Burt Reynolds? ha....1986 Mustang GT had factory leather?

**gettingitfirst** · 11-15-2014, 11:16 PM

Thanks guys, Yeah the data plate said PY for Beige Cloth Articulated.

I was confused that it looked grey. But being in South Florida out in the sun I can say it would fade fast. I'm replacing the dew sweeps and the seats with new.

Thanks again guys I appreciate it.

**vascj** · 11-16-2014, 07:26 AM

The original colors on that car would look great, you don't see many with those trim options.

**plumkrazy** · 11-17-2014, 09:48 AM

Gettingitfirst-- So whats your story behide the car? Why did you sell it and then buy it back? And when did the leather seats go in?

**gettingitfirst** · 11-17-2014, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by plumkrazy

Gettingitfirst-- So whats your story behide the car? Why did you sell it and then buy it back? And when did the leather seats go in?

Well the story is, I grew up in Jupiter Farms, Fl down the road from Burt Reynolds' ranch. Burt was very active in the community so hearing about him or seeing him wasn't unusual. I guess you can say we all took it for granted. As kids we would ride our bikes up to his ranch where his nephew ran a country and feed store. They also had rented space to a pizza store called Bandidos. Anyway when we would go up there we would se Burt's dad a lot riding around on his white golf cart with bull horns attached to the front. He would stop by and talk to all of us. Burt would even host parties at his ranch for the locals and it was a lot of fun. As for the 86 Mustang. Truth be told, when I was a kid I thought it was ugly. It used to have this full spare tire holder on the back like you would see on a full size car like a Caddy. The red paint and the white top just really stood out. I was going into high school in 1992 and would see Loni Anderson driving the car around town and never really looked at the car as a man's car. As I got older and had driven GT mustangs I grew to respect the car and when looking into college I started to understand what the colors of the car stood for. As a kid I didn't know Burt had deliberately painted that car his FSU colors or that he would drive that car to watch FSU games. So in 2000 when the car came up for sale from a neighbor down the street, I jumped on it. He bought the car from Burt's bankruptcy sale. He told me he was letting his son drive the car and for undisclosed reasons took the car from him and decided to sell it. The top didn't work, the tires were bald and the brakes didn't work, but it ran awesome with 70k miles on it. So he let it go for $800. I found the line going into the pump leaking so I cut the line back and pushed it into the motor and the top went up and down, fixed, put new tires on it and replaced the master brake cylinder and fixed that. Then for the next year or so I drove that car everywhere and really enjoyed the car. I was approached by a car dealer about buying the car and at the time I could really use the money so I sold it to him. I never thought much at the time but for the next 13 years I would every now and then search for the car. I found the first posts on this forum and saw that it was said to hit ebay from time to time so I thought it was forever out of my reach. But for what ever reason, a few weeks ago around midnight, the car crossed through my mind. I did a quick google search and low and behold it was on ebay. I couldn't believe it, it was actually there. I had no money to spend on it first of all. I just got done spending a couple grand on some parts for my 1977 Trans Am SE (Bandit). I was like, "****! of course it comes up when I'm broke!". So I clicked watch and I pondered what I could do to buy the car. After 3 days I couldn't come up with any ideas and decided to let it go and to try to forget about it. On the last day I saw it was at $3,999 and I thought to myself "This is meant to be, no one wants Burt's Mustang but me". So I called my father in law up and I plead my case, he without pausing said he'd lend me the money to go get it. Then I get this email from ebay saying 90+ people were watching it and over 3,000 views. I surely thought it was going to be a last second bidding war. My wife said "see, no one wants it. All those people seen it and no one bid on it." I told her she is right. No one wants it but me and I'm okay with that. I bid on the car and won it. I had a lot of great memories of growing up around Burt Reynolds. I enjoyed every second of owning that car. I'm a Mustang Fan and a Burt Reynolds Fan. It's a win win for me. The car now has 80k miles and is in really good shape. No rust and no mechanical issues. I had to put a TPS sensor on it and replace the master brake cylinder but that is it. She runs and drives great and I am looking forward to spring as I had to put her away for winter hear in Ma.

As for the questions on the car. The dealer I sold her to recovered the seats with what I like to call pleather. I don't like them so they will be going back to beige articulated sport seats as were the original. I am choosing not to put the spare tire holder back on the rear bumper because I just think that looked ridiculous.

So that's my story behind the car and I'm looking forward to putting her back the way Burt had her.

**plumkrazy** · 11-17-2014, 11:30 AM

Wow!
Great story and thanks for sharing.
Sounds like it is back in good hands. The part about the seats is intresting that the pleather was not done by Burt.
For some reason I was thinking that you had just sold it to the person that you bought from.

**grabbergreen84** · 11-17-2014, 03:34 PM

That's awesome, gettingitfirst. Did you get the spare tire holder? That would add a ton of authenticity to the car. That car isn't more significant than an actual Indy pace car, but it might be at least as significant as a pace car replica sold to the general public.

You should try to find all of the photos you can of that car, from when Burt and Loni had it.

**gettingitfirst** · 11-17-2014, 03:47 PM

Originally Posted by grabbergreen84

That's awesome, gettingitfirst. Did you get the spare tire holder? That would add a ton of authenticity to the car. That car isn't more significant than an actual Indy pace car, but it might be at least as significant as a pace car replica sold to the general public.

You should try to find all of the photos you can of that car, from when Burt and Loni had it.

I had the spare tire cover but it was so brittle and faded. He only had it on there for the long trips up to FSU. I am currently waiting to hear back from Burt about any pictures he has of the car. I also have a call into FSU to see if they have any archived pictures of the car at FSU. Currently I only have the title history showing Burt Reynolds Production company as former owner. We'll see. Anyone from Jupiter at that time will remember this car for sure.

**gettingitfirst** · 08-07-2015, 06:32 AM

Just got this last week

**84StangSVT** · 08-07-2015, 06:43 AM

^^^^^^That's cool!

**gettingitfirst** · 10-01-2015, 05:05 AM

Thanks

**gettingitfirst** · 10-09-2015, 02:24 PM

Noticing Mustangs Unlimited doesn't carry too many Fox parts.

Can anyone recommend their favorite supplier

**WilliamCapri** · 10-09-2015, 02:48 PM

Late Model Restoration is pretty much exclusively Fox.

www.lmr.com

Have fun!

**gettingitfirst** · 10-19-2015, 10:41 AM

Thanks I appreciate it

**gettingitfirst** · 10-21-2015, 01:08 AM

Even they seem really limited on what they offer for my 86 vert

**gettingitfirst** · 09-04-2019, 11:21 PM

It's already been a year since Burts passing. 1 year this Friday. I got the new carpet installed, all new weather stripping, I even found the gold mesh wheels, and the seats are back to cloth sand beige. I also picked up one of Burt's People's Choice Awards that was auctioned off at Juliens. I'm really happy I bought this car back

**qikgts** · 09-05-2019, 01:34 PM

gettingitfirst - Cool story with an eternally cool dude at the center of it!

Are you able to post up some pics of the car as it is today?

**Broncojunkie** · 09-05-2019, 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by qikgts

gettingitfirst - Cool story with an eternally cool dude at the center of it!

Are you able to post up some pics of the car as it is today?

I agree. We need pics. This is a great story... just needs the visuals to go with it!

**plumkrazy** · 09-06-2019, 06:43 AM

Very nice, Glad to hear you are fixing it up to how Burt had it and the Trophy will be a neat Display item with the car , Pictures of the car and Trophy would be nice. Is the car here in MI? l would love to see it at a show some time

**gettingitfirst** · 09-07-2019, 07:00 AM