The Pacific Coast & Route 66: 1966 GT Mustang

Creemore Valley Classics VIP Story #22

My wife and I completed this trip of just over 4500 miles in my 1966 GT Mustang , along with my uncle and aunt in their 1968 AMX. The goal was to travel Route 66 in reverse and the Pacific Coast #1 highway, so we had our vehicles trucked to Vancouver B.C. by Kurtz Trucking. We started out in Vancouver B.C. on June 11th, 2010, where we drove to Seattle. In the days that followed, we down to San Francisco and Santa Cruz before getting on the Pacific Coast Highway 1.

This is an incredible drive, heading down through Big Sur and continued to Santa Barbara before reaching Santa Monica and the start of Route 66 from the pier. We encountered a small problem with dragging brakes around the Hoover Dam, but a great shop called George’s Tire & Auto solved the problem in no time.

Despite the heat of the Mohave Desert reaching 113 F, the car ran like a champ. We drove through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma and on to Kansas, Missouri and Illinois, where we marked the end of our Route 66 adventure. We had a fantastic time on this road trip and recommend it to anyone who loves to drive, but it’s that much better in a classic car, and my fifty year old baby ran supreme, never once letting me down.

Car specs: A 1966 GT Mustang with 289 4bbl, a Windage tray, Meiling oil pp ( 60psi) with an Edelbrock performer cam, air gap intake, RPM heads, and EdelbrockThunder 650cfm Boss 302 double roller timing chain. It has JBA shorty Headers, 2 ½ Magnaflow exhaust, Pertronix distributor, ignitor , and flame thrower coil, with a Tremac 5 speed and 3:55 differential gears. It was painted by Randy Macdonald at Heavy Metal Restorations.

Owner: Rick Crowder, Elora Ontario