Pro Files: The Mustang Barn

Long before the Ford Mustang was old enough to earn true classic status, it was simply a popular choice for driving enthusiasts ranging from style-conscious youth to muscle car fans. In 1976, barely a decade after the original pony car was released, Philadelphia-area enthusiasts were turning to Fred Glazier’s Mustang Barn for parts, service, and performance enhancements. As time passed and they became more collectible, the business grew to include restorations as well.

In 2004, Mustang enthusiast and amateur restorer Dan Nolan left behind his career as an HVAC technician and bought the business from Fred. As a novice in the automotive restoration business, he wisely chose to retain the original owner for a transitional period. That lasted eight years, allowing Dan time to build relationships existing clients while starting to shape the business in his own vision.

“I worked on cars after work and on weekends,” Dan recalls. “It was more my passion than my everyday job. I now get to follow the same path as the original owner where I am doing what I love.” Fred eventually retired in 2012, leaving Dan on his own.

While Mustang Barn was a well-known for parts for a long time, the internet changed that part of the business model significantly. Receiving fewer requests for parts but increasing demand for services, Dan shifted with the times. In 2019 he moved the business to a larger facility, where it still resides today. He says this allowed him to expand his offering and double the amount of work that comes through the door.

The 5,500-sq-ft workshop, formerly a collision repair shop, sits just outside of Harleysville in rural Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Inside are two tidy service bays, a paint booth, and fabrication/restoration shop. Here, two full-time technicians and one part-timer work alongside Dan on a range of mechanical and restoration services. The space is clean, well-lit, and organized, with maybe half a dozen cars in process at once. An adjacent 5,000-sq-ft storage barn holds cars either waiting to come in or to go home.

The business has changed in terms of what type of work the clients want done on their Mustangs. We still perform full concours restorations and always will,” Dan adds. “The changes in technology have opened up the doors to more modifications that make older classics more drivable on today’s streets. We do a lot of disc brake conversions, updated suspensions, EFI conversions, motor upgrades, more comfortable interiors, custom paint, stronger sub-structures and so on.”

All of the cars in the shop on our visit were first-generation Mustangs (including a Mercury Cougar twin), the shop’s primary focus. As Dan explained, “We are limited to engine work we can do on the later Mustangs that have sophisticated computer systems. There is nothing we won’t do to a classic Mustang or any other American classic car or truck.”

The shop has done restorations and mechanical work late ’20s American cars, ‘30s trucks and cars, mid- to late-’50s trucks and cars, ‘60s anything, 70’s trucks and cars. A walk through the storage barn revealed a ‘50s-era pickup cab in primer, a Dodge Challenger, and the shop’s own Ford Falcon Sedan Delivery, one of just 151 produced.

There’s something to be said for specializing, however. “My goal was to provide the same or better work than the original owner.” Whatever he’s doing, Dan figures it must be working. He has a steady stream of work booked out for as far as his calendar goes.