Dan Talbot Brings Western Australia’s love of Classic Mustangs Home

Three things I know I have in common with Dan Talbot, today’s guest. Love of Classic Mustangs, love of motorcycles and love for our cats. His cat Macavity can be seen chillin’ while Dan works on his machines. Also, there’s no cooler site than seeing a 1966 Classic Mustang trailing a 1921 Model T. Let’s chat about all machines, from Western Australia, welcome Dan Talbot to Ford Mustang The Early Years podcast.

Do you own an early year Mustang?:  yes

If you own a Mustang, how long have you owned your ride?:  About 13 years.

Upload a favorite pic of your Mustang or a classic car you drive now or have owned in the past.:  https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/mAZr2UuIQhiaxc4XeD7M?IMG_4284.JPG?image/jpeg

What do you do for a living?:  I have recently retired after 37 years with Western Australia Police Force.   I am now a researcher.  

If you've made improvements to your classic car or restored it, what work have you done?:  My car was in a very poor state when I purchased it, sight unseen from the other side of Australia.  When we stripped it, I came very close to abandoning the restoration as it needed an enormous amount of body panels, but the car is a very rare Ford Australia import so we pushed on.  My car is one of about 200 Mustangs imported by Ford Australia in 1966 to promote the locally build Falcon as "Mustang-bred."  The plan was to put a Mustang on the floor of every one of the 430 Ford dealerships in Australia but it was abandoned when they got to about 200 cars - no one knows the exact number.  The RHD conversion was very poor and the car didn't steer very well so during the conversion I fitted rack and pinion steering and coil-over front struts.  I also fitted larger front brakes.  The car steers beautifully now - although I regret using a manual steering rack.  

What plans do you have for improvements/restoration/modification of your classic car?:   I plan on fitting an overdrive transmission, although I am still undecided as to automatic or manual.  I am learning towards a T5 manual gearbox at the moment.   

Please share your social media names/handles so we can tag you when promoting your episode.: https://www.instagram.com/motorshedcafe/ My instagram profile reflects my first love of motorcycles and motorcycle restoration but there are pics of the Mustang in there and also my 1921 Model T race car I recently competed in the Red Dust Revival in outback Western Australia.   I also have a website:  https://motorshedcafe.com.au/   in which I wax lyrical about my various projects but I am currently putting the finishing touches to my doctoral thesis and haven't written anything for the website for a few months.  

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Cover art: Courtesy of Dan Talbot 

Keep it safe, keep it rollin’ and keep it on the road. Until next time!  ~Doug Sandler