To say that nobody wants 1974-78 Mustangs is probably to exaggerate a bit, but most collectors, Mustangers or not, have little use for this generation. It’s a shame, really, as these cars sold in greater numbers than some in the first generation models of 1965-73 did. But people haven’t forgiven Ford for downsizing the original Pony Car to produce something like the 1974 Mustang II model shown here on craigslist. Jack M was our tipster on ths one. If you either don’t care to take this Mustang generations debate to heart, or you just want a relatively inexpensive collector car, then perhaps you should consider making a play, then getting to Yucaipa, CA, to collect your new wheels.
You probably won’t be driving them home, as the car has a charging issue as well as some problems with the power steering and master cylinder. From sitting? From neglect? The ad is very scanty with its information. The good news is that the price is low, at an asking number of $3K. You’ll use your Barn Finds charm to get it for considerably less, won’t you? You’ll be inheriting someone else’s problems, mind you. What kind of challenge that will entail will be yours to discover.
What you’ll have is a car with 85,000 miles on an engine of unknown provenance. Is it original? No clue. What is it? It’s not a V8, if it’s original, though later cars of this generation had eight-cylinder power. This one is either a 140-CID I-4 or a 171-CID I-6. I’m guessing the four-pot. Not exactly muscle pretentions, but then again, the first Mustangs of 1964 vintage started out with a 170-CID six as their base offering, soon to be replaced with a 200-cubic inch “screamer.” V8s as large as 429 cubic inches are not automatically going to appear under a Mustang’s hood.
With this car, there’s one bonus immediately visible: it has the original California blue plate (license tag), so you can count on the dry desert climate not having eaten it up like the eastern cars. Perhaps that’s why the paint looks like it does, too. Would it be worth letting a pro with a buffing wheel have a go at reviving the finish? Probably. Would it be worth spending more money than that to restore this Mustang? You’d be doing good in the world—fifty years from now, people will want to know what the 1974-78 Mustangs looked like. Are you willing to take the long view to save a car for the good of the hobby?
This is a Ghia which was pretty nifty in its day. Overall it doesn’t look bad, likely not rusty, but the seller lists several mechanical items which need attention. That shade of green was common in its day, and the white vinyl roof provided contrast (though the extra Ghia padding on the C-pillar commonly discolored and/or gathered dirt). Maybe some mechanical work and an attempt at reviving the paint would make for a viable, and now-uncommonly-seen, Mustang II.
Thanks Brian K.
There’s a ’76 Mustang II coupe on Fast Finds right now for $2500. It has sat in a garage for about 35 years after a restoration in 1990. It was the wifes college car. Its maroon and looks very clean. Just hasn’t run in years. These are out there, and for a possibly modest price you have an ability to get into the collector car hobby for a reasonable price, you just have to be patient and sooner or later the right one pops up. This one looks very solid overall and I bet can be cleaned up nicely. A can of polishing compound and a good high quality polishing wheel could do wonders.
The available 6 was a 2.8 (171c.i.) V6.
That’s the engine. Extremely anemic—didn’t have enough power to go up the hills on the Merritt Parkway in CT. My father bought one of these when i was getting out of high school and going to college. After a long line of 4-door sedans, i was excited to finally have a sports car. But it had no get-up-and go
It’s within a couple of hours drive of 10,000,000+ people, at some price point, probably lower than its current asking price, it should find a buyer if there is a market for this car. If no one steps forward, California has a robust program to purchase and crush older cars for emissions credits it should qualify for.
Steve R
My father brought a twin to.this one home. It didn’t take long and no one liked it. We had already owned three first generation Mustangs. It got poor fuel economy and real poor performance. It got sold in the first year at our house. No one missed it.
Man, this is interesting and intriguing. I remember when I was a kid, and the neighbor, who worked for Ford, had a blue one just like this. It had YELLOW turn signals in the back!!! But we all “knew” that it just wasn’t the same. It felt like we were admitting defeat. I don’t know what the performance numbers were, but I just don’t remember the feeling of “wow, this is a marked improvement over the last Mustang.” But it was a pretty trim and decent looking car, but kind of “Baroque” as well. That was the style then…
As a 💯% Mustang man, I’ll say the 74 was Motor Trends Car of the Year. Having said that, what a joke.
I believe the Motor Trend Car of the Year in ’71 was a Vega, so this is somewhat better. Went from a Road Runner to this in what, 5 years… smh
What a far cry from the 1973 and before mustang I get it the big three were trying to come up with something because of 1973 oil embargo building smaller cars to compete with Datsun soon to be Nissan Toyota and Mazda but it actually took the Tv show Charlie’s Angles for these things to become popular, yes people got them before that because they were cheap and they needed a car.but I consider them to be a glorified pinto I thought Ford couldn’t possibly do anything worse with the mustang then they came out with this Mach-E thing and called it a mustang. Thinking back if Ford would have called this something other than the mustang and just kept the73 model going it probably would have sold better.
See, there ya go. Lol. Nothing to do with the pinto. Shows you how much even car cars don’t know crap about these cars.
If you don’t like them i guess you just don’t like them. They filled a hole that no way a big ass mustang would fill BUTT they were cool and they became one of the fastest cars of the time, unless they came from overseas.
I still don’t get the crap they get from mustang people and the older we get the more the sixty lovers will die off and THESE will be the top mustang. Theres ALOT of us that really appreciate these mustangs.
The Arab oil embargo started in October of 1973 at the same time these cars hit Mustang II’s were hitting the showrooms. It takes several years for a car to go from the drawing board to production. They were designed and approved well before the oil shortage.
Steve R
Mustang ll s are sorta the Rodney Dangerfields of the Mustang world. They don’t get any respect. And that’s really too bad because they are a much better car than they were ever given credit for. The car was made the way it was because of the oil crisis and a myriad of other factors. Ford was trying to emulate cars like the Toyota Cellica and Datsun 240Z. But most Americans in those days expected their Mustang to be a truer evolution of the car they’d fallen in love with in 1964. The last iterations in the early seventies became too big and porky to a lot of people and Ford knew it. But the redesign was too radical for a large number of Mustang enthusiasts. It was a bridge too far to garner the same passion for these when compared to say a Boss 302 or a Mach 1. All this being said; I have a suspicion that as time goes on that there might be a little more love expressed for the Mustang ll. It is kind of happening for the Edsel so anything is possible. GLWTS.
I love these little mustangs. I have NEVER understood the hate from mustang people that these got, from 74 to 78. No they didn’t go fast but neither did the early sixties stands. Yes they got bigger and better engines and quite frankly what better engine is a 302 to tinker with and make faster and more power cheaply.
I’m 67 I grew up loving all the mustangs from the cute little 65 1/5 to the big ass machs of the seventies that some couldn’t get out of their own way depending what engine was in it.
I bought the blue one that was on here a while back, a 74 also with a fantastic body but needing the tank dropped and cleaned and a new carb. It was a manual tho which we like better and I only paid $1,350.00 for it but man what a fun little car.
Congrats on your purchase Matt. I’d be interested in your experiences in buying and now owning a 50+ year old Mustang II.
Just curious Matt. Which blue ’74 Mustang did you buy? There was a darker faded one with a stick and a lighter one also with a stick. Or maybe an entirely different one? I’ll second Bobs Congrats and hope you have years of fun with it.
It was the light blue one out of Connecticut. It was kept in a parking garage and barely ran when I went and got it. I have a single car carrier and it took me about six tries to get it on. Lol
It didn’t have enough power to run it up there. I finally backed up about 75 ft, floored it as best it would and got it up.
I took the tank down, cleaned it out, blew out the lines and put a new carb on it and it started right up.
We’re putting new carpet, window brushes and doing a few hrs of body work that you’ll never tell we did.
It’s a great little mustang and we’ll enjoy it for years to come.
( USELESS TRIVIA TIME)
1974 was the only year the Mustang did not have a V/8 option.
No hate from me on this one. My first actual car (not a truck) was a ’74 Ghia. Such a nice driving car. The Cologne V6 was a dog, but everything was then. A different set of gears would have helped it. That rack and pinion was amazing, though, and made it feel much sportier than it was.
This is a car that has a lot of potential for the money paid, and a great start for someone just jumping in. Some basic maintenance, which can be learned on the fly via YouTube, and some elbow grease and you will have a nice enough looking, good enough running, classic car.
But, these low priced cars only make sense for anyone living close by. If I wanted one like this, I’m sure that I could find one just like here in the Atlanta area Craigs List.
These are beautifully horrible. But what a fun shocker/sleeper build opportunity at this price point.
Throw a modern 6 speed and early Coyote in it, upgrade the suspension / cassis and have a great time.
I owned a 1976 sport back with the rear hatch. Fun car to drive and got decent gas mileage with the 4 cylinder. I have always liked this generation of Mustangs since I got a lot of enjoyment out of mine.