For 28 years, the lost treasure of a 1966 Ford Mustang sat in the garage of the Amentini household. Not long after getting his license, Revere junior Matt Amentini watched his father, Mark Amentini, pull into their driveway with a classic 1970 Dodge Challenger. This provoked Matt to uncover the Mustang and make repairs in hopes of driving it as his very first car.

Matt spent this summer building an interest in classic muscle cars, after his dad purchased a 1970 Dodge Challenger. After noticing the speed and capability of the Challenger, Matt turned the focus to his mother’s first car, the 1966 Ford Mustang. With the help of his father, it did not take long for Matt to ready the car for driving. This, however, did not mark the end to the extent of Matt’s interest in muscle cars. Around the same time, Matt began to attend car shows with his father, which further developed his love for muscle cars.

Mark, who became interested in muscle cars in 1966 as a result of his family owning automobile dealerships, talked about his reasoning behind his purchase of the car.

“I bought [the car] because of its looks and the fact that when I was younger, I had a 1973 Challenger,” Mark said.

Matt commented on how he developed his interest in muscle cars following his father’s purchase.

“After getting the Challenger, I became very interested in cars and wanted to restore the Mustang,” Matt said.

From that point on, Matt made several repairs to the car to improve the looks and performance. He made modifications including changing the rear end of the car replacing 280 gears with 340 gears, repainting the engine and replacing the brakes. Although he has done work towards improving the car, Matt described his overall goal for restoring the car.

“I plan to restore the car the day I have the funds by making it not a drag car but rather a very fast street legal car,” Matt said.

This summer does not mark the first time however, that work was done on the Mustang. Work has been done on the car since it was purchased by Matt’s mother, Lisa, in 1981.

“My dad and I went looking for a Camaro and instead came across the Mustang in a lot in Cleveland,” Lisa said.

After purchasing the car, Lisa’s father made changes and modifications to the car by undercoating it, replacing the radio, and by taking it to an interior shop in New Philadelphia to have the seats and carpet replaces.

“It was a project car that my dad and I worked on,” Lisa said.

Although winter has arrived and the Mustang has found itself back in the Amentini garage, Matt will make sure that it will not experience another 28 years untouched. Now, with him driving the Mustang in the summer, which fits to his liking, this buried treasure will be able to live once more.