!! Hammer Time!! \n \n\n\n\tPic 1; being checked over before shipping. Pic 2: arriving home. Pic 3; Engine showing original decals. The only major item replaced on this was the carb and I have the Autolite original in a box.\n \n\n \n \n "
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