How you got your stang.

[72 R Code]

In 1972 I was 19 and I decided that I wanted a new Mach 1. I looked all over Indianapolis for a new one with a 4 speed and could not find one. I decided to order one and in May of 1972 I did it. When looking over the options there was the 351 HO option. That was the best that I could get at that time so I ordered it. It seemed like a good deal with all that was included, and I did not care about air conditioning at that time. My best buddy said I should get the rear window defroster so I did. I also ordered the sports interior, Magnum 500 wheels, AM/FM stereo, power steering, and deluxe instrumentation. It came to over $4,000 and with my trade in and deposit I was left with $95. a month payments for 2 years. I took delivery in July of 1972. It took longer than I was told it would. They told me that they were waiting for the engine because they did not build many with that one. The day I took delivery I burned 3 tanks of gas just cruising around. I could not believe the power that it had. The hardest part for me was deciding what color to make it. I finally decided on Grabber Blue. After all these years I cannot imagine it being any other color. I said at the time that I would keep this car till I was old and so far I have.

 

[71lagstang]

Cool idea!

My dad bought a 66 coupe for my sister and I to drive to high school. Well, the 66 got totaled out from under me, rear ended.

Bought my 71 sportsroof about a month later, only stang I could find for sale. Happened to be someone in my Mustang club. Bought it at the drag strip, I think it ran a 14.7 at 89 mph. It is a California car so it wasn't in to bad a shape as far as rust. Didn't realize it was a 4-speed car until after I brought it home, it had an automatic in it.

Drove through high school and for the end of college. After college I parked it at my Mom's house for about 4 years. Dad transfered the car over to me and I brought it to my house in 98 I think, drove it around a little bit for about a year or so.

Started tear down around 2000-2001, then the kids came along and things really slowed down. Just got the unibody back from paint last year and have begun reassembly. Slow going with kids, work and money.

 

[71stang]

I allways loved the style of this year Mustang, allways wanted one, but could never aford one, So after 15 years on the job and promotions the money got a little better so I started looking on Craigs list, printed out a couple of possibles and had them laying on my desk , when one day a x-coworker stoped by so say hi and to let me know his son was in need of a job, he was looking at the pics on my desk an (quote this is what he said) I got one of those 1971. I replied you want to get ride of it? he replied maybe. His son got the job and I got the car for 2K

 

[FastE]

I bought mine from Horn Williams Ford here in Dallas.It was September 3rd 1973.I was 19 and in the Navy at the time.

I had started to buy one in 1972 but backed out,already driving a 67 Cougar that my father and I had built(428 CJ,4spd),so decided to hold off.

My father and I were members of the local Ford Drag Club and I filled out the order form for a 73 Mach 1 in Augaust of 1972.Well I did not go through with it again and went to play in Uncle Sams navy.I was on board ship when I read an artical about the new Mustang II coming.I took leave and came home,drove all over Dallas looking for a new Mach 1. I drove past this car two or three times during the night and never looked at it twice because it was setting on the dealers used car lot.

I met the next day with our sponsering dealer,Ken Ray Ford and they only had one new left,a gold,302 AT,standard interior,dog dish car that was basicaly Mach 1 in stripes only.I was going to buy it.Headed home to get my down payment and thought I would give the other dealer a look.

Asked the salesman if he had any new Mach's and he had one that was already sold, but he did have a low milage trade.He pointed at my car.

It was love at first sight.The first thing that got my attention was the dual exhaust tips,then the spoiler.When I walked over to it and saw the white deluxe interior,with all of the gauges etc....that was it!

The car had just a tick over 8,000 miles on it.Poped the hood and saw the 351CJ,with the chrome air cleaner lid and I was drooling.AC,PS,DB, I had never had AC before.

Any way I took it for a test drive,"you want hot rod it will you son?' NO SIR!! Well the first red light I hit I hung a foot in it! I was shocked !The little F70x14 Firestones were no match for it,and the second gear chirp made my smile get bigger!

Got my dad and we talked to the saleman,they were asking 4250.00 for it,but because we were members of the Drag Club we got them down to 3925.00! What a deal!!!

I put a 1200.00 down payment,my monthly payment was 105.00 for 36 months! My insurance was another 33.00 a month.Doesn't sound like much now but it was a lot then for a military kid.

Well I drove it east to Florida and South Carolina,street raced the fire out of it,brought it back home and street raced,drag raced it drove to work everyday,got married in it,took it off the street and drag raced it for about 10 years solid,pulled it off the track.Repainted it put it back in street trim with a mild 460 in it. I let both of my sons drive it in High school.

In 2001 I went back to 351CJ and showed it at car shows and in the past couple of years have started racing again a couple of times a month.Nothing serious just test and tune fun.It is not fast but we are deadly on the light and pretty consistant.

I am hoping to build a 393 / 408 some time or may be stick with a high winding 351 with a 5spd.I love to wrap those Clevelands!

Sorry for the long post.

 

[mach1 fever]

[/color][/i][/b]i got my first mustang in 1974. it was a 1973 mach 1.it had been wrecked and i bought it for 300 bucks. after rebuilding it i drove it for 7 years. it had a 351 cleveland with an fmx tranny.it wasnt an accurate rebuild , the stripes were incorrect etc, but hey i had 1900.00 bucks in vested when i finished .also it was actually a 71 with a 73 front clip. but i so loved that car. but after getting married and haveing kids, i had to sell.when my sons got older we started building again , the blue coupe (72) the yellow mach (72) and the 73 mach. plus several mavericks and fox body stangs. the yellow mach i bought when i was at a grocery store and the meat market guy said he knew where one was. he took a lunch break and he and i went and looked at it and i bought it there on spot for a 1000.00 bucks. my son saw the 73 in a mule trader mag. and we got it for 1500.00. the coupe we saw on a car lot day after he graduated. we bought it and that car went thru many transformations from a drag car , daily driver to what it is now. has been a great experince for us. i kinda lost interest in them when my son passed away two years ago. but my youngest has keep me going and he loves mustangs so the traditon will continue. if pic works here is the first mustang i had.

 

[not2old]

Well in 1972 ready to buy my 1st car, went into the Ford Dealer we bought all our cars from. Had enough for a new Pinto, but they had a Green Maverick Grabber on the showroom floor and had to have it. Of course it cost more so we left so I could save more money. Six months later we returned for the Maverick but the now had a Bright RED Mustang Fastback. and had to have it.. We had to order it because I couldn't afford any options. 302 CID with 3-spd stick bright RED with white interior. My dad also loved the car and he would borrow it just to enjoy not being the dull family car. Well he pasted last year and as a gift of life to myself I decided to buy another one with some of the money he left us. Not sure if I will paint it red

 

[droptop73]

Cool stories guys.

 

[jorgem2]

I purchased a local 73 convertible that I thought I could restore. After driving it for 2 years I realized it was too rusty. So I searched and searched for a project to transfer all the good stuff I had been adding to the 73.

I found my 72 on ebay of all places, watched it for about a month and nobody purchased it. Finally as the price kept dropping, I asked my dad if he wanted to do a road trip. We live in Miami Fl and I was headed for Georgia anyways for a hunting trip so it was a good excuse. The car was a Texas car, but unfortunately was now in Detroit Michigan. I was thinking of the fun a road trip can be so I forgot to calculate how much gas I was going to spend, I think I spent more in gas and hotels than the car was worth.

Anyways the trip turned out to be cool, since I was able to spend time with my dad and the purchase turned out ok too, since buying cars sight unseen is usually not recomended.

 

[luxstang]

It's fun reading your stories!

Mine is pretty lame in comparison. I simply found my car in the local classifieds. It was sitting only about a 20 minute drive from where I used to live. It belonged to a 72 year old guy whose wife didn't want to put up with the car any longer. So I bought it, at what later turned out to be too high a price, as the car was in bad shape.

It had been through a lot of use and abuse and had not been well cared for.

If I was to buy it today, I would run away from it as fast as I could. But I was naive and excited at the prospect of owning such a car and really had no knowledge about cars at all.

Today, the car looks and drives pretty fine, but it cost a lotta money, time and devotion to get it so far.

So sorry, no tales of high schools or cars inherited from relatives......

 

[droptop73]

We all have let enthusiasm overshadow our judgement from time to time I'm sure.

 

[tx-skydiver]

How I got my stang? Hmmm. Which one. I have had and still own several. Anyway I will tell the story of my current project.

My first was a 73 Mach I auto so these cars were injected into my blood then. After getting rid of it years ago, I had always kicked myself for doing that. I knew I would because I kept the spoiler from it to put on another one someday.

Well someday came about 5 years ago and I went on a search for my old car. No luck and likely crushed a long time ago. I hit Craigslist and found one in Mansfield, TX. I went to see it and saw that it was a Q-code. First I had ever seen in real life. I knew immediately I had to have this car.

The guy that had it was a storage building guy and his tenent had stopped paying so he was selling everything in it. The tenent was apparently going to make this a race car. He "rebuilt the engine and spraypainted stripes on it without taping. just did it freehand. rthen painted over headlights and all other lights on the car. I was sick. Then the seller tells me that he found out what the original color was. I already knew because I had my data plate notes with me to show it was white. A look under carpet helped confirm that. Anyway he says yellow. I asked why he thought that and he said "because I scraped the paint to see". Sure enough...all around the car this jackwagon scraped down the layers.

I said "thats likely primer dumazz". I have the money. Give me the car. I knew I had to save her.

After getting it home I found a large assortment of engine parts in the trunk. All used or original. All in bad shape including an original piston. I thought "wow. A nice decoration" until I pulled the oil pan and saw that this particular piston had been removed while the other 7 were still in it.

My work is cut out for me.

 

[droptop73]

Looking forward to watching the progress.

 

[customtronic]

Just found this thread. I have a '72 Mach 1. I'm active duty Army and was sitting in Iraq about 3 weeks from coming home. I had some free time so I was looking over classiccars.com and found my car sitting in a field in Alabama for $1000. I must have went back and looked at that ad for 3 days before I decided I had to have the car. I emailed the owner, paypal'd a deposit and then drove down and picked it up the weekend after I got home. She needs a lot of work but it's a very solid car so a good start to my project. Money was an issue of course but I'm selling a very low milage '05 Dodge Magnum RT that will put enough money in my pocket to finish the entire build in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[73greengold]

Just found this thread. I have a '72 Mach 1. I'm active duty Army and was sitting in Iraq about 3 weeks from coming home. I had some free time so I was looking over classiccars.com and found my car sitting in a field in Alabama for $1000. I must have went back and looked at that ad for 3 days before I decided I had to have the car. I emailed the owner, paypal'd a deposit and then drove down and picked it up the weekend after I got home. She needs a lot of work but it's a very solid car so a good start to my project. Money was an issue of course but I'm selling a very low milage '05 Dodge Magnum RT that will put enough money in my pocket to finish the entire build in a reasonable amount of time.

Welcome back, I found mine fairly close to the same way. returned home to Fort Drum from OEF1 and found mine in the local classifieds for $1500.00. Came to find out it was one of our generator mechanics from down range selling it before PCSing to Germany. Drove it home for $1200 but she was a basket case. That's another story. Good luck and enjoy the rebuild.

Marty

 

[73vertproject]

Just found this thread. I have a '72 Mach 1. I'm active duty Army and was sitting in Iraq about 3 weeks from coming home. I had some free time so I was looking over classiccars.com and found my car sitting in a field in Alabama for $1000. I must have went back and looked at that ad for 3 days before I decided I had to have the car. I emailed the owner, paypal'd a deposit and then drove down and picked it up the weekend after I got home. She needs a lot of work but it's a very solid car so a good start to my project. Money was an issue of course but I'm selling a very low milage '05 Dodge Magnum RT that will put enough money in my pocket to finish the entire build in a reasonable amount of time.

Welcome to the site, customtronic. Please post up a intro in the Introductions section so we can give you a proper welcome. Thank you for your service to our country, and hope to see you over in the Intros real soon.

Doc

 

[customtronic]

Thanks guys. I'll post up an intro as suggested. I have a lot of work to do on this car but my goal is to have it complete in 12 months. Not sure if I can do it but I will make a good effort.

Marty...OEF1? I was there too. Where you in 10th Mtn at the time? If so, I think we were in the same place over there. I was not in your unit but with the "other" guys there. PM me if you don't want to reply "out loud".

 

[rpmcarter]

geez think I'm too old to remember all this......

I was 5th kid.... we were dirt floor poor. Dad told all the brothers "if you want a car you'll have to go get a job. all of them did, somehow they all decided they needed Mustangs. All of us had jobs while we were in high school (FULL TIME JOBS). We all bought our own cars too, we didn't know there were parents that bought things.

So the Mustang blood was set.... back then i was "FORCED" to work on them with my brothers. To this day i'm thankful. My first car was a 62 Chevy II with rotted floors four doors no heater three on the tree 6cyl. That was 73, Heck i didn't even bother asking girls out too embarrassing. My first Stang came about in 87 ... a 65 fixer upper. Then a 67 Coupe...then I bought a 65 ChevelleSS and finished it .... kept it 6 years..sold it and bought the 67 convertible. I found the Mach I bout 15 months ago out of Craigslist...pretty sure i was the first one to call. Body was in very good shape somewhat dismantled dent in the right side ..... and the rest is history.

 

[72Q-code]

I just explained the saga of buying my Q-code (warning, it IS a saga!) in the Garage section, which I first explored this evening. Hope it's OK to just hyperlink that story here :shy:

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-1972-mach-1-q-code--1780

~Jim

 

[mrbill4]

While in the navy, I came back from a cruise and saw the first Mach1 that drew my attention parked on the street at Virginia Beach. I like it so much I bought one for myself, but made the mistake of selling it in 1972 when building new house.

After retiring in 2005, I liked the S197's so much, again, I had to get an 07 for myself, but this time I won't sell it.

Last April, my nextdoor neighbor who knows I love mustangs, knocked on my door and asked if I'd be intrested in buying a 71 Mach1 351 M code and I told him I'd be interested in taking a look. At the same time, a guy who I rent garage space from for the 07 told me he had a friend selling a 73 Mach. Because of the huge difference in price, I bought the 73 which is due to be completed from restoration within the next 90 days. Most people won't like it because it's a resto-mod being done to my taste. I don't plan on selling that one either. However, I know the 71 is still for sale lol

 

[thundertc64]

I have always loved the 71-73 Mach's,bought my first one in 1988 a 72 Mach for $800.But being young and an adrenaline junkie lead to the car being parked due to damage's ( another story entirely,can't believe some of the crazy stuff i used to do rofl )and finally sold for $1000.I always wanted another one but the price's went crazy and figured i would never get one,until i recently sold a 93 T-Bird i built. So the hunt was on and saw a picture of one for sale one the net,called the guy and asked about it.After he finished i told him i wanted it and the deal was done.So me and a friend hooked up the trailer and drove 630 miles to Port St. Lucie, FL. and brought her home. So now the work has started, I try to do as much as possible at one time so it is not down to much,due to the looks and stares i get when i drive it