The Mach 1 was a performance-oriented package on the Ford Mustang, introduced in 1969 and part of the line-up through 1978 (and again in 2003-05 and 2021). This is the story of a young fan of the Mach 1 series and the search that brought him to the fastback featured here. The car had been sitting since the early 1990s and would still be in storage had not a young man named Jarrod Frankum come along. The car was discovered in Lubbock, Texas and its story is told here on Motor Trend. Our thanks to Larry D for passing this interesting tale along to us.

Ford had used the name “Mach 1” in its display of a concept car called the “Levacar Mach !” at the Ford Rotunda. The car used a cushion of air as propulsion on a circular dais. The name was then applied to the new version of the Mustang that came out for 1969. The Mach 1 had a tough-looking graphics package and the minimum powerplant that could be ordered with the car was a 351 cubic-inch V8. The Mach 1 would help shore up Mustang sales which had been declining every year since 1966. Mach 1 production would represent 41,000 of the 191,000 of the pony cars Ford built in 1970. By then, the pony car market was flooded with competitors.

Jarrod Frankum was a teenager in Lubbock, Texas in 2009 when he developed an interest in the 1969-70 Ford Mustang Mach 1. His father had owned one a few years earlier and he caught the same car bug that his dad had. For the next 11 years, he searched to find one of his own but was disappointed time after time because the examples he turned up were either rust buckets or overpriced. That changed one day when he was riding his Mach 1-decorated skateboard to college classes one day and passed a 1970 Mach 1 parked on ramps under a carport.

Though he was hesitant at first, thinking he would strike out again, he approached the owner to see if he would sell the Ford. At first, the answer was no, but the owner thought it over and after realizing he was never going to restore it, he decided to let the kid have a shot at it. He was also facing fines from the City of Lubbock for having a non-running car within eyesight on his property. The car had been inactive for the better part of 30 years with some minor rust. The owner had removed the steering wheel to deter thieves from making off with the car.

We don’t know what they may have settled on as a selling price, but it was likely below market because of Frankum’s sincerity. The seller threw in a collection of parts, both new and used, and a set of new tires on Magnum 500 wheels. Once Jarrod got the car home, he and his father had it in running order again within a few hours and started patching up the rust spots on the Mustang, which weren’t too bad. Jarrod plans to use the car as a driver for now and then restore it later, maybe going with a coat of Grabber Blue paint and fuel injection to help better power the car. However things turn out, we’re told that Jarrod is never going to sell the car. It took him too long to find it!