As the 1960s drew to a close, American V8’s were producing some pretty impressive performance figures, and slick styling by vehicle manufacturers was also a strong selling point. The 1969 Mustang Mach 1 Sportroof perfectly encapsulated these two philosophies. This particular Mach 1 is going to need some work, but the end product would seem to be well worth the effort. It should be a great project vehicle and is located in Marysville, Pennsylvania. The Mustang has been listed for sale here on eBay with a BIN of $7,500, but if you’re feeling lucky, you could also make the owner an offer.

According to the Marti Report, the Mustang started life finished in Black Jade with a blackout hood. During its lifetime it has managed to accumulate several panels of different colors, not to mention a bit of rust. It looks like the vital areas such as the front frame rails, torque boxes, and the shock towers, have all escaped rust’s ravages. The floors are pretty well shot, while the owner does admit that the Mustang will require rear frame rails. There is also some rust to address in the lower quarter panels, lower corners of the doors, and around the bottom of the rear window. As you can see from this photo, the Mustang was also fitted with a black interior, and while it is said to be complete, this will also require restoration. I guess one positive aspect of taking on a project car like this Mustang is the ready availability of high-quality replacement and reproduction parts. This is one of the characteristics that make a Mustang so attractive as a project car.

Hiding under the hood of the Mustang is a 390ci V8, but it isn’t clear whether this is the original S-Code engine. If it is, then in its heyday, it would have sent a healthy 320hp to the rear wheels via a 4-speed manual transmission. The owner gives no indication of just how healthy the engine is, but the external corrosion and open intake would make me feel inclined to give the engine a refresh during the restoration process. The S-Code wasn’t the most potent engine in the Mustang armory, but the performance was still sufficient to satisfy the vast majority of owners. After all, any car that can knock-off the ¼ mile in 14.4 seconds does demand at least some respect.

This 1969 Mustang Sportroof is indicative of a trend that seems to be emerging with Mach 1 project cars. While nicely restored or immaculately preserved survivors continue to command extremely respectable sale prices, we are beginning to see more project-grade cars emerging at relatively realistic prices. This is good news for potential restorers because when you combine that trend with the previously-mentioned availability and affordability of restoration parts, it suddenly means that more of these cars are becoming financially viable projects. This appears to be just such a car, so I suspect that it might sell fairly quickly.