Despite the pandemic requiring social distancing, about 30 Naperville North High School students have found a way to rebuild a 1995 Ford Mustang GT from the ground up.
Since September, the teens have used after-school hours to work on the car with the hope of having it ready for car shows and test drives later this year. They’ve even had carparts.com, NASCAR driver Michael McDowell and the Front Row Motorsports team assist from afar.
“I wanted to get into this because it was such a unique idea and it sounded like a lot of fun,” said sophomore Grace Carsello, who joined project not knowing much about cars.
The students — some coming from engineering classes and others studying auto tech — split into small teams too allow for social distancing inside the high school auto shop. Each team comes in once a week.
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“The shop is really, really big,” said teacher Gregory Ditch, who’s organizing the project. “I can have students working on an engine on one side and other students doing something else on the other end.”
Ditch, who teaches engineering and auto tech, spent a few years working with smaller NASCAR truck teams. He also led similar after-school vehicle rebuilding programs when teaching in Texas; this is his first year teaching in Naperville.
Ditch said he wanted to do an “out-of-the-box” project at Naperville North that could be done while meeting social distancing and health measures.
“I would say teamwork is the biggest thing they will get out of this,” he said. “Also, a sense of accomplishment because there aren’t many schools in the U.S. that are doing something like this.”
The Mustang, had extensive body damage due to a front end collision, cost $500. The parts needed normally would cost about $2,000 but were donated at no cost by the online site carparts.com, Ditch said.
The website helps sponsor McDowell — who drives a Ford Mustang in the race circuit — and Front Row Motorsports.
The racing team met with the students remotely over two days in December. They discussed the project and careers, asked questions and took a virtual tour of Front Row’s North Carolina facilities.
“I will say that when I was in high school, I wish I had half the program they have,” Front Row spokesman Mac MacLeod. “It’s remarkable to see high school kids essentially take a street car and rebuild it and have track ready.”
Ditch said computers have expanded what they can do in terms of expanding students’ worlds.
“The Zoom has done great things for us on that side,” he said. “I’m learning how to teach and adapt in this COVID environment.”
“I think the smaller groups is the biggest aspect that is impacted (due to the pandemic),” said Carsello, who is interested in an engineering career. “I’m not sure what this would look like if it weren’t for COVID.
“Something that does work with the small groups is we have more tasks to work on. We are getting more familiar with the project.”
Ditch said the car is 60% to 70% done, and should be finished in March. They hope to showcase it at the Autorama car show in Chicago this spring and to race it at a Sports Car Club of America competition.
“I have an El Camino sitting here so it gives me motivation to finish this one,” said Ditch, referring to the vehicle he’ll have students tackle next year.