Shed Find Project: 1972 Ford Mustang

The 1972 Mustang was virtually unchanged from the prior year’s restyled models, except for a retrenchment in the performance arena, with the 351 cubic inch V8 being the biggest motor you could get that year. This was due to tightening emissions controls and rising insurance costs on muscle cars. The seller’s ’72 Mustang is a basic model with a vinyl top added and has been stored in a shed for more than 20 years. The car doesn’t run, and the floorboards are said to be problematic, but it’s offered rather cheaply for someone to build a restoration upon. Located in Stantonville, Tennessee, this pony car is available for $1,500 OBO here on eBay. Thanks, Jayden P., for the heads-up on this one.

Sales of the Mustang had been steadily declining since their peak in 1966. Fewer than 126,000 Mustangs were built for 1972, which was the sixth year in a row that demand was down. All of Ford’s competitors offered a similar car, so the slice of the pie available was now smaller. The company would regroup for 1974 with the new Mustang II, which was a 4-cylinder derivative of the Pinto. It would be a different car for a different time as the OPEC energy crisis was just around the corner and econoboxes would quickly become king.

This Mustang was once a sharp-looking car, with its bronze paint and matching vinyl roof and interior. But time and Mother Nature have been at work here. Besides new exterior finishes, the car is going to need some work in the floorboards (rust?) and the passenger seat riser is broken. While the body panels look pretty straight, the hood hinges are busted and that led to a bent hood at one point. We’re told the frame and torque boxes are in good shape.

The original owner of this Mustang went with the 351 Cleveland V8 (likely the 2-barrel) along with an automatic transmission and power steering. Given that the radiator is missing, there is no mention what it will take to get this car going again. But if you assumed everything is going to need attention and you budgeted accordingly, you might not go wrong. The interior is pretty much a mess, with just about everything in the passenger compartment needing a refresh.

According Hagerty, a top-notch ’72 Mustang (no special editions) is a mid-teens kind of car in terms of resale value, so nothing like the ‘Stangs from just a few years earlier. Basic hardtops like this one were the Mustang’s bread-and-butter that year, with 57,000 of them being built, just under half of all Mustang production. If you can get this car running and presentable again, it would a nostalgic throwback at Cars & Coffee, set against the Mustangs of the past decade.