When someone bought this Mustang brand new 48 years ago, they must have planned to keep it forever and use it sparingly in the meantime. It looks as though it’s just been freed from a time capsule with an odometer reading of just 700 miles (if that’s to be believed). It looks as nice as it likely did the day it rolled off the showroom floor and is in Burlingame, California. This piece of ‘70s Americana is available here on craigslist for $25,000 OBO.
By 1973, Ford and its competitors had thoroughly saturated what became known as the pony car market. From a peak of 607,000 units in 1966, the Mustang only mustered 135,000 cars in 1973, including just over 25,000 Grande coupes, like the seller’s car. The big, less nimble 1971-73 Mustangs were selling at a smaller clip than the economy Mavericks, so Ford was planning to mix things up in 1974 with the new Mustang II, based on the Pinto platform.
The Grange was the “luxury” version of the Mustang that had been added to the line-up in 1969. For 1973, if you bought a Grande, you got a vinyl roof, plush interior with deluxe cloth high bucket seats, electric clock, interior trim panels with molded pull handles and armrests, deluxe 2-spoke steering wheel, color-keyed racing mirrors, full wheel covers, metal rocker panel moldings, metal wheel lip trim, and dual exterior paint stripes.
This ’73 Grande has been listed on behalf of another party. We’re told that said party acquired the car at an auction in Reno, Nevada five years earlier and it promptly went into the garage for safekeeping. To keep it going, it’s only been driven in and out of its living quarters, adding slightly to the 700 miles that it took 43 years to amass. We’re told that the Mustang is original, and you could assume that includes everything rubber, such as the tires and hoses. It’s a good-looking car, finished in copper paint with a corresponding roof and interior.
It would be fascinating to learn the story of the car before five years ago. Did someone bring it home in 1973 with the express purpose of keeping it for 40-50 years? Did they envision this car as a collectible when they found out the next series of Mustangs would be glorified Pintos? NADA says these are $26,000 cars at best, but new they would have been close to $4,000 as it sits. Adjusted for inflation, that same $4,000 invested at the rate of inflation would be equal to $24,000 today, so it seems like a wash after nearly five decades.
Havta be weird story….
It’s about as ugly as a Mustang gets as far as I see it. I’m not actually doubting the mileage, but I’m surprised to see it parked curbside in the rain with only 700 miles.
Anyone else notice the 78 Vette Pace Car in the Craigslist pictures. Maybe he got it here and now needs to sell the Mustang so he can pay for the Vette.
I know that bumper regulations were changing in weird and awful ways during the era, but what in the world was Ford thinking when they painted the front bumpers of these cars and chromed their rear bumpers?
I feel like these tunnel-back-window giant Mustangs were heavily influenced by Dodge Chargers. I guess it didn’t really work, because can you imagine what the asking price would be if this was a 700 mile Charger with a V8?
That front bumper may be a rubber endura type able to take a 5 mph hit for ’73.
The ’70-73 firebird & ’69 camaro(with optional endura? front bumper), & i think some ’70-71 cudas with optional elastomeric front bumper all had the same body color front / chrome rear bumper combo.
& so did the ’73 vette.
Unusual tires fitted to a grande – never seen such wide tires paired with luxury car wheel covers.
http://images.craigslist.org/00C0C_92xXXPQ84sQz_0pO0jm_1200x900.jpg
Considering they are ultra thin whitewalls, i would think they are even the original tires. Are they maybe rarely seen/another type of firestone “wide oval”?
No original gas cap, motor looks a lot older than 700 miles ugly Torino wagon hubcaps. No way.
Wheel covers are correct…
https://www.auto-brochures.com/makes/Ford/Mustang/Ford_US%20Mustang_1973.pdf
Also Mustang gas caps were popular with thieves, but not having an original cap is criminal on a car like this. (See what I did there? ;-) )
The brochure shows some interesting options. Like that half vinyl roof on the Mach 1!, & black leather cover(which might be sticky in humid weather with no a/c) over the plastic! steering wheel. I have never seen either option.
& the radial tire option oddly shows a very wide bias ply tire.
I have also never seen a ’73 stang with those optional forged
aluminum wheels.
Not sure if a locking gas cap was avail – never saw 1 of those either.
Sometimes the brochures were released before illustrated options were confirmed for production.
I had this exact car.Wheel covers are correct, I think someone must have stolen the original gas cap. I miss this car. I don’t think my wife would let me buy it but……
Hiding the odometer, are we?.. and look at that engine. There’s way more than 1000 miles sitting under the hood.
It could be 700 miles. My cars will somehow get dirty and need attention just sitting in the garage. It actually might be pretty cool in person. But again, what is the point of keeping a car for nearly 50 years without driving it? Hedging your bets for a big payday? CJinSD is spot-on…it didn’t work.
Sort of reminds me of the Eugene Levy line on the car lot from National Lampoon’s Vacation – if you think you hate it now, wait until you drive it. :)
Does anyone here remember the Vanderbrink auction a few years ago with the low mileage cars thst were stored in a basement from day one. Well check out the frames and engine compartments on those before they were detailed. Flash rust and surface rust on the bolt heads and other metal parts, caused from dew and temperature changes in a concrete building. I worked for an estate law firm for 25 years and had to dispose of contents of estate and came across many extremely low mileage cars over the years. About 5 years ago we had a four door Nova with 1,100 miles. Fully documented from the paper work discovered in the home. The car sat under a carport for the first three years of its life and was moved inside the garage afterwards until we pulled it out in 2016. The engine compartment looked much worse than this one just from three years in a carport. My point, without knowing how this car was stored it is impossible to judge from photos the mileage unless of course there is glaring or obvious wear on pedals, armrests, etc etc. I would need to see the underside of this car to determine mileage and there are no photos which is not a good sign.
Age can be harder on a car than mileage.
Age can be harder on a car than mileage. Over 40 years of sitting.
If it sounds too good to be true………………..
I don’t see all the wear and tear that others are mentioning. It looks pretty pristine to me….well worth the money, especially to have a Mustang that would stand out among a lot of others at the car show by not being hot rodded.
Love the hubcaps and the vinyl roof…..so 70s.
My teacher had a 1969 mustang Grande’. I believe it was blue and black vinyl top. While I like this car , Hers looked a lot more dressed up than this one .
Coil, Coil bracket, A/C bracket, Shock mounts all look like junkyard parts. 700 miles or not this still needs a complete restoration. I too sell the contents of estates and know what sells and for what. Somebody offered me $15000 it would be gone.
Over the last 50 years, I have found [and bought some of them] ultra-low mileage cars that sat unused for decades. In most cases, after a cash deal, the husband brought the vehicle home, and not long after buying it, he died. Problem was, the widow didn’t drive. So the vehicle simply sat, unused.
I know where a first-year Chrysler minivan sits, in the garage, still wears the paper license plate from the selling dealer. In this case, the wife had wanted a new car, so he bought the minivan. She wanted a 4-door sedan. He paid cash for it, could not return the vehicle. So there it sits, not for sale.
A long-time friend in the Packard Club, Don Rook from Philly, found a mint 1948 Packard Custom Eight sedan, black with brown interior. It had been bought new with the cash the original owner received as a retirement payment. The wife was furious. Big argument. Guy prepped the car for long-term storage in the attached heated garage. Frame was said to be sitting on 4 sections of an oak tree, so the tires were off the ground. Don bought it upon the owner’s death. When I drove the car about 1978, it had been driven a total of a little over 600 miles.
About 1985 I found a similar car in Virginia: A 1950 Packard Custom Eight sedan with 1,100 miles. Even had the original Firestone “Spiderweb” wide whitewall tires! Someone standing near the front of the car could not know it was running, as it had no sound or movement. Only by listening to the exhaust pipe could you tell it was running.
We rebuilt the brakes, fuel pump & carb, replaced the belts/hoses & other rubber items that had deteriorated, & had the gas tank cleaned. Amazingly the tires had no cracks or flat spots and the tubes held air. This was because the car had been stored on jack stands in a heated garage for 35 years.
From those 2 cars I learned what it meant to own a “new” Packard, because I was only 4 years old when the Detroit factory closed.
Also in the 1980s, and advertised in Hemmings, was a 1953 Packard Patrician that hadl been a “mild” show car when new, with many items under the hood chrome plated. The owner only entered it in a few custom car shows before locking it away in his garage. I didn’t buy that car as it was way too expensive.
If it were my car it would be taken out in the rain only if absolutely necessary. Photographing it would hardly be a reason to subject it to rain.