There are many days when I wish my dad had kept some of his cars for me to own later on, like the smoke silver 1990 Mercedes-Benz 300E I still think about. Of course, life doesn’t always afford us the luxury of keeping tired family cars in the family, but the seller of this 1977 Ford Mustang II here on eBay was luckier than most in that his father gave him the car upon his college graduation. It is said to have covered only 17,900 miles from new and wear original paint.
Now, the seller is a bit hazy on the original paint part, noting that he believes the color hasn’t changed since new. But if the sub-18,000 mileage claim can be verified, there’s little reason to doubt that claim. I think this Mustang II would benefit hugely from a proper detailing, as the photos don’t do a survivor like this much justice. The white vinyl top looks like it would clean up well, along with the hubcaps and engine bay.
The seller is correct that the white leather (vinyl?) seating surfaces and door panels are eye-catchers, and perhaps offer the best evidence that the claimed mileage is original. He also notes the dash is uncracked and all interior features work as designed. The black carpeting looks clean as well, and amazingly, the A/C is said to still be functional. It’s incredibly hard to keep an interior like this looking good, so kudos to the seller for preserving it so well.
The engine isn’t the desirable 302, so that’s probably the biggest letdown. Still, it’s said to run well and the seller still uses the car for the occasional errand to keep it humming. A tune-up was performed in the past year, hoses are said to be good, and a fresh battery was recently installed. The seller is moving and will not have space for the Mustang, which prompts the sale. It’s listed with a $6,500 Buy-It-Now and the option to submit a best offer.
If that story were true and it were my car, I’d have a hard time letting it go, and I bet my family would too. I suspect this is the story of the guy the current flipper bought the car from.
My cousin had two of these his first was like this one with the four banger, the second had the 302cid in it. Both of his cars were manual transmissions. I’ve never cared for the styling of this gen. They look like Ford took one of there earlier mustangs to the fun house and designed it around what they saw in the mirrors. They are a proportional ugly duckling not….! A beautiful swan. If I’m not mistaken these mustangs were built on the pinto platform and were infact fairly decent cars. They did stand up to a pounding I know that first hand after being in my cousins cars, he lived in a rural area and he punished his cars on those back roads. In the end he drove both cars into the ground, infact their carcasses are likely still out there.
With that 4 banger, automatic and A/C, I’m not surprised it took it 41 years to go 18,000 miles! I know first hand from my buddy’s 1978 Mustang Ghia back in high school with this same powertrain what slugs these truly were. We’d joke that we’d have to measure its 0-60 time with a calendar.
So long as you’re in no hurry, it’s a neat find regardless. Can’t be many of these left now. Haven’t seen one without Cobra or Cobra II livery in years.
I completely agree. My wife had a ’74, 4-banger, but, with no air. It was the slowest car I ever drove. I couldn’t imagine it with the a/c on. It really felt unsafe getting up to speed on the highway. To add insult to injury, it got terrible gas mileage as well. I’m sure I could have beaten it in a 40 yard dash, and I was never really that fast.
He is dreaming on the price. If it was my Grandfathers I would keep and cherish it, but I wouldn’t pay $100 for it.
My garage-kept baby, shown dirty in some overgrown crabgrass.
Reminds me of the 2.3 turbo swap the student did in shop and then put up for sale. I’d like to know how that turned out
Why would it need a new battery hold-down unless the original was seriously corroded away? Nice-looking but needs a careful inspection prior to purchase.
If it’s truly as low-mileage as they claim, the car must have sat for long periods. An unused battery will often corrode at the terminals because of undercharging, and the acid will oxidize any nearby metal very quickly. This car looks pretty clean all around– there’s good reason to trust the low-mileage claim, or else someone took VERY good care of this car. I have an old Mercury with a white interior, and they show age with little use.
Like most people, I’m not a fan of this generation of Mustang, but I really like the colors and interior on this one. I’d find a cheap 4-cylinder / 5-speed Ranger, swap its drivetrain into this car, and daily it.
My girlfriends mother had a beautiful Black Mustang II fastback with a red interior, 302 4spd car with the rally wheels. It was a beautiful car that she would allow me to use it on weekends when they were at the lake. Until I wrecked it blowing through a stop sign and t-boned an Electra 225.
Her insurance company screwed her on the value and all she was able to buy as a replacement was a little green 4cyl automatic coupe just like this one. Same color, same everything. EVERY time I saw that green coupe I felt very badly that it was my fault she was driving that piece of crap when the one she had was much cooler, much faster and much better looking. I never asked to borrow the green one. I hadn’t thought about how I had screwed her out of such a nice car for a long long time, until now. Thanks alot.
Would be really cool if you could buy her one left and one in total😇
Meant to say like the one you wrecked.
Very nice.
My folks bought a new 74 Ghia notchback. Beautiful little car. Very plush inside.
It was the right idea at the time, an attempt at pulling back from the Bloatstang they had become. I think they went too far, because, as others have said, the proportions are awkward on this generation.
Iacocca said something to the effect that ‘The Mustang didn’t leave the pony car market, we left the Mustang market’. Meaning Ford lost the plot and the II was an attempt to get back to the original intent of the Mustang.
They got it mostly right. I’d rather have one of these than a 71-73 model.
No this one, but I always wanted to turn a notch back Mustang 2 into a stripped down, no frills down & dirty street racer. Think “John Milner” as opposed to “Street Outlaws”.
Sweet looking Mustang II. I used to know someone who had one yrs ago. He loved driving it. I’d buy one myself if I didn’t already have a car. I’d also want it to have less than 100ks original miles on the clock.
Several years later, someone at 7-UP saw this car and decided it would be a good idea to make a promotional run of Mustangs.
LOL!
Absolutely vinyl seats, not leather. Sharp colors. Too bad the powertrain was not a manual and/or a V-6 or V-8
HS girlfriend’s brother had one in this except it had the landau top… suppose it was a Ghia. The interior could have been white, really not sure all these years later. Only rode in it on a day trip from south PA to King’s Dominion in VA. 4-speed car but what engine it had… well, don’t think it was the 4, we made it down & back in a day. Nice looking little car however the colors would have looked a bit more at home on a Granada.
A mustang gave it to a pinto and this the result.
These Pintos tangs may not be desirable, but they did the job during the malaise era. The Cologne v6 was the top engine in its debut year and could have been one heck of a power plant if only they could keep up with demand production wise.
I’m suspicious because of a couple things…
– First, his father made him promise to maintain it just like he did, but he’s “not sure” if his father ever got the car repainted. I’m this guys age, or close to it, based on the year he says he graduated college… I don’t think that’s the kind of thing that would have gone unnoticed, esp. on a car the father planned to give his son.
– Second, that engine bay looks horrible for a car with that low of miles that’s been “garage kept.”
– Third, look at the back of the rear seat from the trunk shot… I’m betting that back panel is missing because the rear seat is recovered, meaning the fronts probably are, too. Plus the trunk’s condition appears worse than the interior. Usually on a low miles, garage kept car the opposite is true.
– Fourth and finally, I don’t believe any of these Mustang-IIs came with leather interior. They were all vinyl. So even if that is the original interior, as he claims, it likely isn’t leather.
I agree. The only thing that points to 17k miles is the fact that no Mustang II could ever make it to 117k….. :-).
lol!