By 1970, sales of the popular “pony car”, the Ford Mustang, were down by two-thirds from the peak in 1966. Competition was to blame – and the market was well saturated with sporty cars by that time. This 1970 edition is a “Plain Jane” Mustang with an inline-6 engine, 3-speed manual transmission, and perhaps little else. A one-owner vehicle, it’s in West Hollywood, California, and is available here on craigslist for $13,500. Thanks to T.J. for finding us something other than a Mach 1 for us to check out!
Though the Mustang wasn’t nearly as hot in 1970, it was still the #1 selling pony car, beating out the revised Camaro which didn’t hit the market until February. A 200 cubic inch six-banger was standard as was a floor-shifted manual. From the looks of this example with its dog dish hub caps, the options list may have only included an AM radio. According to the seller (the original owner?), this Ford has less than 30,000 miles and still wears its original tires (they’d be the first things to go).
The Ford isn’t running at the moment and the seller thinks it’s the carburetor and a new one is on order. Once it arrives, it will get installed, and – hopefully – that gets the Mustang going again. No mention is made if the new part will change the asking price for the original car. With so little mileage, this vehicle has spent a lot of time being idle.
On board is the vehicle’s original Lime Green paint which looks okay and should mostly respond to a coat of wax and some elbow grease. The matching interior seems to be fine except for the driver’s seat bottom and hopefully that can be repaired. Paperwork on this classic dates back 40 years including the receipt of purchase when new. It’s refreshing to see a basic Mustang once again as that’s the kind of car that put the pony on the map to begin with.
Being a California car, I like to think it might be pretty solid. Straightforward mechanically working on these, too. Nice project.
Mary Tyler Moore drove a plain jane 1970 Mustang like this.
Her car was a white one.
Nice, but you need a whole driveline from a V8 model, I assume it’s a 4 bolt hubs , so not even a 9-in under it, I like the one State gas tank with the charcoal canister in the trunk. Would be four-wheel drum brakes too
C’mon fellas, what’s wrong with originality? Like Kenneth Carney said above, “not everyone wants fire breathing dragons.” How many of us, in our originality, can still breathe fire? Lmao!!! Like this Stang, we’re all classics.
with nicer hubcaps in some scenes? I noticed that when I was a kid
Like Russ said, refreshing to see what a stripper Mustang looks like. I don’t even see an AM radio. Unfortunately, no engine photos. Wish there was a Marti Report; does anyone see any options? Could it be a no-option car?
Lots of directions one could go with this Mustang.
The car appears to have a rear window defroster. If you look at the one interior photo that shows the block off plate where the radio would be you will see a T shaped switch hanging down. That style switch was used to operate a convertible top, the Mach 1 sport lamps and a rear defroster. Since there is little chance that it is there for a convertible top and I do not see any sport lamps that only leaves the rear defroster option.
The seller is not very good at math either as they state that the original tires are dated 1996.
Is the oil slick under the car included in the $13.5k, or is that an add-on accessory
Right. At least park the car on grass, when you’re snapping the pics!
Pull the 6 and three speed for a 331 stroker and a 5-speed. Brake and suspension upgrades as well. I’d source bigger steel wheels and fix the driver’s and that’s it.
What i’m afraid to ask is just HOW big tires & wheels do u want to put on it? The “modern” wheels & tires(& sometimes motors) i saw in the last few years on/in the classic cars in Hemmings Muscle Machines magazine was the reason i cancelled my subscription.
Am i the only one that would rather see a plain jane 70 Mustang w/FoMoCo wheel covers than a mag-wheeled Chevelle or spinner attired Vette? Nothing against those at all but something about a 70 Mustang just gets me in the sentimental soul. Maybe because my big brothers 1970 Mach 1 Twister was straight from the factory wjth the same dog dish wheel covers. But as much because these are all business. A lot of 70 Boss 302Mustangs came this way as well but if you believed magazine features you’d think they all came with 15 inch magnums.
I wonder if any 1970 non fastbacks or convertibles or even boss 302s/429s got the coolest of all mach 1 only honeycomb rear center panel – by mistake.
When the assembly line ran out of a certain part, and they had another one that would “work” . . . they were sometimes installed . . . I ordered a ’74 Firebird Formula and it came through with CAMARO emblems where the window crank handle would have been in my power window door panel. I kept the car for NINE years and didn’t know it was “wrong” until years after I sold it.
What exterior color is this? Looks good.
Baby poop green
According to the data I found, it is called Medium Lime. Closely related to previous years Lime Gold. In their day, these were very popular colors. I like it too, very period-correct.
Porch Swing Green
30k miles? I’d like to ask the owner if he’s seen any unicorns lately.
If this is a 1970 how can the original tires be dated 1996? New math?
Worked as a stock boy at the A&P in the early ‘70’s and one of my coworkers had one identical to this in the same color but it had a small V8 and automatic. One evening we opened the back door to the stock room, pulled it inside and installed a new stereo and some 6×9 Jensens in the back shelf when we should have been working. Good times!
That could explain today’s grocery prices:-)
I hope they keep this car the same. Tired of seeing original cars torn apart. I appreciate seeing this original plain Jane car then some of these ones that are tore up especially a fake SS as we always see in Chevelle’s.
Aux fact gages with the 6 cyl on this ford i would think was rare in late 60s – i wonder if tach was also avail. You could not get either on a 1st (or 2nd?) gen camaro (or firebird?) with 6 cyl.
Amazing carpet condition, no door dings, & still with bias ply tires.
I looked at a new 1969 camero 6 cyl stickerd at 2400 in south bend indiana.
Nice car. Probably over priced, but metal is straight and the car is clean.
Clean it up and drive it just like it is.
What a stream of optimistic nonense! The paint’s dead (thin and dull), the driver’s seat cushion in no way can be stitched, and the driver’s door mirror is AWOL. That odometer’s rolled over at least once.
Look a little closer, the mirror is laying on top of the spare tire in the trunk.
And I can’t spell. Let’s try ‘nonsense’.
If I could see well enough to drive,
THIS is what I’d take! As simple and basic as you get. Just add a
decent sound system, fix the carb,
put some decent tires on it and drive as is. Not all Mustangs have
to be fire breathing monsters to be
enjoyed. Being the doting uncle I
am, I’d buy this for my niece, teach
her to drive a stick, and let the fun
begin. And yes Howard I do recall
Mary Tyler Moore’s Mustang too.
Though I think it had the mag wheel
hubcaps on it.
Mary’s had the dog dish hub caps with a thin white stripe tire – I just watched the opening credits on YouTube.
Maybe a turbo or a procharger on a 250 with a top-loader 4spd. would be fun. I never thought much of the 200, just too small.
6-cylinder fantasies: How about Ford’s 300-cubic-inch truck 6, which I dimly remember as a bored/stroked expansion of the 200-cube 6-cylinder.
I have a fresh 428cj, top loader 4 speed with a gear vendors over-drive for it in my garage and more. What a sleeper, or tune it up add AC, and go cross country at 25 miles to the gallon. Or add a 1000hp Coyote engine with 4-speed or auto and rock out. Man, you can do so much with this gem. Love it.
I had a new 1971 plain Jane 250 six 3 speed. Dealer added ac. Red. going to college. I had the full size hub caps. The main car I wish I would have kept it.
These remind me of my older cousin Dolores and her daughter Chris who loved Mustangs. The basic coupe was all she needed. Chris later traded “up” to a base Torino coupe with a three speed and a spinner knob on the wheel. As an early teen it was always fun to go for a ride with people who liked to drive.
I had a 69 Mustang in 1971. Had a 302 with 3 speed manual on the floor. No options at all. Really liked the car but man oh man, I hated those seat belt shoulder straps!
I agree with so many comments. Leave the 6 and 3spd. Today it’ll be unique. Even though 54 years ago it was common. I have no problem with folks dropping a 351 or whatever else. But save that for a OLD wreck with a blown mill. And yeah MTM dud turn the works on with her smile
“World on…”
Colt is Lime gold
Not green
I can only guess but perhaps they meant original type of tires ( bias ply, same brand, size ?).
And nobody would ever engage in some puffing while peddling used iron?