Searching for former owners

[SuddenDeath]

Hi Everyone,

I'm restoring the Gapp and Roush built Mustang II, known as "Sudden Death" from a 1977 Hot Rod Magazine article of the same name.

I found/bought the car from an owner in Sicklerville, NJ.

I'm hoping someone here might remember the car or know someone who owned it. I got no previous owner info with it and am trying to piece together some owner history.

Thanks for any help that someone can offer!

Tom

[Liftedbronco]

wow is that thing awesome! Well I dont know anything about it, but id love to help you out any way I can.

[GT800]

Yeah that's a great project. And like Kevin said feel free to post up with any questions id love to be able to help myself

thanks
Dan

[SuddenDeath]

Thanks so much for your posts!

Its been quite an adventure owning it so far. This past week I got to meet Wayne Gapp and his son, Jeff, at the Gatornationals. He remembers the car and talked about for awhile.

I believe the guy the last owner bought it from was a fellow named "Joe Dawson", but I have no info on him. I'm not sure if he lives in NJ or Indiana where the car spent some time as well.

I just finished getting the hood/scoop back to as it was originally. Next project is the rear suspension. Whoever owned the car from 1995 to 2000 installed coil overs/ladder bars. Thankfully, they didn't remove any of the original leaf spring mounts/brackets.

Just last month I finished getting the interior back to as it was, repairing the original seats, covers, cleaning up wiring, installing the original style shifter setup, etc.



Here is the article its most known from...April 1977 issue of Hot Rod:







Here's one from the January 2008 issue of Hot Rod showing Roush with the car. The original photo was taken the same cold day in January as the article Sudden Death, but not published until much later.

[NASTY03GT]

and I thought I knew everyone that owned a Mustang II Very cool Stang, I wish you luck woth the restoration. I am restoring my '77 coupe also.

[SuddenDeath]

Here's the earliest appearance of the car while under construction. Note the window sticker still on the drivers window. The car was bought new at Fred Grande Ford, Richland, MI in May of '75 and taken straight to the Gapp and Roush shop to be reborn as a street racer.

You can really see how far back they moved the engine here.

I've even emailed with the author of this article and the follow up piece, Michael Uno, who now teaches at USC!