Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, Jacob was passing the time, while the water was still retreating, searching Ebay for interesting car stuff. He was looking at different cars when he stumbled upon a 1968 Mustang Coupe out of the Chicago area and somehow his finger accidently clicked the bid button and he won the bid!

Jacob brought the car back to New Orleans with plans of restoring it for his then 8-year-old daughter’s eventual graduation, but ended up just driving it around for two and a half years … and then three years ago it was completely ragged out and damaged by a hailstorm. He took the car to Baton Rouge with original intentions of just doing the basic stuff to it like body work and a paint job; however, once it was torn down, the build took on an agenda AND a budget all of its own. What ended up happening, instead, was a hood modification, a new lower suspension, all new chrome, a new AC unit, new radiator and the list goes on.

This particular Coupe has several rare, factory options. It originally came with a bench seat, factory in-dash air, and a ragtop.

The car is brought to life every time the starter cranks over the stock 289 and the automatic transmission spins the torque to horsepower when lighting them up from a dead standstill … leaving black, rubber strips and onlookers speechless as this black beauty streaks by with a shiny flash.

Clayton Curole from Gonzales, LA, a childhood friend that does a lot of insurance work did the work as a favor for Jacob. They hadn’t seen each other in years, so this project was a type of reunion that brought these childhood friends back together. Every weekend for 6 months consisted of back and forth trips from New Orleans to Batonn Rouge. Together, they plotted and planned and the car ended up with a deep black paint job that was shot with 4 layers of clear. The new color and look was a well-deserved, new appearance for the ride that originally came in

the color of green from the factory. All new chrome trim was purchased and installed and was topped off with Boyd Coddington rims.

Once the Coupe came back to New Orleans, it was gifted with a crazy stereo system and spent the next several years of its life being entered into different car shows. The car has placed top 10 in its class at the 2011 and 2012 World of Wheels show in the Convention Center and has won multiple car shows since then. In 2013 the Mustang won 2nd place in the World of Wheels while in the “Conservative Hard Tops from 67-70” class. The Coupe has also won many Best Mustang and Best Paint awards throughout Louisiana.

And lone and behold, Jacob’s daughter ended up not wanting the car. It’s easy to assume she is a Chevy girl at heart and with a little arm-twisting, his daughter, Hailey talked Jacob into purchasing her a 54 Chevy step side, “…but she’ll still get the Mustang upon graduation,” said Jacob. Hailey is one lucky girl to have such a giving father, as Jacob is … she cannot even drive yet, but starts Driver’s Training the beginning of April, 2014 … She will surely be the envy of all muscle car loving boys and that’s no April Fools Joke!

Story by, Michael Brandt Model - KaylaJoy