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Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
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Location
Madison, WI
My Car
1971 Mach 1 w/408C stroker
I have this poster that shows 50 years of mustangs. I keep looking at this model from 1975 and it looks so not a Mustang, just ugly. Never seen one in person, but in this sketch it resembles a smaller version of a Monte Carlo. I want to hear your thoughts.

20170119_202625_resized-mod.jpg

 
That one in your pic looks like the front proportions are way off! He's my nephews mustang II. Soon to have the 88 turbo coupe motor in !

2q8yro9.jpg


 
That one in your pic looks like the front proportions are way off! He's my nephews mustang II. Soon to have the 88 turbo coupe motor in !
That one in your picture looks much better. But they don't seem to be the same cars. The Guia in the sketch has that vinyl 1/4 top and a smaller more vertical side window in the rear. It also has the ornament on the front of the hood, which may have been another option. My picture of the sketch is taken at an angle which is exaggerating the front end.

 
My Mom had a '75 "Mach 1" hatchback, and it was actually a pretty cool car. ::thumb::

Of course, I was 10 and didn't know any better. rofl

 
I generally like all year Mustangs. Like others, I have my favorites, but am not a hater like the general population 65-70 owners can be. Got to remember that the "Haters" like to group our 71-73's with the 74-78 Mustang II"s as their favorite cars to hate!

This car really was the right car at the right time. In 74 the price of crude had tripled overnight, emission standards were getting stricter, insurance for performance cars were soaring out of sight, and the new word for the day which replaced "Performance" was "Economy". Everyone now wanted smaller cars with fuel mileage as longer and longer lines formed at gas stations and gas prices continued to change by the hour!

The hood ornament and padded roof (which gave it the Opera window look-remember those?) were standard items for the Ghia. The coupe was not my favorite model but I did like the Hatchback/Sports roof much better. I had actually toyed with the ideal of ordering a Mach1 or Cobra version of one of these cars. Of course when my group of racing buddies (mostly 429 cars) caught wind of this, you know what I caught. These fellows had given me honorary membership because of my 429 Gran Torino, but were the same one's that also asked me when I was going to get a real Mustang when ever I drove my 71 Mach1!

The Mustang II also did it's part in enabling Ford to be the only manufacture to claim continuous "Pony" car production from day one to the present. From the 70's forward all "Others" fell by the wayside!!

The pictures I've posted represent the three models I was considering. By the way, the King Cobra was the first model to ever display the 5 Litre designation for the 302!

76-Ford-Mustang-Cobra-II_01.jpg

Ford-Mustang_mp8_pic_17789.jpg

MustangII001.JPG

 
To clarify, my comment is about the specific Ghia style in the sketch. I dont hate the IIs.

I also like the Cobra version of the II.

1971 M-code Mach 1

 
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Not to be a hater, but its a damn Pinto. These were not great cars for their time as Ford tried in vain to transition to higher mileage vehicles without putting in the time to design them for performance. They didn't handle especially well, lacked power, and worst of all looked like a Pinto. I hate to talk bad about the Mustang lineage, but this wasn't their best effort.

 
Not to be a hater, but its a damn Pinto. These were not great cars for their time as Ford tried in vain to transition to higher mileage vehicles without putting in the time to design them for performance. They didn't handle especially well, lacked power, and worst of all looked like a Pinto. I hate to talk bad about the Mustang lineage, but this wasn't their best effort.
Ok I have had both cars and there is some truth that the II is not a good car. By far I had better luck with Pintos over it's big brother the II. The II felt heaver and just did not take the abuse that a pinto can.

 
Sorry I may have gone overboard there. I just can't shake the disappointment I felt when they killed our cars and introduced the II. My buddy had a Pinto and it was a decent economy vehicle for its time. Didn't mean to sully its rep.

 
If it wasn't for the 74 Mustang II I probably would not have my 73 Convertible. My girlfriend at the time had bought the 73 convert new, with my help of course, but she fell in love with the Mustang II and had to have one. I bought the 73 convert after she had only owned it for about 8 months and have had it ever since!

 
Yeah the Mustang II's are not in my list of cars I would like to own (again).

I had a very low mileage 1974 Mach 1 that I drove to high school. It was a 6 cyl Mach 1!! A/C Automatic car. I liked the look of the King Cobras but they were ALL SLOW. Even the performance models were extremely underpowered - don't believe anything different! They (Ford) tried to make them look cool with nothing to back it up. And the manual transmissions they used back then were very 'notchy' and just felt weak. It wasn't until 1982 that I felt Ford was back on the right track for any performance Mustangs. (Bought a new 82 GT - very FUN CAR!) Actually miss that little 4-eyed Fox body!

Modded Mustang II's might be fun but stock - no way.

Ray

 
I just can't shake the disappointment I felt when they killed our cars and introduced the II.
But that meant that our awesome 7123 body styles were only produced 3 years which I believe is not very long for any type of car (even though officially it's still series 1) and that makes it rarer than other cars. Hence you often don't see many at meetings ;-)

 
This is the Ghia....

75 Mustang Ghia.jpg

 
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