The Mustang’s performance image was kicked up a notch in 1969 with the introduction of the Mach 1. Wearing the pony car’s new “Sportsroof” fastback styling, the auto would give Ford help in driving showroom traffic. The Mach 1 would represent nearly a quarter of all Mustangs built that year. This edition has been owned by the same party for 35 years and looks to have fallen on hard times. It will require a complete restoration and can be found in Vienna, Ohio. The car is available here on eBay with the bidding rests at $12,400.

It was a popular addition, and the Mach 1 would be a part of the Mustang line-up through 1978, which included the Mustang II when the car was reinvented after 1973. The name has popped up periodically since then, including 2003-04 and again for 2021. It first appeared on a concept car called the “Levacar Mach 1” that rode atop the Ford Rotunda using a cushion of air as propulsion on a circular dais. For its debut year of 1969, the Mustang Mach 1 came with a 351 cubic inch Windsor V8 and was adorned with a matte black hood with pins, hood scoop, a competition suspension, chrome pop-open gas cap, and a sportier interior. Add-ons could include a chin spoiler, rear deck spoiler, and rear window louvers called “SportSlats”.

The seller of this ’69 Mach 1 was 15 years old when his family bought the car. It left the factory with a 4-barrel carbureted version of the Windsor engine and a 4-speed manual. But at some point, an automatic transmission was substituted for the shifter, yet the clutch pedal is still in place. Because of this change, the car isn’t 100% numbers-matching, although the V8 was rebuilt way back when. The seller says he always intended to restore the car, but reality prevails and that never happened, so he’s ready to let it go.

While the red paint is dirty and dusty from being exposed to the elements, it reflects a color change. The car was originally white and the interior was red when it rolled off the assembly line. The interior color was also changed with some of the components being painted black rather than replaced in the proper color. So, the buyer will have to decide to go back to the original inside and out or stay with the current theme and make everything right.

The Ford is sitting up on blocks and we don’t see any rust, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there. Some degree of mechanical tinkering has no doubt taken place, given that the radiator is out of the car, for example. There are various parts in the trunk, interior and located in the vicinity of the Mustang. Online price guides suggest this could be an $80,000 car in perfect condition, but this one’s not close to that given the various substitutions. Since the car might clean up well enough for now, perhaps the focus initially would be to get it running again and then go from there.