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NOTHING ROMATIC HERE. WORKING IN EXCAVATING AND LIVING IN OHIO, I ALWAYS HAVE TWO OR THREE MONTHS OFF IN WINTER, AND I GO INSANE SO I WANTED A PROJECT. FOUND THIS CAR ON CRAIGLIST ABOUT 40 MILES FROM HOME. IT SAID 71 MACH 1 460 WITH LOW MILES, C-6, 9" POSI. I FIGURED THE DRIVE TRAIN WAS WORTH THE 1600.00 HE WAS ASKING. BOUGHT IT FOR 1200.00 AND PUT A BOARD UNDER THE SEAT TO GET IT LOADED,AND HERE SHE IS. DONT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED BUT SHE HOOKED ME.AND NOW I'M DETERMINED TO PUT HER BACK TOGETHER. ANOTHER THING IS THAT AROUND HERE, SHE'LL BE THE ONLY ONE....

 
awesome stories guys! I'll make a long story short! Got it from Dad when I was young dumb and full of dumb. Did stupid things to it and blew the motor. Didn't have the money to fix, so it sat for over 20yrs. Saw the dissappointment on Dad's face and in the tone of his voice. At least twice a year he'd ask for his garage space back and just junk the car. I always said no or begged not to junk it and that I'll rebuild it someday. I've been off the Island for 11yrs, and everyday I wondered if he junked it :( Well, moved back home and the day came last year to do the rebuild. Build is complete and I gave it back to him. It was suppose to be for Father's Day, but we missed the deadline and I gave it back to him a few weeks later. Saw the joy in his eyes and we now sit and exchange stories of how he raced it back in the 70's and how I trashed it back in the 80's LOL! Lots of memories of me sitting next to him while he wrenched on it and washed it back in the days. He now drives it to his friends house and brags. He won't drive it out of our city cause he says it has too much torque. I now have four Mach1s and an insane collection of toys and memorabilias. I no longer get bugged by Dad to get his garage space back, instead, he now asks when are we going to start on the next build ;)

 
I was mowing yards as a part time job for a real estate investor. I was driving to one of the houses when i saw her it was love at first sight. I had never actually seen a real Mach 1 in person before. It was the end of August 2005 and it took a couple of months to get a tittle so I brought her home on BLACK FRIDAY the day after thanksgiving. As soon as she got home a friend of mine came over to see if we could start or atleast turn the engine over. changed the fluids, got the battery from one of the other cars clean the points a bit and WOW she came to life!!!!

Sadly she never came out of the garage, my friend was on the driver side and as soon as i sat down on passenger side my feet went throuh whatever was left of the floor :( there was pretty much just the carpet.

Right there and then I decided to restore her. (I had no idea what i was getting into)

http://www.7173mustangs.com/ezgallery.php?action=myimages&u=526

Now im not a mechanic, a builder or fabricator of any kind so pretty much all i do is with the help of friends or I have to pay for it. This is my first project and there is a lot of things that I did wrong, I was taking the car apart and throwing parts left and right parts that now I cant buy. I figure they make just about every part you can think of for mustangs not knowing 71-73 are something special. :( but I guess thats how most of us rookies learn lol.

I took the engine apart and found one of the heads to be cracked so I went with with new aluminum heads. I had the car sandblasted, both quarter panels are new, most of the floor, the hood the trunk floor are also new metal. I had the seats redone 2 tones to match the paint. and I still have a longgggggggggggggg way to go but im enjoying every minute of it.

 
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I saw an ad in the paper , Mustang for sale, and said to the wife lets go take a look. We got there and the guy says I found this rust free 71 in southern Saskatchewan, and trailered it home, but my wife wont let me keep it. He said only 2000 dollars takes it. I have a 500 limit, but I said if my wife takes out 500 we can get $1000. He says sold. We went to a cash machine and got the cash. When we came back, he says it has to be gone today. It was a Saturday, and I said I will pick it up next week. His wife was freaking out and wanted it gone right now, so he got his buddy with a tow truck to come over about 15 min later, and tow it to my place. My neighbor wanted to buy it right away, but my wife is OK with the money pit. Those original 429 pistons are hard to get.

 
my brother moved out of state and didnt want to transport the grande. he gave it to me free of charge.drove it home with no interior except for the drivers seat which wasnt bolted in. went to dmv and got title transferred before he changed his mind!!!!

 
My dad got me started in Mustangs, we had/have a '67 convertible thats been in the family since new. I always like the 71-73s also. There were a couple in my neighborhood I remember, & a friend brought home a nice H code 73 from San Deigo (that he sold because it wasn't a good daily driver, (ugh, there are a couple of reasons I didn't/couldn't buy it, but I'm still wishing I found a way)).

I'm usually watching cl to see whats for sale locally, and saw the post for this car- not running 73 Mustang Mach 1 351 4 barrel car, and took the trip to check it out. It didn't look too bad. It had the right numbers in the vin, 05 & Q. The water pump was off the front of the engine. They had said it over heated and they changed the thermostat, and were going to do the waterpump, but the owners kid lost interest, he was into 4x4's:huh: The rest of the car showed an older driver restoration with a lot of wear. I looked it over well, and thought I knew what I'd be getting myself into, but I bought the car anyway:D

When I took it home, first thing I did was open the thermostat housing where I saw, of course, the wrong thermostat in there. I ordered the correct one, a long with a new gas tank/sending unit, & distributor (there was a mallory with dual points in there, not the factory one :( ), put everything back together and got her started. She runs well, hasn't overheated once, and I'm slowly working my way through different projects on her. Trying to drive her in the summer and do what I can in the winter.

 
Back in the early 80's a friend of mine was selling his 73 mach I. It was pretty stock. I was 15 years and 11 months old. I had been saving up for a car and Dad pitched in the last few hundred bucks. So it sat in the driveway for a month. I washed it several times. I used to walk around it with the lights on/off/parking lights on/blinker on/ etc. Drove it for 4 years until a lady (drunk) turned left in front of me and totaled it. (Now adays it might have been worth saving but back then it was 'just another mustang' to everyone except me...)

So my girlfriend (now wife) had a friend who had a 73 convertible for sale. It needed some work but not much. I loved the idea of owning a convertible so I jumped at the chance. Took the parts off the Mach I. (Guages, center console, cragars, carb, intake and what not) and put them on the Convertible. That was about 27 years ago and I still own it. It was my DD for years, it has about 300K miles on it. It's not anywhere near stock. It looks stock but a lot of stuff has been replaced. It's an AZ car so no rust.

 
Was looking for a set of wheels, did not care what just so it ran. A friend had a friend that had a car for $2200 that ran.

The seller kept telling me about the Cleveland and toploader with 9" , he said. Made no sense to me having never owned

a Mustang. The closest I ever got to Ford was a '61 Comet. Wish I still had that car.

In the five years I have owned the Grande we have spent maybe another $5000. That includes a new engine with cam and

matching date codes for the frame, clutch, numerous suspension components, new brakes and a completely new interior.

All that remains is some minor body work and paint. If I were ever to sell this car, never, I should at least get my money back.

The only time this car has ever been in a professional shop was to get new tires. We have saved a lot of money doing the work

ourselves. Not an easy task for a daily driver.

mike

 
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Dec 1994 I was on leave in the Air Force visiting family for the holidays. Went looking for a 87-93 5.0 LX. Around then the new body style came out and everyone hated the SN-95's so they were clinging to the fox bodies like they were gold. So basically I couldn't afford one. After Christmas I was driving about and passed a used car lot and saw the NASA hood scoops. Pulled a u-turn to have a look. Kicked the tires and did a walk around. Ho-hum condition, automatic, vinyl top. Yawn... Wasn't too enthralled at first until I took a step back and realized; a PA car with only one rust spot(behind passengers door), original paint minus fenders which were replaced(metallic blue under the black primer), original everything pretty much, 351c 2v. Low option'd car but Vin said it was a genuine Mach 1. Used-up but not hot-rodded or beat-up. They wanted $3k but since I had cash I got it for $2400. Had em fix a few things and drove it home just after the new year. 2 Jan will be 17 years now.

Pictures are after I got it home and gave it a wash.

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Dec 1994 I was on leave in the Air Force visiting family for the holidays. Went looking for a 87-93 5.0 LX. Around then the new body style came out and everyone hated the SN-95's so they were clinging to the fox bodies like they were gold. So basically I couldn't afford one. After Christmas I was driving about and passed a used car lot and saw the NASA hood scoops. Pulled a u-turn to have a look. Kicked the tires and did a walk around. Ho-hum condition, automatic, vinyl top. Yawn... Wasn't too enthralled at first until I took a step back and realized; a PA car with only one rust spot(behind passengers door), original paint minus fenders which were replaced(metallic blue under the black primer), original everything pretty much, 351c 2v. Low option'd car but Vin said it was a genuine Mach 1. Used-up but not hot-rodded or beat-up. They wanted $3k but since I had cash I got it for $2400. Had em fix a few things and drove it home just after the new year. 2 Jan will be 17 years now.

Pictures are after I got it home and gave it a wash.

Oldmach1.jpg


Oldmach12.jpg
Congrats on 17 years.

 
I got my mustang in a trade with a guy for my old bronco II. Had my bronco on ebay and a guy emailed me wanting to trade for a 71 mach 1. I wasn't really looking for a mustang but I figured what the hell. He even delivered it from South Carolina and paid me another $1000 on top of the trade. So I think I did alright.

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My mustang the day it was delivered.

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Now

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Ok how I got my first Mustang?

In 1973 I was 25 working as a tool & die maker so I made good money. I had ordered a new 71 Maverick and also still had my 1950 Ford sedan, 1956 Ford Club Sedan and 57 Ford Fairlane 500 hardtop, still have them all.

I had read about the doom and gloom of how the mustang was going to take a dive into the nothing class with most of the automotive world. I figured this was the time to buy before they slid into those dark years of learning how to cut pollution but they also cut the HP.

So I went to our local dealer Garrett Easler Ford. Our family had purchased several cars from them over the years and they were not like most dealers trying to rip you off they were there to give you exactly what you wanted and did not have any issue with ordering a car to your specs. There were mustangs on the lot but nothing with lots of options.

I went to the owners office and told him I wanted to buy a 73 Mach 1 and wanted every option you could order. He said “Why would you want to do that when I can sell you an LTD for less money and more car”. I told him that the Mustang would be worth more in years to come and he just laughed because the older ones were dropping in price and very cheap.

I had already been to the Mercury dealer and looked at the Cougar but did not like the styling. While there I also looked at the Pantera but with the price being just over $9,000 I did not want to invest that much in a car.

So we sat down with the big salesman reference book and started to write in the order for my Mach 1. You did everything by hand no computer to order with they did fax them in. I asked the owner if he could swing getting my car to be the last one they made but could not. They were the dealer that all the NASCAR parts came through. The parts department was always full of crate engines from Holman Moody in the 60’s.

So the final order included 27 factory options and also shows the dealer installed undercoating. I added another 6 dealer options, door edge guards, front spoiler, ram air, rear carpeted floor mats to match front, locking spare tire and centrifugal advance distributor to replace vacuum. Date on order March 30, 1973 and the total on the window sticker was $5,156.90 and I paid $4,803.95, the dealer invoice shows $4448.84 and is stamped May 14, 1973 and I picked up the car on May 24, 1973.

I did not let them clean the car only apply the undercoat and I was first to drive off the lot. I went straight to the interstate and put it to the floor. It seemed to run out of steam just over 120 mph. I came back and the salesman asked what I thought and I said I was disappointed that it would barely go over 120 and I would have to work on it, lol, he said you are crazy. The Mustang emblem on the horn button was upside down.

This car was my date car, street racer and autocross car. It only has a little over 12,000 miles on it and has sat in the barn since 1983 when I got fed up with MCA rules and just lost interest.

I am now retired and trying to get back to working on the 8 Mustangs I own. I am one of those hoarders you read about with barn full of cars and garage full of NOS parts. Selling some of the stuff on Ebay.

Lots of good memories of out running the highway patrol, winning autocross, burning the tires off doing laps on the interstate cloverleaf exchange. I think we invented drifting back in the 60’s when the interstate opened here. During the 1974 oil crises you could buy a Boss 429 mustang here for $1,000 but nobody wanted them you could not buy gas. I have had to push my car to gas station before.

Wish I could go back and order another it will never be like that again.

Long post and been in other threads before. Pic before it went to barn and as it is now not washed or cleaned since 1983.

David

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I've owned an old Lotus for many years and it's been my pride and joy. As I have a double garage, I always thought it would be nice to fill the other garage space. I told my Wife but she thought I was joking. Well, when I hit 42, I went a bit crazy, call it a mid life crisis. I went out and bought 16 guitars and a Marshall stack. But it wasn't enough to scratch the crisis itch. I've always loved Mustangs and had been looking at 67-69s but somehow they all looked a bit lame for my budget. And a 69 Mach 1 was to expensive. Then I spotted a 72 vert on ebay that looked a bit of a beast. I kept an eye on it for week or so, then gave the owner a ring. He seemed genuine, so went to see it and it looked cool. Told the wife I was going to buy it and she said over my dead body. After some thought she said give me a porch for the house and you can have the Mustang.

So here's her porch being built at the moment and here's my Mustang.

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I've owned an old Lotus for many years and it's been my pride and joy. As I have a double garage, I always thought it would be nice to fill the other garage space. I told my Wife but she thought I was joking. Well, when I hit 42, I went a bit crazy, call it a mid life crisis. I went out and bought 16 guitars and a Marshall stack. But it wasn't enough to scratch the crisis itch. I've always loved Mustangs and had been looking at 67-69s but somehow they all looked a bit lame for my budget. And a 69 Mach 1 was to expensive. Then I spotted a 72 vert on ebay that looked a bit of a beast. I kept an eye on it for week or so, then gave the owner a ring. He seemed genuine, so went to see it and it looked cool. Told the wife I was going to buy it and she said over my dead body. After some thought she said give me a porch for the house and you can have the Mustang.

So here's her porch being built at the moment and here's my Mustang.

IMG_7749_zpss90oebfe.jpg
How did the funeral go I don't see the porch?

David

 
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