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32 MUSTANGMONTHLY.COM
rent VanDervort’s 1968 Mustang convertible has
had more lives than the proverbial cat, and the
fact that it’s alive and well today is nothing short
of a miracle. The car was born with a standard
230hp, 302ci V-8 and C4 automatic transmission,
and by all accounts it led a pretty ordinary life until a
collision took it off the road more than three decades ago.
“When I first saw the car about 28 years ago,” recounts
VanDervort, “it had been sitting for quite a while and was
really a mess. It had been hit in the front and lefthand side
and then parked. Someone took out the original 302 and C4
and they were both siting inside the car when I found it!”
While most people who looked at this Mustang saw
little more than a parts car, VanDervort had the knowledge,
experience, and ambition to see past the problems and knew
he could resurrect the drop-top without too much difficulty.
He’s a mechanical engineer, designer, and fabricator with
extensive experience building hot rods and restoring vintage
vehicles. He’s also the owner of Fat Man Fabrications
in Mint Hill, North Carolina. Fat Man FabricationsREBORN
This Mustang was rescued and restored after collision damage seemingly doomed it forever
Richard Prince TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHY