Say what you will about the Ford Mustang II King Cobra: it may have been an unloved era of Ford’s muscle car, but it at least looked the part. The package was loud and proud, giving buyers some insane body graphics, col0r-matched mesh wheels, and a variety of aero enhancements that bumped the aggression factor up a few degrees, even if the drivetrain didn’t. This King Cobra is equipped as close to high performance spec as possible, with a manual transmission and a 302 V8 under the hood. Find it here on eBay with bids to $11,800 and no reserve.
The seller indicates this King Cobra was in long-term family ownership until he bought it, and it’s been shuffled around in storage ever since. The car starts up and runs but it doesn’t sound like he’s seen regular road use in some time; that’s OK, provided the Mustang has been moved enough so that the tires haven’t flat-spotted and the engine has reached operating temperature from time to time. The bodywork certainly presents well and all of the cool period decals seem to be intact, along with that sweet rear spoiler.
The 302 / manual transmission combination is nothing to be ashamed of, even if the raw horsepower numbers are disappointing. The drivetrain was sought after enough that a lot of these cars were harvested for their motors and suspensions back in the day, so that ought to provide some indication that the Mustang II in King Cobra guise wasn’t as big of a disappointment as it’s sometimes made out to be. Plus, that cockpit is far from terrible, with nicely upholstered bucket seats, a racy three-spoke steering wheel, and plenty of gauges.
The seats are in great shape front and rear, as are the door panels. Mileage is listed as being 92,000, which seems to be reinforced based on the condition shown here. The seller does mention that the oil and fluids are changed every few years, but by and large, this Mustang II King Cobra appears to have been kept as a preservation piece and will likely need some reconditioning before seeing lots of road time. While it will never be worth big money, I suspect you could buy this one for $12,000-$15,000 and not feel bad about the purchase.
Good job Jeff in placing the King Cobra into its time. Mustang II enthusiasts like these as they represent “peak Mustang II-ism”. This one looks pretty good, certainly better than most II’s which show up. Doesn’t look abused at all. As noted it likely needs some reconditioning to continue life as a survivor, or maybe (with paint? ) turned into a nice show car.
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I’ve always liked the mustang II. I thought it was a needed return to the roots. The car,like me had gotten bigger than it should have been. I know some fans disagree. That’s what makes it an interesting hobby.
The Mustang ll sold extremely well. It hit the market and people bought it in big numbers.
The 302 4 speed wasn’t that powerful. But, since the Mustang returned to a smaller size, like the original, performance mods were plentiful and very easy to do.
Swap the cam, intake, carb swap or reject, distributor and gearing, and you were having fun!!
For almost 12K, one would be better off putting that money down on a new one. Even a 4cyl today makes more power than that thing does with a V8.
Never liked the body style.It looks like a glorified pinto from that era imo. The 302 in this was anemic. Up to 12k not for me but maybe somebody else.BF staff must like Mustang 2’s as I ‘ve seen a lot of them as of late on here.glwts.
Definitely a rag….
I bought a 1975 mustang 2 mach 1, I think it was made 1 year until they called it the cobra. I put a holly 500 cfm 2 barrel on it and raced it at Northstar drag strip back in the day in Blaine Minnesota. It blew away the cars in its class 350 and 400 small block full sized chevys in comparison,novas ,chevelles,Monte carlos,impala other mustangs with the 302. I burned the rubber off 6 uniroyal tiger paws.
Anemic? That’s an understatement. A legendary pony cars darkest days manifested.
hear hear
back to the days of a moustang(oops, the mopar in me escapes at the darndest times) of a mustang being a pony car as it was meant to be. i still think the notch back looks better but that’s just me.
v8, stick, t tops and ice is a good mix and it doesn’t look molested or rode hard.
nice ride. and only about 3 times it’s sticker price
Hey BF where are yesterday’s listings ?They don’t appear on my phone anyways.
Cool II here w the cobra pkg 🐍
Any manual shift, rwd configuration is always going to offer more smiles 😃 per miles than anything else.
Had a Mustang II with an Auto back in the late 80’s, right around the time the Chev IROC Camaros with the 305 HO came out.
A lot of fun was had beating those cars with my little Mustang II :D :D :D
While definately of their era, they were still a lot of fun
The kind of reconditioning this mustang needs is more power from the 302,so it could be as fast as it looks.a cinch for those not living in smog inspection states.like where i live,if the vehicle has a vin# and title you can put it on the street with anything under the hood you want,no restrictions,no worries…..
I always thought the Mustang II got a bad rap. Perhaps the 1974 edition deserve some ire, however Ford was trying to emulate the original Mustang, itself based on the compact Falcon chassis. The Mustang II was based on a modified Pinto chassis. Same basic formula, just a different result. The 1975-1978 Mustang IT’s had the 302 available, maybe not a very powerful V8, yet more than adequate for this chassis. All the U.S. auto manufacturers built some cars considered to be turds. Only a few were as bad as made out.
The Pinto, although considered a fire hazard wasn’t as bad as made out. The AMC Gremlin was quirky, but sold well. The Chevy Vega turned out to be garbage and Dodge and Plymouth F-bodies, first 2 years were piles of junk. AMC Pacer was just plain weird.
No people, there were worst vehicles than the Mustang II. I’m a Mopar nut, even I recognized the “F” bodies to be the junk they became. Those too looked like real winners when 1st released.
The Mustang II was a sales success, one that had it not been produced probably would have ended the Mustang. Had that happened I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy my 1991 Mustang LX 5.0 Convertible for 29 years. I celebrate the Mustang II for the saving grace it was.
Bingo! I call these the “Rodney Dangerfield” of Mustangs, can’t get no respect. Harley was in the same boat, and had it not been for AMF, that too could have gone away. A commenter below wondered what was the motivation and market then. America was caught with it’s pants down,,,again, and suddenly, gas and insurance costs, coupled to foreign cars gaining steam, performance was gone and a shift towards small, economic vehicles began. Much to many dismay, this was the next big thing. For some auto publications, Mustang ads ended at 1973. TV shows then had a huge audience, and what better way to sell cars, than to have 3 sexy secret agents driving them. It had a profound influence on sales. Every overweight librarian or secretary could be one of “those girls”. While it shared some Pinto parts, a shadow the Mustang ll always lived in, I thought they were good cars too.
These were pretty cars but in plainer form they were best. The Cobras had too much plastic junk on the sides and that silly hood. Like a later LX vs GT, the standard cars were cleaner styled. You could still get a 302 4sp in a more basic car, if that was your desire. I had a secretary who bought a new one with the four and a four speed, I traveled in that quite often, a nice car in of itself.
I like it. I had a bright yellow one with the 302, 4spd, deluxe interior, targa band, t-tops, and a/c. It was a real nice looking car.
A friend of mine back in the day owned one in white, with all the bells and stickers, a 302/4 brl 4 speed. That could never beat my 78 Scout II TERRA truck on any straight run, from a dead stop or flying start. My Scout was powered by an all stock 345 V8, 2 brl dual exhaust with a HD Torque Flite trans and 3:51 posi.
In high school, some friends and I pooled our money and bought a Wal Mart blue 1974ish Mustang II from an ad in the paper. This was around 1992. I think we paid $400 for it. It was a 4 speed and I believe a 4 cylinder. I remember there was a campaign button for Nixon on the sun visor. “Nixon’s the one.” I cut the muffler off of it and we proceeded to a local gravel pit where our shenanigans eventually busted the radiator and overheated the engine. I’m not real sure what happened to it after that.
Oh yeah, we used to pull the seat back out of it so that we could pop up out of the trunk and scare tailgaters on the highway. That was before the great gravel pit escapade.
Good times, but I don’t want another Mustang II.
I’m trying to envision the demographic who bought this car in the 70s. Serious performance drivers seemed hung up on previous generations. Economy buyers could get a Maverick or Pinto a lot cheaper. Teen and college gear heads had a lot of cheap, old muscle to choose from. So what’s left? They can’t all have been Charlie’s Angels.
I saw a black King Cobra on a trailer just outside of Asheville NC this morning. It looked great, a survivor. My uncle had a white one with orange or red decals back in the early 80’s. I love all Mustangs