What Doesn’t It Need? 1967 Mustang Fastback

The Mustang came out April 17, 1964 and by the end of the 1965-66 two-year model run, it had sold well over a million copies. Changing the car for its next generation would be an enormous risk, but there was a reason to do it. The horsepower wars had begun, and Ford needed to find a way to stuff ever-bigger engines between the shock towers of the original Pony Car. Thus, the 1967 was what you might call a calculated risk. Things were different enough to be new, but the same enough to be Mustang. The public responded by continuing to buy the Mustang in incredible numbers, including this 1967 Mustang Fastback, available here on eBay. The car is at $21K with good bidder interest that will carry on until Friday. If you win it, you’ll have to send a truck to Pawtucket, Rhode Island to pick it up.

What comes with the deal? What is described as an extremely solid Southern car ripe for restoring. One downside is that the original 289-CID engine is gone, replaced by a V8 driveline of unknown origin which might be a 289, as the seller confesses it. Perhaps it’s clear to some of you who know exactly where accessories bolt up etc., whether what’s being offered is the good old faithful 289. (It would be easier to say had some dude not changed the valve covers in, probably, 1982 or something.) In any case, it doesn’t matter what the engine is—with this  car, you’re in for a total restoration, though you might be lucky and find out that the engine turns and thus isn’t as destroyed on the inside as it looks on the outside.

Rust never sleeps, and this one is said to have new floors welded in. The seller also indicates that other common trouble spots are solid, like the rockers. But he calls out the area behind the fuel tank, and looking at the pictures  (which  he insists that we do as the best way of seeing what the car is, rather than him using words), there’s an area that seems to have rust pinholes right across the interior over where the trailing edge of the wheels would be. Other panels and surfaces, too, don’t seem exactly rust-free. You might have some fun tallying up the damage as you scrutinize the images. Then there’s the exterior panels, which at a quick glance appear to be two bodies scavenged for enough parts to make one whole. This makes the seller’s claim that the Mustang has all of its original body panels a bit of a puzzler. Check out what’s red (the original color) and what’s blue. Maybe, though, the blue-gray is not topcoat from another car, but primer. Or maybe that all comes out in the wash after you’ve sent this buggy through media blasting.

So in short, you’re letting yourself in for a nuts-and-bolts, full-strip redo here, and possibly will need to source an engine and driveline, including a pedal assembly if you want to go back to the original-style automatic transmission. Note also that this Mustang lacks a title, and so you’ll be buying it on a bill of sale. You should do your homework with your state’s DMV like right now if you plan on bidding, to make sure you’ll be able to title it in your state or province. Honestly, though, that seems the least of your worries if you intend to put this 1967 Fastback on the road once more.