The original Ford Mustang was a major hit from 1964 to 1966. And led a whole movement toward sporty small cars (“pony cars”). But the vehicles were getting bigger, and sales were dropping, so the car was reinvented in 1974 as the Mustang II. One million of them were built through 1978, making them plentiful at the time. The seller has an ‘78 hatchback, which looks to have been dormant in a field for some time. But it has a running V6 and a 4-speed manual, a better combination, and it’s available here on craigslist. The car is offered from Issaquah, Washington, for $1,799. Yet another tip brought our way by “Curvette”.
A lot of people view the Mustang II as a sporty version of the subcompact Pinto. That’s because the dimensions were similar and the base engine in the II was an inline-4 like the Pinto. Timing is everything, and the Mustang II came along just at the right moment – the year of the OPEC oil embargo that created gasoline shortages and high prices (by the standards of the day). Ford sold 385,000 Mustang IIs in 1974, more than double that of the year before. Even in the generation’s last outing in 1978, 192,000 of them found buyers (that sales level was about the same as 1968’s).
The seller’s car is one of about 68,000 hatchbacks built in ’78, excluding the Mach 1 and Cobra. It has the optional 2.8-liter V6, and it and the 4-speed has both been rebuilt (after all, the car is said to have 200,000 miles). The seller also says it runs great, though the photos show a car in need of help (and some love). All the pics are of the exterior, so we don’t know how far gone the interior may be, although the seller is not optimistic. We’re told the little Ford has only had one owner in its 48 years.
Language in the listing includes a lot of “marketing-speak,” much like another listing we suspect is from the same seller (same small town in WA). The condition of the body is hard to tell, and there is damage on the front end, but the seller has the grill. The car also needs a new gas tank (included with the sale), and all the fluids are old. The Ford also has the “famous Mustang II front suspension,” though I didn’t know it was especially noteworthy. Will the Mustang II ever be as collectible as the original?
I have a friend who did a nuts and bolt restoration of a Pinto Squire.
Why? Because he himself is nuts and bolts!
He claims it shares one floor panel with the Mustang II and that’s it. Even the cowl is different.
The two cars do share basic measurements, four-cylinder engines, transmissions brakes, and suspension bits,
The Mustang II front suspension is note worthy as it was/is a major milestone in hot rodding. It’s a great design and lended itself well to vehicles of the ‘30’s through the early’50’s.
ANÐ, unlike the Pinto the crossmember along with the front suspension just unbolts to use in whatever application you desire. For many years, and still today. There are many vendors that supply tubular control arms larger brakes (in whatever wheel bolt pattern you desire) and any other suspension items you deem necessary for your “Rod”. The 4 speed transmission used in these cars were the same one used in the Capris. They were somewhat weak and the shifters didn’t even qualify as weak. (just junk) I have always liked the body style of the fastback Mustang IIs. But they look much better without the bumpers. I’m always on the lookout for one of these in my neighborhood to play with. I think a V6 with a 5 speed (like I have in my MGB) would be a nice every day car. (With additional handling upgrades)
That 2.8L V6 was a popular combination, showing up in later Pintos, the Mustang II and both the Fox Platform and European versions of the Mercury Capri and the Fox body Mustang. Although the version in my Dad’s ’79 Capri was bolted to a four-speed manual transmission that was awful. It was a quick and dirty response to the Iranian oil crisis in 1978, until Ford could bolt a proper five-speed manual transmission to all of its engines, starting in 1980. Fourth gear was an overdrive, with a huge gap between third and fourth gear, so the engine was either screaming near redline in third gear, or lugging along just off idle in fourth gear around town. At suburban speeds between 30 and 40 mph, the car never seemed to be in the correct gear, which made it a handful to drive in traffic!
I’ve always loved the Mustang II. I don’t get why it’s not as popular among Mustang enthusiasts as earlier Mustangs. So it shares certain components with the Ford Pinto, so what? That alone shouldn’t make the car any worse.
There’s irony in the answers to that question. It wasn’t like the first generation. I mean, 4-cylinder? Big bumpers, always. Cars were trending smaller and more upscale. Of course, let’s not leave out all the Ford factions, I only like certain generation and only specific years and motors. Iococca pulled a rabbit out of his hat and the public responded despite the haters. In retrospect many didn’t like the 2nd generation anyway.
I agree. Same here.
True. Cars share parts all of the time, it’s how manufacturers keep costs down and cars more affordable. I don’t understand why the haters consider that such a sin in the Mustang II, but accept it everywhere else! Besides, as others have pointed out, the only major sheet metal they shared was the floor pan, so the sharing of a single piece of sheet metal I would hardly consider to be such a “crime”, LOL! GM used to make this sharing an art form, especially when GM began to share Chevy engines with the other divisions. It has been the butt of numerous jokes on TV through the years, especially on “That 70’s Show”, when jokes about the similarity between a Camaro Z28 and a Pontiac Trans-Am were rampant!
I agree. A friend of my mother’s had a Ford Pinto. Another friend had a Chevy Vega. I was too young at the time to drive a car, but I remember these cars.
People tend to forget the original Mustang’s Falcon ancestry.
The Falcon begat the Mustang, which begat the Maverick/Comet, which begat the Granada/Monarch/Versailles. Like three-times warmed over, leftover pizza, it was virtually indistinguishable from the cardboard box the pizza came in by the third trip through the microwave oven! In car terms, the fourth (4th) iteration was beyond saving. Even Ford knew that, when the successor to the Comet/Maverick, the Fairmont/Zephyr twins, were built on the then brand-new Fox Platform, which begat the Mustang/Capri twins in the 1979 model year.
A classic example of a car that was right for the times. Lee Iacocca discussed the Mustang II briefly in his autobiography. He mentioned the time at a Ford stockholder’s meeting when a woman stockholder got up and asked, in so many words: Why did you ruin the Mustang? You took a great little car and turned it into a big fat pig! Iacocca said in his book that he didn’t have an answer for the woman’s question. The answer was the Mustang II. The public agreed, and they sold like hotcakes! If the Mustang II had a major flaw, it was that lack of a V8 for the first year, but Ford fixed that in 1975. With a luxurious interior that punched far above its weight at the time, and engine options from mild (four cylinder) to wild (V8), it took the Mustang back to its roots, as a car for everyone. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If nothing else, without the Mustang II, there wouldn’t be any Fox Platform Mustangs, and we might all be driving FWD sporty coupes called Mustangs instead! The Ford Probe was one such example, it was supposed to be called a Mustang until the screams of protest from Mustang fans forced Ford to retreat!
Ford Probe. This must have been an idea for some time. In the early middle eighties GM was developing a FWD F-body called the GM-80. Look it up and see the well camouflaged mules used in the project. Also sectioned wide body Citations were used. By ’86 this was scrapped.
GM was the home to many bad ideas (FWD X-Body Cars, Chevy Cevette), but cancelling the GM-80 program wasn’t one of them! Proof that even a broken clock is right twice a day, LOL! It’s just too bad that Ford had to learn the lesson the hard way, and actually built the Ford Probe! Well, at least they had the good sense not to call it a Mustang, although many women took a visceral dislike to the name Probe (ask any woman or young girl who’s been subjected to a gynecological examination, and you will understand why), LOL!
Take the badges off and its a Pinto.
Another commenter mentioned the flexibility and popularity of the MII front suspension. That was their greatest (and maybe only) contribution to the car community.
And take the badges off an original Mustang and it’s a Falcon.
At that price point you could really make a sleeper!
Although I was way too young at the time to drive a car, I was born in 1973, I remember cars like the Mustang and Mustang II. I had a neighbour who had a Ford Maverick.
I was a Freshman in high school in 1973, so Malaise Era iron was in my demographical wheelhouse, so to speak! I took my driver’s license road test in Mom’s 1972 Maverick in April, 1976, at the tender age of 16 years and 8 months, two (2) months after the minimum age for a road test of 16-1/2 years old (it was the earliest I could get an appointment at the RMV)!
I replaced the Corvair front suspension under my 34 Chevrolet with the Mustang ll around 1990 . . I used a T Bird power rack . . More compatible with the Saginaw power steering pump than the M-ll rack . .
Car companies do this. They put an old badge on a new car. Anyone seen the Chevy Blazer, recently? Or, the Korean Nova, from the late 80’s?