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Location
Birmingham, AL
https://barnfinds.com/wow-long-name-1971-mustang-mach-1-429-cobra-jet-ram-air/#comment-1381185
https://www.mecum.com/lots/1095687/1971-ford-mustang-mach-1-fastback/
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2760215294...a=1&pg=2351460&_trksid=p2351460.c100667.m2042

This car is such a hack job re-body and someone is going to be very disappointed when they find out what they bought! The seller got the car at Mecum one month ago for $22,000 and he is already on his way to making a 50% profit for doing NOTHING but posting the car on Ebay. Usually it is the other way around, lol. Read my comments (kevken1959). Most on this site will note the same issues with the car that I did once they look at the pictures and the Eminger report. A re-body is still worth something if it is done right, but come on! At least use the original drive-train (if available) and try to make the car look like it left the factory. No staggered shocks, A/C when it didn't come with A/C, auto replacing a 4 speed, 1970 Grabber Green instead of factory Grabber Green Metallic, an N code Thunderbird motor posing as a 429CJ. Geezz. I couldn't live with myself for trying to pass this off as the real deal!
 
Maybe this was a 72 small block sports roof that had a 429 /C6 stuffed in, along with paint and stripes. One can only imagine what the paint is covering up. He states it’s factory air, but the marti shows a 3.5 gear ratio. Pass side seatbelt warning light, chrome mustang script on the fenders are huge warning signs but I guess these pale in comparison to the 8” rear. WOW!
There’s currently 50 bids on this car at $32,700. It’ll be interesting to see what it sells for. I have a feeling someone is going to be disappointed, to say the least.
 
Besides all the previously mentioned cobbled together B/S on this car, I was wondering about a few other potential red flags. Wouldn't the Marti report list "instrument group" (tach/gauges) since it has them? Didn't an AM/8track Stereosonic equipped car have door speakers? Not on this car.
That wide brake pedal pad sure is worn and swing arm is from a factory equipped automatic. Who goes through the pain of switching a 4-speed pedal assembly to go auto?

I'm surprised that aftermarket spoiler is not on backwards...
 
Maybe this was a 72 small block sports roof that had a 429 /C6 stuffed in, along with paint and stripes. One can only imagine what the paint is covering up. He states it’s factory air, but the marti shows a 3.5 gear ratio. Pass side seatbelt warning light, chrome mustang script on the fenders are huge warning signs but I guess these pale in comparison to the 8” rear. WOW!
There’s currently 50 bids on this car at $32,700. It’ll be interesting to see what it sells for. I have a feeling someone is going to be disappointed, to say the least.
All good points. The car was likely an F-code 302 car. Only 6 cylinders and 302 cars had 8 inch rear ends. It wasn't a 6 cylinder car because the two pilot holes in the top of the radiator support have not been drilled out (6 cylinder cars had a small plate screwed over the fan, whereas the other cars had the plastic fan shrouds).
 
Besides all the previously mentioned cobbled together B/S on this car, I was wondering about a few other potential red flags. Wouldn't the Marti report list "instrument group" (tach/gauges) since it has them? Didn't an AM/8track Stereosonic equipped car have door speakers? Not on this car.
That wide brake pedal pad sure is worn and swing arm is from a factory equipped automatic. Who goes through the pain of switching a 4-speed pedal assembly to go auto?

I'm surprised that aftermarket spoiler is not on backwards...
All great points and you are correct on all three! I bet if you could see the firewall in the pictures you'd see it has the big hole for the A/C lines of an air car and it would be missing the two small holes for the heater hoses and the "pod" for the heater motor of a non air car. The seller would probably say someone went through all the trouble to make it "look" like it came from the factory with A/C. It could have had dealer installed A/C, but the firewall would be the same as a non air car.
 
The third picture box at the auction has an "Ebay purchase protection ad". Wonder if the buyer would be covered once the fenders are pulled back and it shows different vin #'s???
 
The third picture box at the auction has an "Ebay purchase protection ad". Wonder if the buyer would be covered once the fenders are pulled back and it shows different vin #'s???
NOPE. Been there, done that. Ebay's buyer protection is almost useless. It only pays out if you go to pick the car up and it is not there (which has happened to me) or if the seller becomes a dick and says he won't give you the car after you have already wired him the money (which has also happened to me and there was a thread about that here years ago). I was also the victim of a world wide internet scam on another car posted in a thread here and Ebay reimbursed me all my money on that car. The process of getting your money back is daunting! They will do EVERYTHING in their power NOT to pay! They won't get involved in anything related to the condition of the car UNLESS it involves the title. But wrong VIN numbers on the shock towers or anything like that is not covered. My advice, if you ever have a specific concern on a car on Ebay, call and talk to Ebay BEFORE you bid on the car to see if there would be any recourse through their protection plan, and have that documented. And never buy a car outside of Ebay, because they will not cover you under those conditions. Also, try to keep your communications with the seller through Ebay, so there is a record of what was said.
 
What’s funny, or sad, take your pick, are all the idiots arguing it’s an amazing car and floating the worn out “haters gonna hate” line. Way too many online wannabes out there. The things wrong with this car are so obvious and the seller so blatantly dishonest it‘s fraudulent. And yet people still ignore the very knowledgeable comments made on the auction. Stuff like this can take the fun out of the hobby, whether you’re a buyer, legit seller, or just following along.

Rob
 
You can see how rusted the dash vin tag was before he painted it. IMO that was taken out of a rotten shell and bolted on to a solid fastback and a new door tag was ordered and applied. I would be willing to bet that under those fenders is a different partial VIN. I am not a Mustang expert, to be honest when I bought my car I didn't know why some cars had staggered shocks and some don't, but the body gaps alone would raise a red flag for me. It looks to me like someone painted and slapped it together for a quick flip, and now this guy is trying to flip for a bigger profit. Sorry, one more thing and then I will get off my soapbox, LOL. What's with the ram air 429 decal and the car doesn't have ram air? I build my cars the way I like them but I would never try to pass of one of my cars as something it isn't. For example, I am "up-optioning" My 71 Mach 1 351C H code to 4V engine, Ram Air, Hood pins, factory tach, console, and front and rear spoilers and also a color change. Everyone I speak to about it hears that it not how it came, but rather how I would have ordered it if I could step into a 1971 showroom and order it.
 
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I could have sworn there were laws about taking a vin number off one car and putting it on another car.

Buy a car in decent shape, but with less desirable options like a 302 and a 8" rear end. Find a clapped out car with desirable options out in a field that's way to gone to save. Move the VIN tag from the clapped out car to the one in decent shape so your can pass off one car for the other one. How is that not a felony? https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm...removing-motor-vehicle-identification-numbers

If he was closer, I'd bid $50k just to win the auction. Then show up to buy it and report him to the law. :D
 
I could have sworn there were laws about taking a vin number off one car and putting it on another car.

Buy a car in decent shape, but with less desirable options like a 302 and a 8" rear end. Find a clapped out car with desirable options out in a field that's way to gone to save. Move the VIN tag from the clapped out car to the one in decent shape so your can pass off one car for the other one. How is that not a felony? https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm...removing-motor-vehicle-identification-numbers

If he was closer, I'd bid $50k just to win the auction. Then show up to buy it and report him to the law. :D
I have been in the car business for 43 years and as far as I understand it has always been illegal. I also know a lot of people who have done it and never got caught. A good friend of mine bought a really well optioned 65 Impala SS that was rotting into a field for decades. He bought another base 65 Impala and welded in the stamped body VINs to the solid body and metal finished the welds front and back. He was so proud of how he made it so perfect. He media blasted the car and in bare metal you could not tell that the stampings had been replaced. He bought the special rosette rivets and swapped the VIN tag and painted the car the VIN's original color and it looks original. He still owns it but people have offered him nearly 100K for it and I always tell him that he can't sell it to them unless he divulges the true history of the car, and that could open a can of woop-ass on him.
 
Oh, there are. Some car enthusiasts like to conflate it with "how much metal replacement is a rebody", when it really comes down to intent. Whomever built this car stuck the CJ VIN on another car and didn't even try hard to make it look legit. He clearly intended to pass it off as something it wasn't, now this guy is stuck with it and is intending to pass the buck.

@Motorcity Mustang is not that far away from where the seller claims to be located - New Baltimore, Michigan
 
https://barnfinds.com/wow-long-name-1971-mustang-mach-1-429-cobra-jet-ram-air/#comment-1381185
https://www.mecum.com/lots/1095687/1971-ford-mustang-mach-1-fastback/
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2760215294...a=1&pg=2351460&_trksid=p2351460.c100667.m2042

This car is such a hack job re-body and someone is going to be very disappointed when they find out what they bought! The seller got the car at Mecum one month ago for $22,000 and he is already on his way to making a 50% profit for doing NOTHING but posting the car on Ebay. Usually it is the other way around, lol. Read my comments (kevken1959). Most on this site will note the same issues with the car that I did once they look at the pictures and the Eminger report. A re-body is still worth something if it is done right, but come on! At least use the original drive-train (if available) and try to make the car look like it left the factory. No staggered shocks, A/C when it didn't come with A/C, auto replacing a 4 speed, 1970 Grabber Green instead of factory Grabber Green Metallic, an N code Thunderbird motor posing as a 429CJ. Geezz. I couldn't live with myself for trying to pass this off as the real deal!
So sorry that you got so many moronic replies for being right. Someone will get a very bad deal so let them. They were warned!
 
Only if they stumbled on the Barnfinds website listing and read all the comments. Otherwise, they will be S.O.L. if they try to show it at a Mustang show/re-sell it/ have it appraised.
I have a feeling we will hear allot more about this fake CJ in the future.

One thing I know for sure about the high bidder, they haven't found www.7173mustangs.com yet!
 
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