This 1971 Mach 1 is a sad looking sight, and as I look at it I think of that old saying: Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes right to the core. Well, the core of this one isn’t good. You will find it listed for sale here on eBay. The Mustang is located in Wilton, California, and is being sold with a clear title. The seller has set a BIN price of $5,500 for the car, although the option is there to make an offer.
The first thing that I’ll do will be to cover the positives here. The seller states that the engine is present and that he believes that it is original. He also says that it runs, but it will need a full tune-up and the carburetor will need cleaning. Now, let’s look at the bad. I’m not going to say too much here, but I’ll let photos like this one do the talking for themselves. It isn’t pretty.
Once again, everywhere that you look you find major rust issues. I’ve seen some bad rust problems in Mustangs before, but this Mustang is right up there with the worst of them. Personally, I think that if you were to try to lift the car up in any way other than the way that it has been placed on this lift, there is a real danger that the car would bend quite severely. Having said all of that, the floors themselves look remarkably good compared to the rest of the car, so would this be enough to justify attempting a restoration?
The interior is largely complete, but there are precious few items that could be used as they sit right now. The console looks okay, but the seats will need new covers, and the remaining trim looks to be beyond help.
Personally, I don’t see much of a future for this Mustang beyond a life as a donor car. While some of the bolt-on panels could be salvaged, the floors look reasonable, and it appears that the engine may be okay, the rest of the car looks close to being rotted beyond viable restoration. I can see someone buying this for the tags and the few salvageable parts. What do our Barn Finders think?
……1971 Mach one…… how’d that happen
70 mach1….big difference! I have 3 mach 1’s and love the cars. If this was a big block it MIGHT be worth saving. Unfortunately it isn’t and should be put to death. Way too far gone.
It’s a 1969 , NOT A 70, OR A 71
This one is actually a 1969.
He was brave to stand under that car while it was in the air. I’ll give him credit, he knows it’s a POS, and was willing to show it. That’s better than most sellers, such as the guy with the 1970 Charger that was featured here the other day.
It’s priced too high, this is the third time it’s cycled through eBay in the last month, at least he’s willing to take offers now.
Steve R
Yea, that Gator-Grain going over 11k – wow.
Not a 71, or 70. But a 69-yes
This is a rare instance where Major rust outranks General rust….grind it up and fertilize a field.
Take what is still restorable off this poor pony and send the rest to the glue factory. This car has to be originally from the rust belt and some how ended up in the sunshine state.
Looks like a future John Wicke 🎥 special look alike muscle car if it doesn’t break in half on shipping
to a buyer which is listed 4000 to high😔
Interesting how cars destined to scrap attempt higher crazy pricing !!!
I could build this with a welder 👨🏭 but why would I …
The only person crazier than the buyer who pays 5K for this one is the guy the ebay seller says paid 13K for it. It may be a Mach I but it is only a lowly H code with an automatic transmission.
RUST? It’s hardly noticeable GOOD GRIEF!
Somebody with amazing skill and love would take this car on. If it was matching numbers I’d hope it would be saved. If not, worthless.
That’s a CA car? So much for “It’s dry here so paint and upholstery”.
Nothing in the ad claims it’s a “California car”, only that it’s presently located in California. I’ve never seen a car from this era which spent its entire life in California rust in this manner and I grew up a few miles from the coast and currently live about 20 miles from the ocean. Cars located directly on the coast that did rust, didn’t rust in this manner.
Steve R
There is a way to save it buy a repop body then restore the mechanical parts and transfer them over to this one. But it will be expensive. There sure seem to be a lot of these Rustangs lately you’d think with the amount of junk to chose from that the prices would be better. I’m not a Ford guy so I actually don’t look at to many of them I like the 50’s, 40’s, and 30’s cars more they had much cooler styling in my opinion. As for this car I’d be hard pressed to pay anything for it I really think it’s time for the big metal plate to drop on it.