WATCH, GALLERY - Xuzhou Fasteners Co.,Ltd

Trying to reconnect to a past part of his life, Jon Clowers searched for the perfect Ford Mustang for around two years.

Finally, Clowers found the treasure he was looking for on a stroke of luck when he discovered a 1970 Ford Mustang fastback for sale.

"I just happened to be driving down the road and I saw another Mustang for sale," Clowers said. "I just brought up I was looking for one like this. The guy had like a '66 for sale. He just happened to say, 'Hey I've got another down the road in a barn basically if you want to check it out.'"

After about two weeks, Clowers decided to check out the car and brought it home. The '70 Mustang sat in the barn in terrible condition, and Clowers basically had to complete a full restoration on the vehicle.

He made quick work of the restoration, starting in October 2022 and completing the project around March of this year.

Video not playing? Click here https://www.youtube.com/embed/jUl9xM1IfTU

"It was more (work) than I thought," Clowers said. "The interior was in it but it just looked nasty. The motor, somebody had put a big block 460 in it. The carburetor was missing. There were animal droppings all over it, rat poop. It's got to have a whole new motor. When you start pulling stuff out you start seeing other things are wrong."

Clowers changed almost every nut and bolt and fixed a multitude of parts on the car to get it working and back in the right shape.

"You start to not look at (the cost) anymore because it gets crazy," he said. "The problem is when you're in there it makes more sense to repair that part if you're right there because you're going to have to go back and repair it anyway. That's when you start replacing ball joints, tie rod ends, like every type of component up in there. I would probably say something like this, you could easily have $50,000 total."

Clowers built a history with Mustangs from a young age, and that love for the car stuck with him throughout adulthood.

He searched for the perfect Mustang for a while and once even settled for a Corvette before selling it while always hoping to reconnect with the Mustang.

Gallery: Hot Springs Wheels: 1970 Ford Mustang

"As a teenager I got into Mustangs, restoring them right out of high school," Clowers said. "When I had my first kid I wound up having her with me in that car. Just kind of meant something. Later down the road I wound up getting married, and my wife had one of these sitting outside the church that we got to drive away in. It was always in the back of my mind these Mustangs mean a lot to me."

The Mustang means a lot to Clowers, but he also explained its place in the broader car world.

"There was just nothing else like it," Clowers said. "It was a small car with a big motor in it. People just liked them from the get-go. So they kind of just became an American sports car. I fell in love with one immediately. The first time I saw one I wanted to get my hands on one myself."

Clowers said he knew if he got an older Mustang now he probably wouldn't have power steering, power brakes and air conditioning, but something just kept drawing him back to the vehicle.

"There's just something about being in these cars," Clowers said. "Just even the old smell just kind of takes you back 25 years."

Print Headline: WATCH, GALLERY | Hot Springs Wheels: The perfect Mustang

This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of The Sentinel-Record. Please read our Terms of Use or contact us.

Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2023, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. All rights reserved.