By 1967, the Mustang was a little larger, and a bit more refined.  Like a Whopper at Burger King, you could have it your way, with options that could make your car a sedate economy car or a tire melting monster.  Almost fifty years later, Mustangs are still being bought and restored, and their owners can make any Mustang be the car they really want with some creativity and a credit card.  While restoring a coupe from the ground up usually results in a car that cost far more to finish than you can buy a completed one for, I have found one that will let you save some money with the costs of entry.  Take a gander at this 1967 Ford Mustang, found on craigslist in Florence, South Carolina.  While it needs to have some parts replaced, and it of course requires the usual Mustang rust repair, the car is being sold for just $2900!

So, here is the deal on this one.  The seller tells us that the odometer shows 60,000 miles have passed under its wheels, and that the car currently does not run.  It is missing the carburetor and the radiator, and the floors need to be either replaced or have patch panels installed.  The car also needs a new battery tray, but it will be sporting a new drivers side quarter panel.  Unfortunately, it was equipped with an inline six cylinder engine and a three speed manual transmission from the factory instead of a more lusty combination.

Despite this, it looks to be a pretty solid car.  We have covered Mustangs on here that seem to be so rusty that they look to be held together by paint alone, and even good ones have rusty areas to be repaired.  This one at least seems to be useable.  Any parts that are not can be readily purchased from the plethora of Mustang parts suppliers that are out there.  It would be nice to get some pictures of the underside of this one, or pictures of the rear end for that matter, but you can probably count on some time sawing out some rusty bits and welding in new ones.

Inside, things seem to be dirty and worn, but there are a lot of useable parts still there.  The dash pad looks very good for an unrestored car, and the door panels seem like they could be polished up as well.  All of the handles are there, and the seats appear repairable.  If you could settle for cleaning up and refurbishing what we see in the interior, then you could probably save some money here.  The carpet would have to go though.

Under the hood, the easy to work on inline six is likely still useable.  Ford inline sixes have a spectacular track record for reliability and ease of repair that make them perfect for a car that you are satisfied with being a cruiser rather than a racer.  Of course, this one has no accessories such as power steering and power brakes.  Air conditioning is, of course, absent as well.  A little work and some replacement parts would probably have this Mustang back on the road without too much cost or aggravation.  If you wanted it to stop, a little attention to the braking system would be in order as well.

So, what would you do with this cheap Mustang?  For the price, I think two different scenarios should be considered.  The first way would be to do what you could to patch the floors and refurbish the parts that are already there.  While many of them would be too rough for a full on restoration, what is there is mostly serviceable with some elbow grease, paint, and a trip to the upholsterer.  A mostly original Mustang with a six and a three speed would still be a nice driver even today.  The second route would be the “have it your way” route.  This would consist of stripping it down, welding in new pans, and building the car into what you would have ordered in 1967.  Maybe with some modern speed parts added in.  Mustang Monthly Magazine did something similar with their “Week To Wicked” project.  While theirs was a 1966 model, you can see what is possible with an early Mustang.

What would you do with this budget Mustang?