Enough of this $15-thousand-dollar Mustang Fastback rust bucket nonsense. Here’s a car that’s priced within a normal collector’s budget that’s in decent shape and drivable. Now, not after a winter of welding and courier service parts delivery. Sure, it’s a coupe version of the 1967 Mustang, not a fastback, but it’s in decent shape and ready to roll if you bid enough by Thursday, when its auction, listed here on ebay, closes. Should you get to the magic number, you’ll be needing to get to Groveland, FL, which is in the area of Orlando. You wanted an excuse to visit Mickey this summer anyway, didn’t you?
This is no speed demon, sporting a three-speed manual and a six-pot engine, but the seller lists it as a car that’s “all in all, a great cruiser,” and the photos seem to support this. Sure, it’s no drag strip warrior, and if you want, you can later drop a V8 in there. That’s been done thousands of times before. But will you really be happier than with the standard engine? I say no—this one claims to be all numbers matching, so at the very least, the original mill and transmission are present. Leave things like that, please. You will be forgiven for installing power steering if you like, and AC, though the latter would probably cost a good percentage of the sale price. But otherwise, just twist the key and drive. Worry about a long-term plan later, or never.
Will you be doing some correcting down the road? Sure. The paint is old. There are some “minor blisters” (which will only get bigger as you ignore them), and the interior wants some help. But the latter is easy. As for the paint, you’ll need to do something eventually. Or just let t fade to whatever sort of patina it develops. Either way, don’t decide now. Just drive.
What you might address is the rear spring situation. I’m of the age when the cool kids were doing what this guy has done and put those spring shackles on the rear, but I don’t know why they do it, how, or what the results are. This is my plea to you Barn Finders: give me a quick education as to whether this improves performance or hides some unspeakable inadequacy. It looks to me when I see this mod like the springs have been turned upside down. I know that’s stupid. But what does this do, and how does it do that? Whatever the answer, this, along with those wheels and the overall condition of this car, makes me think of the late 1970s, a high school cool kid, and a burger stand. To me, all of that sounds like more fun than sitting on blacktop all day on a Sunday to get a trophy.
At the current $6000 this is one of the more realistic BF Mustangs we’ve seen! Yes it’s evident it’s had and may need work later but as it sits it’d be a fun one to drive for the summer.
You asked about the rear springs, Brian. The kids around here saw the fast drag racers do this to make it squat when the dumped the clutch at the drag strip (yes we got to race on the base runway back in the day). It became a fad to go with the biggest rear tires you could afford so the idea was twofold-clear the fenders.
The kids that really had the money and/or mechanical knowledge to make that front end jump and carry were few and far between but no one wanted to look like they weren’t cool..
And as an added bonus, lifting the back with longer shackles was cheap plus it also moved more weight to the front to make the burnouts a little better.
The raised rear also had the effect of insuring you’d wreck the car trying a high speed corner. Before you bring up Starsky and Hutch know that the rear car end of that car was locked down with adjustable shocks in full lock up and a Panhard bar.
Looking into a crystal ball here and predicting numbers matching cars, even the underpowered versions, are gonna continue to be the high water mark when selling in the future. But the crowd has changed faces. In the past it didn’t matter if it was a “regular car”. It had to be a high performance muscle car. Now people are taking interest in all vehicles… 4 doors & station wagons included. Pintos, Vegas, Gremlins, Volares, Pacers….etc…etc.
Sure, you can stuff a crate engine and a 4 speed in this little pony and have a nice pocket rocket. But it looks pretty complete mechanically, so why not restore it back to the original state, color and all? A nice set of tires wrapped around a set of Mustang rallys and you’re looking pretty tall with this one without taking out a 2nd mortgage!
Exactly right, Cooter though it’d be interesting to know if Mustang Rallye wheels came in the 4 bolt pattern found on stock I-6 Mustangs (Falcons too?).
Much more reasonable price so far than the one covered here recently for sale in NY.
KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) & drive it.👍🏻
This is a completely different situation compared to most Mustangs we see. A very low option car (I’d like to see a Marti report, just to find out how few options it has). Start doing straightforward upgrades. Inside: carpet, dash pad, radio. Clean up the engine compartment. Replace those wheels which were already out of style decades ago. Be content with the drivetrain and paint. You could have a simple, basic, yet eye-catching cruiser for not much money.
Then join the local Mustang club. They would be glad to have you. The muscle car enthusiasts would have no interest, but your car (and story) would appeal to the Average Joe collector car hobbyist.
I don’t know what the rest are looking at, but I see at least two rot holes in the floor pan and what looks like a hasty floor patch right rear. Sure, he isn’t asking the moon and it could be a buy for somebody, but a “no rust” vehicle it is not.
As far as the shackles go, they were likely installed to correct the sag always present in vintage Mustangs.
Shackles basically move the rear leaf spring eye further from the, in a Mustang’s case, unibody, creating some lift. I used them on my 63 Falcon when I swapped a 302, Mustang 9 inch axle. I needed more clearance for bigger 15 inch wheels/tires. Very cheap lift.
You can swap in a small block with factory parts, but you’d need to update the rear end to a five lug, and the wimpy front brakes would need upgraded, too. By the time you fix the visible and hidden rust and new paint, plus a total interior replace, look at that dash pad, you could buy a complete car in better shape. Only reason to rework one is the total knowledge of it and the satisfaction of doing what you wanted to it. Coupes aren’t rare, there’s still a bunch of them out there.