how did you get your 7173 mustang

[SPAIN72MUSTANG]

what a cool dad.

 

[kcmash]

So one summer day in 1982 I'm walkin down the street with fresh D size batteries in my boom box and Boston's "Peace of Mind" rattling the windows when all of the sudden this beautiful brunette pulls up next to me in a Grabber Blue Mach 1 and says " aren't you a little young to be carrying a great big boom box like that down the street?"

And I says, "Well, what do you suggest I do to get my rock-n-roll fix" and she says "well, you probably need a car like this!" and I says, "Well how do I get that car then?" and then she said "I'm so glad you asked!" and winked really nice at me. And the rest of the story is exactly what you are thinking.

or

I saw an ad in the paper and called on it. $600 later and it was mine.

 

[TxBoss23]

So one summer day in 1982 I'm walkin down the street with fresh D size batteries in my boom box and Boston's "Peace of Mind" rattling the windows when all of the sudden this beautiful brunette pulls up next to me in a Grabber Blue Mach 1 and says " aren't you a little young to be carrying a great big boom box like that down the street?"

And I says, "Well, what do you suggest I do to get my rock-n-roll fix" and she says "well, you probably need a car like this!" and I says, "Well how do I get that car then?" and then she said "I'm so glad you asked!" and winked really nice at me. And the rest of the story is exactly what you are thinking.

or

I saw an ad in the paper and called on it. $600 later and it was mine.

I like the day-dream story better!

 

[SPAIN72MUSTANG]

i hope its the girl and a wink.

 

[rocro]

My next door neighbor had three Mustangs (a '65 Fastback, a '66 Shelby Hertz GT350, and a '72 Mach 1) stored in an aircraft hanger that he owned. He sold the hanger, and asked me to help him get the cars home. He was able to put two of them in his garage and asked if I could keep the other (the Mach) in my driveway for a while until he could sell it. At first, the '72 was my least favorite of the three, but the longer I looked at it sitting in my driveway, it really grew on me and I ended up buying it from him. The other deciding factor was that I couldn't afford either one of the other two cars.

Now he says that every time he hears me start the car up and take it out for a ride, he regrets selling it to me....

 

[SPAIN72MUSTANG]

rocro tell him you will trade him for the shelby.lol

 

[EdM]

My story started rather poorly as we were in SoCal for my FIL's funeral after a five year battle with cancer, this just before last Thanksgiving. At the time we were living in a suburb just outside Brisbane Australia. While there my BIL mentioned a neighbor of his in Oceanside that was thinking of selling his car. I was sent a handful of photos but did not have the time, nor was it appropriate in my mind, to take the drive south to check it out. All of this combined with the fact that we were living in Australia. Though we still had our home in Texas we had care takers living in it. Too much hassle so, oh well, and forgotten. Fast forward to March of this year and the project I was on in Oz slowed whilst a key project of ours was ailing some so I was asked to head to Korea and help out for a bit. Well a bit soon became two years so I moved my family back to Texas and queried my BIL if the car was still there and available. Mind you I have not seen it. He replied to the affirmative and, in fact, the owner was in financial dire straits as a house repo was in the works. I told him I was interested and to get a price. He did and I replied, "I'll take it". Something I would have never done but my BIL assured me that the guy had done a pile of work on it, rarely drove it and had a load of parts and receipts. OK, now I am committed and just learn of the Marti Report (I was a mid-60's Vette guy many years ago). The Marti confirms a Q car with 4 speed, PS, A/C, interior decor, NASA hood, .... So it arrived at my Texas home a few weeks ago and my 16 year old son has "confirmed" it is good to go. I will see it for the first time in three weeks. The wait is killing me. By the way, this is a great site with good people. Very nice.

 

[Austin Vert]

Good story Ed. Your car looks very sharp and clean. Love the garage too.

Brisbane is my home city. I hope you enjoyed living here while you were in Australia. Hope you enjoy your Mustang for many years to come.

Greg.

 

[Luke]

Ed good story bloke. Looks like a sweet ride

 

[Mustang Dynasty]

got mine from a highschool car shop class student,with all the options wanted and ran but not too well, that I trusted for $2,500.00 Could see it needed a lot of body filler under the filler to rust and swissed cheesed spots underbody, door, frame....under hood. 1st garage it went to, applied a whole mess of tar then paint over it. Did not like the job though a lot was at that point diassembled and reclaimed it. Had the entire body cleaned up and restored from frame up for an extreme cost. of course for the cost of the car....expected to do that.

 

[csgt428]

I was out jogging one day in 92-3? and saw this Mach with big knobbly mudders on it. Ran over to look at it and check the VIN as usual....It was an "R" code! Looked again and it was a 72 VIN? What the heck I'm thinking...they didn't make a BOSS in 72... Go home and do a little research...Hmmmm, by golly they DID. The HO. So I finally catch the guy at home a week or two later. "Hey what you doing with that Mach?" I say.... "Oh I use it in TRACTOR PULL competitions"!! He says... I was going to the U of I at the time in farm country, Moscow Idaho. "What! Are you kidding?" "No, Do pretty good too"..."No way" I say, "Oh yeh" He replys....So we get in a discussion about tractor pulls and so on and so forth. Finally I ask him if he wants to sell it, "Oh... Nope". But I noticed the little pause......Long story short I bugged him for a couple of months and he finally agreed to sell it to me sans the drivetrain for $600...with the Ram Air! I already knew it had an incorrect engine (he blew up the original) and figured I'd find the correct stuff later ....I BOUGHT IT! (NO Brainer) Pulled the receiver hitch off, rebuilt a 70 4V and found a 71 toploader and put it together. Been driving it off and on since. Now I'm trying to make it more correct. Had it painted back original color about a year ago.

(Several hour interlude) :exclamation:

You guys inspired me to take it out of storage......dust and all. I'll wash it tomorrow when I sober up

 

[rpmcarter]

nice SAVE CSGT!!!!

 

[csgt428]

nice SAVE CSGT!!!!

Thanks, I'm a sucker for the < $1000 ones... Yours looks like its green also with the rocker trim and mettalic silver instead of my gold?

 

[Rozz]

Ok I read all 12 pages so far and I must say the stories are awesome. So here goes on mine. A little long but what a good story.

In 1984 while working at a local hot rod shop as a kid, the owner of the shop drove a 1970 Mach 1 which got me seeing fastbacks in my sleep. But I was a young man making very little money. But, I had an 78 ford f100 short bed that he said he would help me build. All I had to pay for was parts and his labor would be free as long as I helped. So the game was on.

He got a 429 cj engine and transmission from his connection at a salvage yard with the only guarantee that they could be rebuild. We Bored the block thirty over and rebuild the transmission slapped a set of 3:90 gears on the rear end and I was having the time of my life.

When I found out what cars came originally with this kind of engine combo I started my search for a 71-73 mustang to put this engine in. Well life got in the way I pulled the engine, transmission and rear end out of the truck, stuck in a home made wooden box in my dad's outdoor shed. Join the army, got married then while serving in Texas my wife and I saw a freshly repainted 73. I really wanted a Mach 1 and it had to be yellow because that was what I had been looking for for several years. Looking the car over we saw a place that was not taped correctly when repainted and it was yellow. So I bought it as quickly as possible. Then was sent to serve in Korea, so sat for the 2 years while I was there. Once I returned I had some money in my pocket so we bought ourself a new car and this 73 sat for 25 years. Never really paying much attention to the vin number. Just started it up once in a while.

Well finally my wife told me to restore it or get rid of it. That's when I found out how stupid I was. The 1973 was not a Mach 1 just a sports roof, original color was not yellow. The car had been wrecked and pieced mill back together. Car was really not worth building. But I had to anyway, after all it was the first car my wife and bought together and took up the my parents garage, her grand mothers garage and finely our garage for the last 25 years. Many many thousands of dollars later car was restored with mostly NOS parts, repainted it with factory color (med copper) rebuild the 429 cj engine, transmission and read end that I had kept for decades, in my parents shed. Car is all done now and what a feeling to see it come back to life. But, now I am smarter and I kept the original 351 drive train and it's in the same wooden box in my shed.

Well here is what I found out many years later they made more than 35,000 Mach 1's in 73 but, only 10,000 or so sports roof versions. My 1973 sportroof according to the marti report it is 1 of 1 clear glass , AM radio, dog dish hub caps with a deluxe interior.

Second mustang, is a 1971 Mach 1 j code all original California car, I got this car from the second owner, original owner was in his 80's when he decided to let it go. The last time he drove it he bumped the front bumper and cracked the grill. He said he was getting to old to drive it so he parked it in 1984, sold it in 2007 to the second owner with 58,000 miles on it. This owner as you could image was spending all his time and money chasing down all the little thing that comes up with a car that sits for that long. Leaks and more leaks. Soon he lost interest and put it up for sale. He listed it every where 429 megasite, craigslist and local advertising. Something had to be wrong with this car not to selling. The owner an I started talking and emailing and texting back and forth for the next year or so. He told me of all the stupid offers he was getting but not really many interest buyers.

I watched this car for about about year and a half teasing me but, not really having the space for it, or the money, or the time to go look at it. I gave myself every reason in the world to not buy another project. My wife knew I always wanted a real Mach 1 and she knew a original 429 j code was driving me crazy. But, remember the excuses, when she talked me into selling our boat the condition was if I was to sell the boat I was buying another mustang and after several months she sell the boat---- I do not care what you do with the money, just sell the boat.

Well I had to do a unplanned road trip about a month later for one of my kids and while out on the road, I had to make a little detour and go see this car, after all it was the holy grail mustang and it was only a few hours out of the way. It was exactly as described even had the original mufflers . To say my wife was in shock when she saw me drive up pulling a another mustang on a trailer well, that would be an understatement. A long story short the second owner had replaced ever gasket there was . He never could get the car running very good at all, All I really had to do is rebuild the original carb. It now has has 65,000 miles on it and was the best old car I ever bought. And yes, it still has the broken grill ( I call it the battle scars).

Tim

 

[Luke]

Cool story Bloke and 2 nice cars you have there

 

[rpmcarter]

nice SAVE CSGT!!!!

Thanks, I'm a sucker for the < $1000 ones... Yours looks like its green also with the rocker trim and mettalic silver instead of my gold?

well my car is suppose to be "Bright Red"....but I just couldn't go with that...too orangeish for me...and that red interior??? yuck!...so she's now Black and Silver. The body shop had a 52 Chebbbie pick up that was pearl silver...I had to have it on my car.

 

[Mustang Dynasty]

Ok I read all 12 pages so far and I must say the stories are awesome. So here goes on mine. A little long but what a good story.

In 1984 while working at a local hot rod shop as a kid, the owner of the shop drove a 1970 Mach 1 which got me seeing fastbacks in my sleep. But I was a young man making very little money. But, I had an 78 ford f100 short bed that he said he would help me build. All I had to pay for was parts and his labor would be free as long as I helped. So the game was on.

He got a 429 cj engine and transmission from his connection at a salvage yard with the only guarantee that they could be rebuild. We Bored the block thirty over and rebuild the transmission slapped a set of 3:90 gears on the rear end and I was having the time of my life.

When I found out what cars came originally with this kind of engine combo I started my search for a 71-73 mustang to put this engine in. Well life got in the way I pulled the engine, transmission and rear end out of the truck, stuck in a home made wooden box in my dad's outdoor shed. Join the army, got married then while serving in Texas my wife and I saw a freshly repainted 73. I really wanted a Mach 1 and it had to be yellow because that was what I had been looking for for several years. Looking the car over we saw a place that was not taped correctly when repainted and it was yellow. So I bought it as quickly as possible. Then was sent to serve in Korea, so sat for the 2 years while I was there. Once I returned I had some money in my pocket so we bought ourself a new car and this 73 sat for 25 years. Never really paying much attention to the vin number. Just started it up once in a while.

Well finally my wife told me to restore it or get rid of it. That's when I found out how stupid I was. The 1973 was not a Mach 1 just a sports roof, original color was not yellow. The car had been wrecked and pieced mill back together. Car was really not worth building. But I had to anyway, after all it was the first car my wife and bought together and took up the my parents garage, her grand mothers garage and finely our garage for the last 25 years. Many many thousands of dollars later car was restored with mostly NOS parts, repainted it with factory color (med copper) rebuild the 429 cj engine, transmission and read end that I had kept for decades, in my parents shed. Car is all done now and what a feeling to see it come back to life. But, now I am smarter and I kept the original 351 drive train and it's in the same wooden box in my shed.

Well here is what I found out many years later they made more than 35,000 Mach 1's in 73 but, only 10,000 or so sports roof versions. My 1973 sportroof according to the marti report it is 1 of 1 clear glass , AM radio, dog dish hub caps with a deluxe interior.

Second mustang, is a 1971 Mach 1 j code all original California car, I got this car from the second owner, original owner was in his 80's when he decided to let it go. The last time he drove it he bumped the front bumper and cracked the grill. He said he was getting to old to drive it so he parked it in 1984, sold it in 2007 to the second owner with 58,000 miles on it. This owner as you could image was spending all his time and money chasing down all the little thing that comes up with a car that sits for that long. Leaks and more leaks. Soon he lost interest and put it up for sale. He listed it every where 429 megasite, craigslist and local advertising. Something had to be wrong with this car not to selling. The owner an I started talking and emailing and texting back and forth for the next year or so. He told me of all the stupid offers he was getting but not really many interest buyers.

I watched this car for about about year and a half teasing me but, not really having the space for it, or the money, or the time to go look at it. I gave myself every reason in the world to not buy another project. My wife knew I always wanted a real Mach 1 and she knew a original 429 j code was driving me crazy. But, remember the excuses, when she talked me into selling our boat the condition was if I was to sell the boat I was buying another mustang and after several months she sell the boat---- I do not care what you do with the money, just sell the boat.

Well I had to do a unplanned road trip about a month later for one of my kids and while out on the road, I had to make a little detour and go see this car, after all it was the holy grail mustang and it was only a few hours out of the way. It was exactly as described even had the original mufflers . To say my wife was in shock when she saw me drive up pulling a another mustang on a trailer well, that would be an understatement. A long story short the second owner had replaced ever gasket there was . He never could get the car running very good at all, All I really had to do is rebuild the original carb. It now has has 65,000 miles on it and was the best old car I ever bought. And yes, it still has the broken grill ( I call it the battle scars).

Tim

Glad to hear overall you got yourself 2 good deals. Mine went through the same job over and over till it got right and would not have been that kind of problem, I'll bet, if I was able to do the work myself. So this photo you could say is a good depiction on one mechanic to the other while the football is on my head (since 03). Ha (be best if you seen the entire picture yourself on my photo album to do the job any recognition of justice)

Dad bought it for his secretary in 73. She became my mother in 1980... When he passed away in 2006 I began restoring the car as a memorial.

Got anyother pics of it. Would be hard to take my off of this photo as it looks great and would have the same color on mine if the family would allow it.(they just do not want the part in keeping it in such a luster) that is why its white, but still, you can imagine the only person that maintains it.

I bought my first 1973 Grande Coupe when I was 14 for $2500. 2 years later I had my permit and drove that car everywhere, til I wrecked it that summer when my drum brakes failed and I plowed the back of a silverado. I kept the car 3 years after trying to fix it. Over the next 7 years I owned a 2002 Gt, 2005 V6 and a 2007 Gt. It just wasnt the same. Last april I picked up a 1972 coupe with factory disc brakes all around for $1900. Not making the mistake of drums again lol.

Been great if mine had the least, disc in front but had to settle with a resto-mod between Summit and SSBC for power disc brake conversion for which did not seem to matter as the garage that did the work for me, broke the pin to the brake pedal and .......a 10g cost to restore the underside. Did not call 911 on the garage but am serioiusly thinking about a civil to recoop the damages. First I have to find a lawyer as judges in my neck of the woods will not hear a case without them. Mikke

 

[Carguy4sp]

I have your twin. I work as a valet driver for a local Audi dealer and I delivered a car back to a customer. In his garage was a very clean low mileage 1972 Q code 4 sp. I commented to the owner how nice it was so he explained to me the rairity of the car and I commented I was looking for my next classic. He explained the car was for sale so we made a deal on the spot. No regrets it is a nice car.

Rodney from SW Florida

well,let me be the first to start,i been wanting a classic mustang for about 7 years ,so in 2010 i thougt it was time to start looking,it took a while i looked at many mustangs of our years but they need so much work,than i found her for sale in dekalb,il about a hour out side chicago in a old barn,it was stored for 15 years only 2 owners,it was good shape and had good bones but needed everything new except the body that was solid,so i made a deal for $3800 and got her home and now all the extra money i get goes to makeing her look good,as you all know its a long proscess of alittle work here and alittle work there, its a work in progess,and i love.thanks Ron

please share your story long or short!

 

[71XR7VERT]

I pulled mine out of a field. The guy I bought it from had no interest in restoring or even getting it running, he just bought it to save it from the crusher.

I'm very happy he did, what a waste!

 

[71XR7VERT]

As I found it


2nd times a charm I hope