Hello, I would like to share with you, guys. Here is the story and the pictures from the day I found it up for sale. I had always hoped to some day own a white/blue combo 86 Saleen. It had to be an 86 because it was the first year of the 5.0 EFI and I like that style of air dam on 86's and GT dashboard (with allen bolt on corners). I searched for a while and found it on an owner's myspace page. He had three 86 Saleens up for sale at that time. He had a red 86-0081(originally charcoal), black 86-0049, and white 86-0177. The red one had everything and was in good shape and the black one needed some work. The white one, well as you can see in the pictures it was wrecked in the rear and front panels were from different mustangs, all the saleen ground effects were missing and 3 of the riken rims were bent. It was missing the original momo steering wheel, shifter, whole stereo system, various other parts on top of all that it was not running because of the missing intake manifolds. I made the decision to buy white one because I wanted to own a white Saleen and it was a lot cheaper than the other two Saleens. I spoke with the owner and made a down payment to hold the car for two months. The car was located in Medford, Oregon.
This is first photo is when I found it up for sale on owner's myspace page.
I requested the owner to send me some more photos before I made the decision to purchase.
My plan was to drive there and pick it up with my truck and while I was there to stop by and visit my sister near Salem, Oregon. She just moved to there from Arizona. I realized as the time went by, I really didn't want to drive that long of a trip there and back, because it is 1,800 miles away and I have 3 young daughters who needed me at home. On top of that my truck had poor MPG so it would cost a lot to drive there and back. I asked my friend if he wanted to join me and fly there and fix the car to get it running then drive it back home? It will save alot of time and money also it will be nice to visit my sister too. My friend and bought our airline tickets, and I informed the owner of the Saleen that we would be flying out and driving the car back home. He suggested that I trailer the car back home because he hadn't drove the Saleen for 5 years. That worried me but I stuck with my plan. I packed tools and everything that I would need to make sure the Saleen would run again.
When we arrived at the Portland airport my sister picked us up. Then we borrowed her car and drove to Medford to pick up the moving truck and trailer then went to pick up the Saleen. The owner had A LOT of Saleens and mustangs at his home. We had a good time chatting with him while he help me load the Saleen on the trailer and gave me the parts that the Saleen needed to run again and some body panels too.
We brought the Saleen to my sister's place. When my sister saw this car, all she could say was "why did I want buy this car? Because it's not a pretty car." But she's was so kind to rent this garage for us so we would have a place to work on the Saleen. We replaced the water pump, spark plugs, dist cap n rotor, did an oil change, installed intake manifolds etc... to get it running. I was kinda embarrassed to drive it all the way to Kansas like that so I went to the store and bought cheap flat white spray paint and painted the fender and hood. I left the front and rear bumper the way it was because it would only be more work for me when I started working on the body for the new paint job.
We are ready to hit the road to Kansas. We discovered that the tach and speedometer were not working. Thank God, we had brought a GPS in case! Fortunately the power outlet, water temp and fuel level gauges in Saleen all worked. We enjoyed our view of the beautiful scenery in Oregon.
Arrived home safe. After we drove 1,800 miles in 31 hours. We only stopped to get fuel in the tank, grab some food and use restroom. When we were somewhere between Idaho and Utah I noticed the Saleen felt like it was missing fire when we were up the hills. I had already put new spark plugs in so I pulled over and switched some spare spark wires and the problem continued, since we were in middle of nowhere and the Saleen was still running we kept going all the way home. My wife and family was worried about us crossing half way across the county with my rickety Saleen. Everyone was relieved we arrived home safe. My wife was wondering why I went to Oregon to get that Saleen because it look ugly to her. I told her, yes it is ugly car but it will be one of the most sexy fox mustang someday after its restoration.
I found the problem it was number 1 and 2 cylinders had lost compression. I thought that the head gasket was blown. So I didn't drive it anymore and it sat in my driveway waiting for a full restoration. While my Saleen was parked, I scored nice original factory white painted front bumper and hood which I put on the Saleen. I also scored brand new real 86 Saleen ground effects from Florida Craigslist for super cheap and since I had no place to put the ground effects I went ahead put them on the Saleen.
Between selling our old house and looking to buy another house. I went ahead and started working the on Saleen a little but had to keep it all in one piece and drivable too. I straightened the original quarter panel, replaced the deck lid, and repair the spoiler then painted it with white primer. And this is last picture of Saleen at our old house.
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