Do you have a "pet peeve" about your Mustang?

7173Mustangs.com

Help Support 7173Mustangs.com:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
K

Kit Sullivan

Guest
Are there any designed-in oddities or other annoying things about your Mustang that just gets under your skin?

Mine is the dash-lighting system. When my car was new, it was barely adequate. As the years and miles piled on, it just got unbearably bad.

When I restored the car, I fixed it...sort of. I repainted the inside reflective surfaces of my dash cluster bright white, very high gloss. The factory paint is kind of flat, and had faded considerably over the years.

I took all those faded and hazed-over blue "domes" off completely, and spray-painted a bunch of 168( or is 194?...I forget) bulbs transparent blue, and installed them but left the blue "domes" off.

That dash now looks perfect, and is so bright I actually have the brightness turned down a bit.

I think there are blue-tinted bulbs avsilable now, so you don't even have to paint them!

 
Last edited:
Are there any designed-in oddities or other annoying things about your Mustang that just gets under your skin?

Mine is the dash-lighting system. When my car was new, it was barely adequate. As the years and miles piled on, it just got unbearably bad.

When I restored the car, I fixed it...sort of. I repainted the inside reflective surfaces of my dash cluster bright white, very high gloss. The factory paint is kind of flat, and had faded considerably over the years.

I took all those faded and hazed-over blue "domes" off completely, and spray-painted a bunch of 168( or is 194?...I forget) bulbs transparent blue, and installed them but left the blue "domes" off.

That dash now looks perfect, and is so bright I actually have the brightness turned down a bit.

I think there are blue-tinted bulbs avsilable now, so you don't even have to paint them!



I actually just installed the Hipo Parts Garage Elite Led Light setup to take care of that problem. Significant improvement over the stock dash lighting. I would take pics but my dash is still apart. I had to order a Headlight Switch because mine was already flickering and finally decided to let go. I will do a How To on that most likely when I get it done.

Boy though you aren't joking about the crappy dash lighting. I also had a turn signal bulb out amongst other bulbs.

 
Three things:

1. Backlight angle. I'm not so sure I'll be able to get used to it. As a novelty, it's cool... but I can only imagine [since I haven't actually driven it yet] that it's a major PITA to back up. Hence my plans of a back-up camera.

2. Woodgrain trim. Total cheese... wood grain belongs on Grandma's station wagon, not a hot rod muscle car. Totally going to replace wood grain with carbon fiber vinyl.

3. Tail light shape/design. Worst ever. Trapezoidal shape screams "Brady Bunch" to me, and the configuration (in having the reverse light in the middle of a reflector stuck between the active lights) is totally out-of-characted for the "Mustang" in general. IMHO, they should've continued with the 3 vertical combination parking/signal lights, and detached round reverse lights in the valance.

Otherwise, I love it and can't wait to start enjoying mine once it's on the road.

 
Three things:

1. Backlight angle. I'm not so sure I'll be able to get used to it. As a novelty, it's cool... but I can only imagine [since I haven't actually driven it yet] that it's a major PITA to back up. Hence my plans of a back-up camera.

It isn't tarrible once you get used to it. Just make sure you are WAY far ahead of the car you are passing before changing lanes in front of him! backing up is always a nail-biter! Your back-up camera is a great idea!

2. Woodgrain trim. Total cheese... wood grain belongs on Grandma's station wagon, not a hot rod muscle car. Totally going to replace wood grain with carbon fiber vinyl.

The woodgrain is part and parcel a look of the seventies. I think it goes perfectly with the car. But...to each his own.

3. Tail light shape/design. Worst ever. Trapezoidal shape screams "Brady Bunch" to me, and the configuration (in having the reverse light in the middle of a reflector stuck between the active lights) is totally out-of-characted for the "Mustang" in general. IMHO, they should've continued with the 3 vertical combination parking/signal lights, and detached round reverse lights in the valance.

Really? I kind of like the 71-73 tail-lights. Very unique and no other car has anything that looks like these. The new Mustang's tail-lights are obviously inspired by the look of these. They were really trying to make the Mustang look radically different and new when these came out, but still keep some "heritage' about the look, hence the bizzarly new and different shape to the lights. Again, I like 'em. I have seen many custom big-bodies over the years with 65-66 style lights on them: Looks stuipid. I've seen 'em with Shelby-esque T-Bird/Cougar lights on 'em: looks like a poor wanna-be Shelby imitation. I even saw one with a 70 Torino GT full-width taillight grafted on. Looked pretty good, but made the car look like a...Torino!

 


Otherwise, I love it and can't wait to start enjoying mine once it's on the road.



 




 
I can honestly say nothing bothers me about my car. I love the way it looks from every angle. The seat/steering wheel position is perfect for me. I got used to the rear visibility very quickly and don't have a issue with it.

 
My pet peeve is the steering wheel; I don't have a tilt wheel and always find the position of the wheel annoying.
Mike , I will gladly sell you a 73 tilt column :D

 
After I solved the dim gauges problem, the only thing that really bugs me is the reflection of the dash in the windshield. Sometimes can't see a thing.

 
I can honestly say nothing bothers me about my car. I love the way it looks from every angle. The seat/steering wheel position is perfect for me. I got used to the rear visibility very quickly and don't have a issue with it.
Yup I tend to agree with this. The way I got used to the rear visibility is to not use it. The rear view mirror fell off and I never put it back. I'm just extra careful with lane changes to the right lane.

 
It's pretty much a perfect car but I guess it would be visibility, but since I would have to sacrifice great styling I'm just extra careful during lane changes or backing up the car

 
Back
Top