Judy Lashley's beloved 1966 Mustang convertible languished in disrepair for more than 30 years. It was recently returned to better than showroom fresh condition after her husband, Roger, turned it over to a long-lost cousin who does auto restorations near Oklahoma City.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The Lashleys, on their wedding day in Judy's '66 Mustang convertible, heading for the Ozarks on their honeymoon. That's not snow on the top, it's shaving cream, and the luggage had to share space with reams of old unrecycled newspapers and lots of rice.
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Photo courtesy Roger & Judy Lashley / The Wichita Eagle
A fresh interior was installed as part of the ground-up restoration of the Mustang, including brand new front and rear seat covers and door panels.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The Lashleys were never tempted to `upgrade' the Mustang to V-8 power during the restoration process, choosing instead to keep the original, rebuilt 200 cubic 6-cylinder engine under the hood, mated to the factory 3-speed floor-shift manual transmission.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The steering wheel in the Mustang had seen better days, but the splits and cracks were repaired and the wheel was finished in the correct color to match the interior.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
It would have been easy enough to replace the original Mustang hubcaps with reproduction pieces, but the factory wheel covers were in decent enough shape that they were cleaned up, smoothed out and reused.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Judy Lashley wanted her car to look exactly the way it did the day she picked it up from Turner Ford, so the basic woven vinyl seat covers were selected, rather than the popular `pony interior' option.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The door panels also were refitted with fresh vinyl and reproduction door/window cranks.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The Lashleys saved the vintage dealer tag from the car and will use it as part of a display for the Mustang.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The classic first-generation Mustang rear end, with 3-element tail lights, center filler cap and nicely sculpted bumper blending into the body lines.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Although they saved the factory AM-only radio, the Lashleys did go for one upgrade, a modern AM/FM stereo sourced from Obsolete Ford.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The Mustang is finished in super-smooth Tahoe Turquoise paint, set off by a brand new power-operated dark blue convertible top.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The fresh convertible top is such a tight fit that the Lashleys will probably wait till warmer weather to put it down for the first time, giving it time to stretch a bit.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The Lashleys show off their beautifully restored 1966 Mustang convertible, glad they didn't accept a neighbor's offer to buy it from them for $300 many years ago when it was just in the way.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
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