Dear Ms. Hiller:
Though the car may have indeed been purchased in the calendar year of 1971, it was (and remains) not unusual for next years' models to be available at dealerships prior to the new calendar year. 1972 Mustangs were officially made available to the general public on September 24th, 1971. Undoubtedly then, your car must have been purchased around this time.
With exception to additional trim options and colors, there were no significant, externally visual variations between 1971 and 1972 Mustangs. However, 1972 did see the addition of a contrasting silver (or black, depending on the vehicle's color) paint option with bodyside trim - as part of the Decor Group - a feature which is present in the photo of the car.
That said, Decor Group or otherwise, federal-assigned motor vehicle VIN tags do not lie, and are coded to leave nothing to chance. 2F03H106073 is irrevocably the VIN of a 1972 Mustang Convertible, as any online Mustang VIN number decoder will indicate. In short, unless the VIN of this car is 1F03H106073, it is not a 1971.
Case in point, the first Mustangs were produced for mid-year 1964 release, and were marketed by Ford as "1964-1/2" models. However, the late development and introduction of these cars required that they meet the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards of the following year. As a result, all of the Mustangs that were built, sold, and marketed to consumers as 1964-1/2 models carried government-issued 1965 model-year VINs, beginning with the number "5" in the VIN sequence.
All collectors and concourse judges of vintage vehicles (and the Mustang Club of America) accept these government VIN numbers as the official year of any vehicle of model year 1954 to present. A simple discrepancy such as the advertised year vs. the VIN may scare away potential buyers - after all, the person willing to pay top dollar for a mint example such as yours -will- be an absolute perfectionist.
I wish you the best on your sale.
