This 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1 looks like a very original car with decent options and low miles. Claimed to be in excellent mechanical health, the seller says he’d take it cross country tomorrow. There’s some rust to sort out but it presents nicely as-is and I’m digging the factory body graphics and chunky wheel trim rings. Find this survivor-grade Mach 1 here on craigslist for $16,000 and be sure to go here if the ad disappears.
I love seeing worn original paint and bumper stickers that tell the story of a car used for everything from grocery runs to amusement park trips. The seller says this Mach 1 was actually parked in 1984 due to a faulty ignition coil and not moved until earlier this year when it was sold as part of an estate sale. The nicely-preserved chrome on the bumpers and “Mach 1” graphics on the trunk lid point to a car that spent a fair amount of time indoors.
The interior also presents incredibly well, and along with the preserved paint, help lend some credence to the low mileage claims. While the odometers have a poor track record for accuracy from this era, this certainly is an interior more fitting of a 41,000 mile car than a 141,000 mile example. The dash pad looks a bit tired but the door panels, console, seats and carpets all look quite good. While we’d love to see a manual transmission in here, the automatic suits the 351 just fine.
Speaking of the motor, the seller has addressed some additional maintenance items but says he kept the originals of any parts he replaced. Recent fixes include the ignition coil as well as a replacement gas tank, fresh tires, and a new carburetor and radiator. The rust I mentioned demands replacement floors, and the seller notes there are some small holes in the trunk wheel wells. Overall, this Mach 1 looks like an honest driver with lots of low-cost cruising miles ahead.
Sixteen thousand dollars is a lot of money for a fairly low option 1971 351 4V Mach 1 that needs a full restoration, including floors.
I’d hold out for one in better condition.
Steve R
After reading all this one needs, for 16K I don’t think there’s much worry about the advertisement disappearing but, thanks for the back up link just the same.
The 1971 model year starts an era of Mustangs I never cared for.
If someone does take it on, it will look good when completed in this color combination.
16K and will need inner and maybe outer wheelhouses and if they did like our Mach1 drove it in the rain that way you will be replacing trunk floor, then the floor repairs and a paint job, hope buyer has deep pockets. I rode in a buddies 71 and his view out his back window when backing was worse than our 70 which can be a challenge.
Too much money. You can buy a nicer one for that kind of money. Dreamer.
The seller said he would drive it across the country with rusted out floors?
He is a brave man.
Does anybody know what a really nice one would go for? I mean realistic money.
That flat back roofline really kills any visibility as I remember, and the interior just never seemed as sporty as the exterior would lead you to believe. That’s the only bad thing I’ll say about those ’71-73 stangs.
I like these, especially the Boss 351 version, and have seen more than a few of these Mach 1’s light it up at the strip.
These have never seen the love of the earlier models, there are those out there who actually prefer the mustang II to these, go figure.
The view out the back window is abysmal. It’s like looking through a mail slot is what I remember
The driving position isn’t all that hot either.
The seat sits very low and the dashboard is really high.
You have to be a tall person to see out the front over the steering wheel.
Can’t be any worse than my ’72 GTS…needs a back-up camera for sure!
TMD, ’72 GTS what?
Miguel, GTS = Gran Torino Sport. It’s the sport roof version that has terrible visibility!
This is what I’m talking about…
Oh, OK. I have never seen anybody refer to a Torino by just a couple of letters.
‘Parked due to a faulty ignition coil’
That’s a 5 minute job!
It’s like saying ‘parked due to low front tire’…..
Hey, James Bond drove one in Diamonds are Forever. I like ’em.
Nice green tape tape holding the door panel together.
Saying it was parked forever because of a bad coil strikes me as nonsense. I say take the owner, shoot some truth serum into him and let him talk! Craigslist listings are not exactly known as the hotbed of honesty. That being said, it is weird that it turned into a rustbucket unless it was parked outside or near the coast. On the other hand, give me a similar mustang with black rear window slats, a shaker hood, a “429” in it, an AM radio with an 8-track, manual window knobs and you got me interested, altho it would cost more than I got in my whole retirement account. imagine saying this to your wife of 50 years “Honey, I bought a car… a hot one. I am leaving now and not coming back… ever. I am changing my name to Kowalski and doing a Vanishing Point thing. You may read about me on the paper or on the radio as a blind black guy from a desert radio station guides me to my destination. Goodbye Honey”
And with THAT being said, I am convinced that all these decades-old muscle cars and semi-muscle cars have a place in history. While we cannot really go back, we can still ride in them and dream of the old cruising days when having a hot car was real. These days of re-naming 4 door sedans with the same names of the muscle car era names is dumb… almost as dumb as putting a rear spoiler which looks like a towel rack on a 4 door foreign car with an 85 h.p. motor and a coffee can exhaust.
as a 15 year old lad back in late 1969, I can remember seeing 4, count them, 4 new 1970 Plymouth 440 superbirds and roadrunners lined up next to each other on the factory car lot that had $5-6 thousand price tags on the window stickers.
The Superbirds may have had $5-6 K sticker prices but likely with at least a 440 6bbl setup. Road Runners were a whole lot cheaper. A friend of my brothers got a deal on a ’69 Road Runner in ’71 from an old man who had bought it new because he liked the color (Go Green) but was retiring and didn’t need it. The sticker had been $3500 and he sold it to my brother’s friend for $2400 and it was barely broken in. It was very basic with 383 4bbl and automatic. He kept the car for a very long time and when he sold it the odometer was still in the 30,000’s.
I see some value here, at least its a real Mustang not a Mustang II.