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9/16/2015 5:07 PM  #1


New Member Introduction - meet Calamity Jane! (and me)

Hello All,

My name is Kelly and I met quite a few of you at the Bash last weekend! Had a blast - you guys are great!

Anyways, it occurred to me that I haven't really properly introduced myself and my car yet. I'm of little consequence but my car is quite something, I'll say. '66 fastback dubbed "Calamity Jane" for many good reasons.

To make a long story short, this is the first car I've ever built. Bought her in NC in 2010, spent 3 years of weekends building her into my ultimate perfect daily driver. The aim was a blend of vintage feel and modern tech. I kept the performance 289, Toploader 4-speed, and 3.25 rears, but upgraded things for safety and handling in an effort to remain on par with modern-ish cars. List of mods at the bottom of this post for those interested - in the meantime, moving on! 

I had the "finished" build on the road for 3 days before a guy rear-ended me doing 40 mph faster than I was doing. Completely totaled Jane's rear end. She spent the next year at my friend Chas's shop where he replaced the quarters, trunk, wheelhouses, taillight panel, lower valance, bumper, a door, the hood, and the decklid. We maintain that the subframe connectors that I have (which weld full-length along the floors as well as to the front and rear subframes) were what kept the car from being completely destroyed. No damage to the floors or roof at all.

Anyways, put her on the road at 1AM the night before the Charlotte 50th Anniversary Mustang Celebration in 2014. Went to the celebration, met a bunch of people, ran the track, tore it up, yada yada. Then proceeded to go on a 10,000 mile, 2 month long road trip around the United States later that summer. I camped the whole way for the most part, took my car on a lot of totally questionable roads, parked in all kinds of weird places, and had the time of my life. I kept a blog - link in the post below as it appears that I don't have the minimum number of posts.

So at the end of that trip I moved to Colorado. Stayed there for 10 months, my work contract ended, I went back to NC for a few weeks before I had to move to TX for work. Engine was running real rough so I figured I'd pop up to Chas's place to coerce him into helping me figure out the problem. Ended up replacing a bunch of stuff in the upper end, summarily blowing the bottom end up (carved up some main bearings due to trashed oil pump that was intermittently seizing), and pulling the engine again. Proceeded with a nuts hot rod marathon to try to swap in a new engine, failed at that, flew to Texas instead and left my car at home. Oh, and sometime in the middle of all this Mustang Times published an article that I wrote for them about my road trip and my experiences with Jane.

And that brings us to the present. In December I'll be flying back to NC to rebuild the engine, stuff it back in the dang car, and drag it out to TX with me. In the meantime, I'm just sitting around twiddling my thumbs... so if anyone in Austin needs some help wrenching, I'm glad to lend a hand!

Car's Specs and Mods:
- 289 bored 0.030 or 0.040" over, stock ported heads, Offy Dual Port 360 intake, nasty lumpy cam
- Powerjection III throttle body fuel injection
- Tri Y headers, 2.25" exhaust, Dynomax super turbos
- Toploader 4 speed
- 9" open 3.25 rear
- '93 Fox seats, recovered in '66 upholstery
- 3 pt seat belts
- Custom center console built by yours truly
- Unisteer power rack and pinion
- Disk/drum brakes (were power, but I kept killing power boosters so now they're manual)
- Classic Auto Air A/C
- Upgraded alternator and AAW wiring harness
- LED taillights / halogen headlights
- Excels at breaking and/or destroying new parts in very unusual ways

Owner's Specs:
- 24, female
- Geologist / Marine Biologist (specialty in paleontology)
- Has owned car for 5 years
- Excels at being confused when car breaks and/or destroys things in unusual ways


"Calamity Jane" - Insane road warrior powered by hopes and dreams and piloted by an idiot.
 

9/16/2015 9:00 PM  #2


Re: New Member Introduction - meet Calamity Jane! (and me)

Kelly, it was a pleasure meeting you. I look forward to seeing you and Calamity Jane in CO.

John

 

9/16/2015 10:16 PM  #3


Re: New Member Introduction - meet Calamity Jane! (and me)

Here's a link to my travel blog where I recount Jane and I's adventures: http://calamityjaneroadtrip.blogspot.com/2014/07/an-introduction.html

And here's some of my favorite pictures of Jane! 



Everything I had in my car during the trip (yes, it all fit and I could see out of all of my windows 100%):


Fixing a fuel line that I squashed when driving up this (mild) 4x4 road (used a pair of pliers and called it good):


Jane in Monument Valley:


Jane in Grand Teton:


Driving towards Monument Valley:


"Calamity Jane" - Insane road warrior powered by hopes and dreams and piloted by an idiot.
     Thread Starter
 

9/17/2015 5:32 PM  #4


Re: New Member Introduction - meet Calamity Jane! (and me)

Wow that's amazing Kelly!  I wish I could introduce you to my daughter, Alexis.  She too has a 65 Stang we built together.  Although she's nowhere near your level.  She is currently a freshman @ UT in Austin.
Funny thing, she named her 65 "Janie" after the Aerosmith song Janie's got a gun.

 

9/17/2015 5:38 PM  #5


Re: New Member Introduction - meet Calamity Jane! (and me)

Ha! Now that's funny - I'm also at UT Austin currently. Grad school though.

I'm sure she'll see Jane and I cruising around terrorizing people this spring ;)


"Calamity Jane" - Insane road warrior powered by hopes and dreams and piloted by an idiot.
     Thread Starter
 

9/17/2015 7:54 PM  #6


Re: New Member Introduction - meet Calamity Jane! (and me)

Kelly, it was great meeting you and hearing your story!  Welcome to the best forum on the Web!!

 

9/20/2015 3:09 PM  #7


Re: New Member Introduction - meet Calamity Jane! (and me)

Awesome story.  Be sure to check out CARA's COUPE article on my web page, where she repainted her car in high school.

You may be a great mechanic, but you are a much better loadmaster if you got all that stuff packed into a fastback! 

Glad you made the Bash this year, and it was nice to meet you.  Hope you come to Colorado with Jane next June.

Last edited by MustangSteve (9/20/2015 3:09 PM)


Money you enjoy wasting is NOT wasted money... unless your wife finds out.
 

9/20/2015 8:16 PM  #8


Re: New Member Introduction - meet Calamity Jane! (and me)

Cool pictures and I like the license plate too. I saw the carnage on VMF not too long after it happened. Glad to see you got the car back together.


John  -- 67 Mustang Coupe 390 5 speed
 

9/20/2015 9:16 PM  #9


Re: New Member Introduction - meet Calamity Jane! (and me)


Our favorite pastime.  Working on cars while on a trip.  Here is one gtting a Swedish massage!


Money you enjoy wasting is NOT wasted money... unless your wife finds out.
 

10/19/2015 1:01 PM  #10


Re: New Member Introduction - meet Calamity Jane! (and me)

What an awesome story! Welcome to the best forum on the inter web. You also have an interesting profession. You're car is absolutely beautiful. Best of all like me, you built it to drive. Love the name. I've named nearly every car I've owned. My 66 coupe is red so I named her Lucy after Lucille Ball. Details in this section.


"anyone that stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty"Henry Ford
 

Board footera


REMEMBER!!! When posting a question about your Mustang or other Ford on this forum, BE SURE to tell us what it is, what year, engine, etc so we have enough information to go on.