Michael Cox is an airplane mechanic by trade, so it's no surprise that on nights and weekends, he builds objects that fly across the ground. Like most of us, Cox has been into cars, particularly Fords, since he was in high school. He's been racing them for more than 16 years and has owned just as many. His first foray into vintage racing took place back when he campaigned a '67 Mustang Coupe in the RMVR (Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing) series.
"I bought the SportsRoof from a friend of mine in 2004," said Cox. "It had been sitting in his backyard for years and he was looking to get rid of it. Around the same time, another racer from RMVR approached me about buying my Mustang coupe. So, I figured it would be a good time to sell."
It also happened that the gentleman who bought the coupe already had an engine, so Cox was able to keep the balanced and blueprinted 289 that he had assembled himself. The Block Shop in Denver, Colorado, performed all of the machine work so Cox could drop a billet steel crankshaft and custom pistons into the 12:1 compression small-block. Power output is an estimated 400 hp at 7,000 rpm, thanks in part to a host of other accoutrements like FPA step headers, a Holley carb, and an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake among others. Of course, being on the track, Cox has plenty of time to keep the revs near seven grand. In fact, when we spied him at local car show, he had to leave early, as the Boss 302 clone is understandably temperamental at slow speeds, which they tend to be when exiting a car show. The duration on the Crane cam probably doesn't help at these speeds either. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Before Cox could take the car to the 2010 RMVR Trans Am invitational, he had to get the car completed. When he acquired it from his buddy, Cox told us that the SportsRoof was in rough shape, but nonetheless repairable.
"After repairing some rust in the floorpans and quarter-panels, I enlisted the help of my friend and fellow racer, Jim Valdez, to build the mild steel, eight-point rollcage," said Cox. "The interior and bodywork I pretty much did at the same time. I would work on one thing until I got sick of it, then I would work on something else until I got sick of that. It wasn't really a well-planned build."
By the way, we should mention that one of those things that Cox completed during this period was the installation of the Ford 9-inch rearend, Ford '70 Top Loader transmission, and Detroit locker that he had laying around his shop. After jumping around from spot to spot on the project, Cox decided to take the car to bodyman and friend Bob Hill in Colorado Springs.
"He set about correcting all the mistakes I made during my attempts at body panel replacement," said Cox. "I was making the trip to the Springs regularly to help Bob with the body and paint. By that I mean I was doing the stuff that didn't require any skill, like rough sanding and cleaning up. Bob let me spray one of the doorjambs, but after about two passes with the gun he said, ‘Give me that back. You're making me nervous.' So I can say I painted about 8 inches of the car."
After the car came back from the Springs, it was crunch time. Not for sit-ups, but to have the car ready for the upcoming Trans Am race which would arrive in approximately two months time. Cox wired the car up to his satisfaction in about three weeks, but the deadline soon started to bite at his heels a bit. He called upon his friend, John Cummings, an old-school drag racer, yet someone obviously knowledgeable in making cars go fast.
"I think he really enjoyed the challenge of assembling a road race car, which was something he was not familiar with," said Cox. "With John's help, we got the car finished one day before the race."
With no time to spare, Cox was well aware that there would be a few things to sort out after a shakedown run.
"I knew there would be some teething issues and I wasn't disappointed," said Cox.
Once at the track, Cox approached the car with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. He opened the door, passed the shiny aluminum door panel, and climbed into the Sabelt race seat before buckling the five-point Simpson race harness and shooting a steely-eyed, furtive glance at the Auto Meter gauges set in the custom-made aluminum dash. A nasty, yet somehow Siren-like song, emanated from the Spin Tech mufflers and 2-1/2-inch custom exhaust as Cox fired up the previously mentioned small-block. He put his hand on the Hurst shifter, knocked it into gear, and started through the pits for a shakedown run.