~ Auto Buzz ~: Hemmings Find of the Day

We’re gonna head this one off at the pass: Yes, this 1968 Ford Torino GT for sale on Hemmings.com has aftermarket wheels. Even if the seller weren’t including the original wheels with the car, so what – wheels and tires are incredibly easy to swap around for performance, personalization, or whatever purpose the next owner has in mind. So if you don’t like ‘em, buy the car and change ‘em out. That said, the rest of the car looks well done, repainted in the original color and with a handful of other select upgrades – nothing departing far from stock, but enough to keep it driveable on today’s roads. From the seller’s description:

This is an original California black plate car. I purchased it in 1995 in San Jose, California from the original owners daughter. It had been parked since 1988. It had been painted white over the original Brittany Blue paint. I stripped it down to bare metal and had it painted in 1996 with DuPont Imron paint very close to the original Brittany Blue paint, but with more metal flake in it. The paint still looks great.It has the original 289-2V engine and the original C-4 automatic transmission with the 2.79 rear end. All the glass, stainless trim, bumpers, and body panels are original to the car except the right front quarter panel and hood. The under carriage has not been cleaned or detailed. The origianl exhaust was recently replace with a dual exhaust system. The engine has 300 miles on a complete rebuild. It is upgraded to a Petronix distributor, an aluminum radiator and a Flow Kooler water pump. The original radiator and disributor come with the car. The transmission was rebuilt in 2005 and has only 3000 miles on it. The front suspension was completely gone over in 2004. In the past two years I have put in a new headliner and had the front seats reupholstered. The original dash has has a oil pressure guage, temperture guage and a voltage guage in the spot where the optional clock would have been located. The back seat is originnal to the car and looks perfect. The door panels are also original to the car. I recently had the front drum brakes replaced with peroid correct Kelsey- Hayes front disc brakes. It is now a manual disk brake car, which is much better than the drum brakes at highway speeds. The car curently has a set of vintage ET-Mags with B F Goodrich T/A’s on it. The original slotted GT rims go with the car, which includes the beauty rings and GT center caps. The car has the original Ford high beam headlights, but after market low beams. One noticeable blemish is on the hood, driver’s side where a hood bolt to long dented the hood. Can’t really see it in the picture but it is visable at certain angles. Also the rear bumper is dented to the left of the license plate. Most people don’t notice it. There are some minor scratches from road debris but since I wax the car I know where they are.

The car gets a lot of looks when it’s out on the road or at a car show, as you just don’t see these cars anymore. The car drives out nice and smooth. The Marti report is included with the sale of the car, which documents all the correct order information for this car.