Call me weird, and who doesn’t, but I like the Mustang II. Old vehicles are more about memories for me than anything else and I have a great memory of having a plastic model kit of a Mustang II when I was a kid. This one isn’t a kit, but it can be found here on craigslist in Esko, Minnesota, just outside of Duluth, and the seller is asking $6,595.
Of course, I also had an Aurora slot racing set from Sears from around 1970 or so and my favorite slot car was a gold 1970 Mustang Mach I in bright gold so it’s not like I was set on the Mustang II as my favorite car. Still, there’s the discussion that comes up fairly often when we show a Mustang II as to whether these cars saved the Mustang for Ford or not. What are your thoughts?
Ford made the Mustang II for five model years: 1974 through 1978. This is an interesting fun fact: after the Mustang II won Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award in 1974, Consumer Reports said that there were better cars to choose from and they recommended the AMC Gremlin. AMC sold 171,000 Gremlins in 1974 and Ford sold a whopping 296,000 Mustang IIs. I guess Ford had the last laugh on that one.
You can see that there’s some rust on this car and if it has been a Minnesota car and driven in the winter really at all, that’s understandable. Hopefully, it isn’t too bad. The interior, however, looks fantastic. The seats look basically like new and other than fading on the carpet in the passenger compartment and in the rear cargo area, I don’t see any glaring issues here, do you? This one has Ford’s C4 three-speed Cruise-o-Matic rather than the available 4-speed manual.
Automatic or not, it has the top engine option that year in Ford’s 302 cubic-inch V8 which had 134 horsepower and 247 ft-lb of torque. The seller says that this car is all original other than some normal maintenance items and it runs great but could use some fine-tuning. It’s been stored in the winters since 1986 so that answers my Minnesota winters question. Have any of you owned a Mustang II? How about the Cobra II version?
Well Scotty, I must be weird too, I like Mustang II’s. The rust on this one is a downer, but otherwise it looks used but not abused, especially for the mileage. Just from the condition of the interior the original owner kept good care of it. Would be more interesting with a 4-speed.
A production run of 57 years for one nameplate model is very impressive; obviously the II played a part.
Me, three, LOL!! I have fond memories of a friend’s 4 speed, 4 cylinder in this same blue! Really ad about the rust cancer! GLWTS!! :-)
My first new car out of college was a blue fastback 4 cyl, 4 spd. It was slow and got only about 20 mpg, but at least it smelled like a new car.
Me four..I had a 75 red white vinyl top 4 cul 4 so..great little car..more true to themustang roots then any next generation..jmo
personally i love these cars, to me they are cool little cars that everyone hates so of course i love them, and you can get just about everything for 302, tho i do recommend upgrading the transmission if you beef up the motor, thos 4 speeds weren’t very good once you beefed up the motor, they were great if you left it stock tho, the C4 automatics wernt as bad they could take more power than the 4 speed manuals could
The Mustang II gets a lot of hate and as a former owner of one I just don’t see why? Were they small, yes!
Were they built really well? No but from what I remember none of the American cars were at the time.
Were they a lot of fun? You betcha! Mine had the 302 and an Automatic and it was a blast to drive.
Another fun fact, I would regularly dust brand new IROC’s with their H.O. 305’s (the 350 wasn’t yet available in the Camaro).
Don’t think the IIs will ever get the respect they deserve but owner know better.
I had to like your comment for the “you betcha.” Only thing better and truer to a MN car would be “ja, sure, ya betcha!” (accented appropriately, of course).
I’m weird too, I guess. I’ve always liked the looks of the Mustang IIs. I’m a Ford guy but the looks of the fox body mustangs was, well, yeah. The Capri was a step in a better direction, though maybe I say that because I’ve always preferred Mercuries (at least until toward the end when there was zero difference).
While I have no issues with the Mustang II (as sick as they were but hey it was the mid 70’s) I do not think the Mustang would have gone by the wayside, so did cars like this SAVE the Mustang? I say no way. Body style is cool enough, I recall seeing where some Dude in Michigan built one for street racing back in the day and was doing low 10’s in the 1/4 mile with slicks and open headers…
Yep. Joe Ruggirellos “Sudden Death” MII…wicked car in its time
I had a black Cobra II 4-speed for about 5 years. The transmission had a problem keeping the tail shaft bearing, I believe it was, lubricated in the dead cold of winter. After the second time it was fixed, the shop owner put in automatic transmission fluid and it stayed fixed after that. 0-60 time was 10 seconds! I knew how to make a 302 fast, but I didn’t have the time to do much other than install my old 4-barrel Holley and Torker manifold. Also, I figured that the transmission couldn’t hold up to much more power. It served me well and I always liked the hatchback feature.
It looks like the asking prices of these are going up.
I don’t know if there are buyers out there willing to pay those higher prices, though.
There is a really nice dark blue/orange trim one for sale locally for 20k.Real sharp looker,but I have a pretty good memory of driving my Cousin’s new Cobra 2,so won’t be a buyer.
If they’d have designed that car to be 1/3 bigger it would have been a great car.
They did. It was the 73 Mustang. 😄 Switching to the Torino chassis was a bad idea. Too big to be a “pony” car. A friend had a 78 Mach I and that massaged car was the best ride in the park🤘 we also owned a 75 Ghia coupe in the late 70’s when mom decided it was time to get a part time job.
Hated them back in the day, but I’d love to have one now, LOL.
First car I bought for myself as a kid in 78. White with red stripes and interior, 302 4spd. For a young car guy it couldn’t get any better and had a surprising amount of room for a guy and his girlfriend in the back seat!
My wife had a silver mid-’70s Mustang II fastback when we got married (1981). Was a pretty fun car, with V-6 and four speed (if I remember right). She was very proud of it having been the first car she’d ever bought on her own.
I think the Mustang II was closer to the original style of the ‘65 pony car verses the bloated Torino style it grew to be
I like the Mustang II.
I had one like this in the late eighties. Northern California car. It had AC. I loved the way it drove compared to the earlier Mustangs, The Rack and pinion power steering and improved suspension made it handle great. I didn’t mind the Pinto sized body. It still got lots of looks and after adding a 4 barrel and performance camshaft, it had enough power for the day. Wish my wife hadn’t sold it, but she often did that. Oh well, lots of cars since.
I always liked them as well, cool looking car for the time. Also consider Fords engineering design in the front suspension/steering that launched a whole new concept in street rod chassis design! Good luck to the seller.
The scuff plate on the drivers side isn’t original to the car. Ford didn’t incorporate the blue oval on their vehicles until 1982.
You couldn’t be any more wrong if you tried. Do a Google image search for “Mustang II interior” and look at the pictures, lol…EVERY ONE has the blue oval on the door sill scuff plate.
Really? My 68 Country Squire disagrees.
I see others have disagreed with your comment. Perhaps you meant to say the blue oval first appeared in the right rear side of Fords in 1982.
Ted, that is what I meant by my first comment. I was unaware of the slimmer blue oval being used on the exterior (or interior) before that year.
To each their own I guess….Just not for me.
This era of mustangs always reminds me of Charlie’s Angels. I drove one back in the day, thought it handled quite well compared to all the other big malaise era cars at the the time..
I thought it handled quite good as well if memory serves me correctly. I never missed a chance to drive it as fast as my skills would allow on the twisty roads in my neighborhood. Until I was reminded by the local police (thankfully with just a warning) that I shouldn’t be doing that.
I like the mustang II as well. First car I bought for myself was a 74 couple with 2300 and a 4 speed. Mine was wore out when I bought it but I was sure proud of it. The rings were shot so it burned a ton of oil. It was extremely helpless in snow however. Still have a soft spot for them. My brother has a couple of King Cobras in his stash for restoration candidates some day.
I worked at a Ford dealer in 1976 and ordered a new 77 King Cobra 302 4sp in Sept. First Black and gold color ordered. The salesman came to the shop and told me my car was on a car hauler out front. I went out just intime to watch the driver back off the right side ramp from the top tier. It was totaled so I just bought a new 78 Granada 302 3 on the floor. I later put cam 4 bbl and headers and 4 speed in it
Not great, not terrible. That was the Mustang II in my book. Built in the time of the fuel crisis, it kept the Mustang name alive to see newer and better generations. Otherwise ‘73 would have likely been the end of the road for the nameplate.
Asking price is now $7,500.
These are becoming more popular, so the seller is going to make out better than imagined.
I had a 1977 Ford Mustang II I bought in 1987. My first car! It was a coupe version with the 302 V8. I painted it Electric Blue. Put a 4 barrel Holley on, 351 heads, Edelbrock intake, headers, dual exhaust, mild cam. Also put the Cobra II front spoiler and air scoop on it. Nice little car. Rolled it one year later!
We bought a ’74 “sport roof” model at Cal Worthington’s dealership in ’76. V6 with automatic transmission. It was a good car until some bonehead t-boned it on the Hollywood Freeway in ’77. At any rate, I worked at a Ford dealership during the Mustang II years and I don’t recall all that many complaints except for drivability caused by early smog system implementation that leaned the engines out so much that they would hardly idle smoothly and they understandably ran really hot. So did the V6 Pintos. We had a “special tool” to fix that rough idle and hot running problem!
Hello everyone. I too loved my first car. It was the 1976 Mustang II, Cobra II, 302 V-8, 3 speed automatic. I bought the car in 1979 in Chillicothe, IL just before turning 19 years old, for $3,900.00 and yes, even with the 302-V8, I did get about 20 mpg highway. I remember buying a cherry bomb muffler for it. My first car to get speeding tickets in too. It was my first car to make out in at a drive-Inn movie theater too, haha. I have a realistic model of it about 1/30 size that I bought about 6 years ago. I would love to buy another one used and give to my youngest son to have him spend time fixing it up. They seem to be hard to find now. I went in the U.S. Navy in 1983 right after getting married. My first duty station was in Scotland on a Submarine Tender, so I had to leave my car back in the states. Unfortunately, I left it with my wife’s father in Iron Mountain, MI and he drove drunk and totaled it in 1985.
I purchased my 1976 Cobra II new Nov. 1975 302 auto. and still have it .Engine rebuilt with extras white with blue strips black interior love driving it.
My first car was a 1976 mustang cobra 2. I absolutely loved that car and I wish I had it back. My friends at the time all had CB’s to communicate and they gave me the handle cobra 2. Had to sell it in college to get a car with better gas mileage. Regret that till this day.
Right now looking over a white ’76 Mustang Cobra II with the 302/auto for a pretty decent price. Always been a big V-8 muscle car guy but always like that body style…for my buddy had a black ’78 Mach I with a T-top …unlike the third generation models…too boxy for my taste. I know it won’t scream down the road or the track anything like it …but just a nice looking weekend cruiser or a car show stopper and if Farrah Fawcett drove one…that’s ok in my book too.
I owned 3 Mustang IIs. 74. 75, and 76 Cobra. I Hated the 74 because it took a long, long time to full the tank because the filler neck was too low in the fender and kept backing up and spilling gas unless you squeezed the pump handle gently and slowly. Ford fixed that in 75 by raising the filler neck higher in the fender panel.
I liked the handling and quicker rack and pinion steering on all of them. They were not powerful, but still fun to drive on the highway and winding roads.
The cobra drew a lot of attention due to the Shelby accents. I really liked the look. I found them all to be reliable and comfortable. The smaller size made them easier to park and navigate traffic compared to the earlier Mustangs.