Are you looking for a pet project? Then look no further than this little pony, a 1976 Ford Mustang II. With a buy it now price of only $7,000, or the ability to make an offer, you can take this horse home from Grand Rapids, Michigan. The mileage listed is a healthy 44,900 miles. You might want to work fast before it begins to snow and the white paint camouflages it. Great pictures and more are listed on eBay.
Details do not abound though about the history of this car. Simply put, it has a 2.5 liter four cylinder engine, connected to a manual transmission. Beyond the fact that the listing states it runs and drives, not much else is mechanically known. For what it is worth, there is a note that the tires are new. One can probably assume that this little steed can be driven home to the buyers stable upon purchase.
There is nothing listed regarding the interior. All observations, assumptions, and opinions must come from the pictures. From those pictures though, the interior looks absolutely amazing. It had to have been restored. Mustang aficionados can decipher the good, the bad, and the quirky and leave plenty of comments below about their findings. Even if you aren’t a Mustang expert, leave a comment to join in.
Since pictures are worth a thousand words, this car is certainly a pretty pony. Hopefully there is no deceit in the photos. A quick observation shows that all the greenery around the car is still very vibrant and…green. Considering it is towards the end of October in Michigan, the photos might not be recent. If someone in your family has always wanted a pony for Christmas, this might just be the year that it happens.
The 4 cylinders were 2.3 if I recall correctly. I don’t think that family of engines spawned a 2.5 for a decade or two.
Correct… perhaps not until 1998. My ’97 Ranger had a 2.3L from the same family, I think.
It is the 2.3 liter 4-cylinder engine sadly taken directly from the lowly Pinto. On the plus side, the 4-speed manual transmission is also from the Pinto and is actually from Ford of Europe. If I remember correctly it was made in Germany and is by far the best part of the entire drive train.
Looks like a longer Pinto
JimK, One in every crowd.
The 4 banger kills it for me. These things were under powered with the V8, but at least you could build that. Seems to be in fair condition, but I’d want to check for rust underneath. It is a rust belt car after all.
I must have had 4 of these through the years. I could get them for $100, drive them ttill they ultimately tossed a rocker arm on that OH cam. I got pretty fast at putting it back on the fly. They were good commuters.
If you’re going to have the 2.3L at least having the likely four speed manual is the way to go. You can wake this motor up with a nice cam, Offenhauser intake manifold, Holly four barrel, a nice exhaust header and a 2.5” or 3” exhaust. Put some stiffer springs and shocks and maybe a set of TRX wheels and tires along with a five speed trans and you’ve got a nice canyon carver. The only problem is that the $7K ask is about $2,500 too high, IMHO…
Wouldn’t take much to ecotech it into monster.
I remember seeing so many of these Mustangs growing up, and never thought much of them. Now all these years later, I can appreciate them. Not because they’re incredibly fast or rare, but because they bring back memories of days gone by and people I knew who are no longer here.That’s the beauty about all of these cars. All it takes is to hear them start, or that smell of the interior, that throaty exhaust note, and suddenly you’re transported back into another time and place. No matter what car I’ve had in my garage over the years, sometimes it just feels good to open the door and just sit in it…..and remember. Nice Mustang, good luck to the new owner and enjoy the memories.
$7000.00 you say?
I have one on the list, if I can get to that state, that looks like this with the 302 automatic and in very nice condition for $1950.00 US.
The asking on this 4 cylinder is shocking.
2.3 w/turbo. 5 speed. Done
I love these. I do prefer the squaretop Jaclyn Smith drove on Charlies Angels. I prefer gas mileage over power I’d drive this around town.
My ex-mother in law is Grandma Ella, 89 years old this year and having a tough time right now with some back issues. She has been a great grandma, baby-sitter, mentor and friend my 5 grandchildren and they all love her dearly. When my daughter, age 36 now, was about 3 years old, she was at Grandma’s house and it was time for the weekly visit to Ella’s mom’s house, in a little town about 40 miles east of where we are.
Grandma was driving her 1977 (IIRC) Mustang hatchback, 4speed, probably the smallest engine available, and my daughter was in the back seat, not in a car seat since they weren’t required yet but just on a booster seat, luckily wearing the lap belt.
Ella left the freeway to make a right turn to the little town and hit a low patch (as I remember) and the Mustang started rolling down a small embankment, finally came to rest on it’s top. Luckily, a Highway Patrolman saw it happen and was right behind her. Neither of them were hurt although my daughter was very concerned that they might have to walk home since the car was squashed, as she said. I’m not sure how they got home and I didn’t even hear about it until I got home that night (remember the days before mobile phones?)
The car was totaled and I had to make a special trip with my 8 yr and 12 year old sons on the weekend to go see the car.
I think that was when they bought a late 70’s Granada (they had really good taste in cars, always Ford).
And while I haven’t asked her about it for a long time, my daughter says she doesn’t remember the incident and used to get mad when people brought it up. And the Mustang was never as nice as this one.
Although much maligned, the Mustang II did keep the name alive…the 2.3 is actually nice to see, considering most of them have likely been swapped out by now. I’ve always preferred the coupe body lines, but this fastback is pretty sharp in its own right – and that interior looks awesome.
Choice? A re bodied 4 cyl. Ford Pinto with a cool familiar name for $7000?
A Honda Civic manual VTEC for $2500? Have a car that will need NO mods to run very well and virtually forever. Future classic right now. Have all the 20 somethings follow you around wanting to buy it. I am in.
Nice Mustang but too many choices for the asking price that would be oh so much better