One of the single greatest thrills any Barn Hunter can have is the rush that comes from pushing open an old barn door to reveal an untouched classic! Push open the door of this West Covina, California barn and you’ll find an American classic that was parked in the ’70s during the fuel rationing. It hasn’t moved since and looks to be a fun project, but what might it be? If you aren’t sure and just can’t wait for the answer, you can find this survivor here on eBay with a BIN of $9,800 and the option to make an offer!
Well if you resisted the temptation to jump straight to the ad, here is what’s hiding in this barn! It’s a 1969 Mustang Grande with a 351 V8. While the Grande isn’t the most sought after trim level, I absolutely love the looks of the ’69 Mustang, even in hardtop form!
The Grande was meant to attract buyers looking for a more refined and luxurious car. Ford sold over 22k of these in ’69, so you could say it was a success! I guess buyers liked the idea of having nicer seats and less road noise. As you can see, this car’s front seats lack the cloth inserts, so I assume they are from a different car. Hopefully the seat frames are correct so all you need to make it correct is a set of seat covers.
Besides having a nicer interior, they only came in the hardtop body style and many were optioned with the inline six or the 302 with and an automatic. This one has an automatic, but it was optioned with the 351! With 250 to 290 (depending on carb) horsepower on tap, performance is brisk for a “luxury” car, even with the 50 extra pounds of sound dampening!
This Mustang is going to need some work, but looks to be pretty solid. It needs a good cleaning inside and out. Hopefully the engine is still in decent condition and can be made to run again! The seller has some spare parts for it, but no word on what all is included. With some work this could actually be a fun driver, especially with the 351! So would you be happy to own what’s behind barn door #1?
I had owned over 100 cars by age 25. I’m about to turn 60 and can’t always remember every single car. Seeing this brought back instant memories of the nearly identical Grande I had (with a 302). Exact same color and roof (as the brochure photo) .Same happened when a 1980 Tbird was posted here, I remembered owning one and had not so fond memories of the headliner descending on my head while driving.
the 69 and 70 351 windsors are good running motors and can handle a lot of abuse. like the 400M most people think they are boat anchors.
one guy I knew told me he thought 396 BBCs were good boat anchors, till I proved him wrong!
Nice solid looking car. Price looks ok. Front seats could have been recovered before stored. Also, really need to check if original, could have had a restoration 23.5 years ago at half life and it may just look 47 years old in photos.
JC
Says “one owner” & “parked in the’70’s because of gas rationing”.
That license plate is from about 1975,which was shortly AFTER gas rationing.
Something’s just not right about that.
My Friend’s Mother had a ’69 Grande,which we kept in great shape.
I’d love to have this one,but not at that price.
What’s behind Barn Door # 1 ?……OOHHH ! You should have chosen what was behind the curtain Mary Jane !! You could have had an all expense paid 7 day trip to Iraq with a sand massage and exclusive sand bath worth over $7,000 !! Good luck with that “Grande restoration” for under 7k Mary Jane ! Let’s welcome our next contestant……
I just did some checking – this license (1MBP 852)
was issued some time between 1980 $ 1982.
1982 started the reflective White ones.
Good Catch angliagt !
Just about to say that! The One series seven digit plates began the end of the blue and yellow plates in 1980. Of course now you can use a YOM plate….but for this car if registered originally in Cali in 1969 it would be a black and yellow plate……..if registered in 1970 it would have been a blue and yellow plate.
That’s some fine investigation work angliagt!
my brother had a Mustang Grande’ just like the one in the picture , nice ride even had rimblow horn( you had to squeeze the steering wheel to blow the horn ) 351 auto ,he drove it for a few years trouble free ,and traded for a Ford Bronco !!When we get to talking about cars from the day he always brings the Grande’ up .
1969 first year – 351 4V – only – and should also be only in Mustangs….290 hp…..
My cousin had one in the early 70’s. She knew or cared anything about cars but loved horses. She liked it because it had a horse on the grille.
Those will always be known to me as the Mary Tyler Moore Mustang.