Nice looking Mach 1 on Seattle craigslist

[cjstaci]

I was checking the local craigslist for anything of interest and came across this 73 Mach 1. Looks very original and clean. Just wanted to share.

https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/cto/d/everett-1973-ford-mustang-mach/7475123290.html

 

[will e]

It's a handsome Mach 1.

 

[71ProjectJunk]

If that car is truly unrestored, it would be in exceptional condition, especially when they claim that it has 65K miles. The 4 owners that they said the car has had would have had to take exceptional care of the car. It seems to be in too good of a condition to be unrestored, I have never seen a 65K mile engine with paint in that condition. Would the hood black out have been painted gloss in 1973? Either way it is a very nice car.

 

[Hemikiller]

Look at the photos on his Wordpress site, much larger and better details.

https://autosnobs.wordpress.com/2022/03/14/1973-ford-mustang-mach-1-sportsroof/
That car is an excellent example of a well preserved car that's been driven. I can buy the 65k mileage claim with the wear and tear I see. I see no evidence of an overall respray in the engine compartment, door jambs or trunk lip area. I see some rattle can on the strut rod crossmember. All the fasteners are otherwise as they should be. The hood looks to have been resprayed, as it's a slightly different shade than the fenders, and the bumper has definitely been repainted. The trunk looks like it got a rolled on coat of Rustoleum. The car has some bumps and bruises, but that's the beauty of a survivor.

Anyone restoring a '73 would do well to download the photos of this car for reference.

 

[DAverkamp]

I agree on this being a well taken care of driver. Yes there are some "fitment" flaws on the hook and trunk, and if I was wanting to join the club I would definitely take it for a spin and consider buying it on the spot especially at that price, 4 speed, 1 of 300 some like it, etc. The only thing I would be hung up on is the vinyl roof but thats just me.

 

[ib4stangs]

I've never seen a 73 Mustang without a ducted snorkel...

 

[kevken1959]

Very nice looking and unique car. It's had an outer body repaint for sure. Maybe not all of it, but some for sure. The shade is off on the hood, and the hood patch is way too glossy. Still, I believe the mileage. A fold down rear seat, PW, and A/C would be nice. But then, it couldn't have the 3.50 rear end gears. A few years ago this would have been an $18,000 car. The price is fair in today's market. I have a similar car except convertible I'm getting ready to sell. 100% original paint with no dings, dents, or scratches. I'm going to take pictures of the paint gauge readings on every panel of the car to document it. Copper Metallic, Tu-tone hood, Decor group, Black top and interior. Even the top is original, as is every single square inch of paint on the car. Tach and Gauges, H code, auto car.

 

[mrgmhale]

I do not like to be bringing a rain cloud, but I am about to. The seller may be a great guy, and the deal may be legitimate. But, a friend of mine got scammed on a 69 Mach 1 R Code he thought he was buying. He got scammed for $46,000 the other year. His mistake was letting the seller choose an "escrow company" that they had "used in the past." LAPD and FBI took their reports, but he was told to not get his hopes up as it was a low priority case because it involved less than $100,000!

I would not send any money anywhere until after the car is inspected, if not by yourself at least by someone who is both trusted and familiar with these cars. I used Chip Davis ([email protected]), from Florida to fly to Ottawa, Canada, to validate a 69 Shelby GT500 for me, and to inspect it for its general condition. I got lucky, the seller is a great guy (and a good friend now), the Shelby was really a Shelby, and it is in at least the excellent condition Chip told me it was purported to be. I got lucky, Luckier than my friend.

Also, use an escrow company of YOUR choice, and do not send anything outside of escrow you are not willing to part with permanently if things go south. Do not trust photos to reveal everything about the car's condition. Some things can't be predicted (impending engine or transmission problem). But, other things can be seen, such as body damage, unibody or rail damage, rust, electrical system not working properly, etc. I can tell you from our experience that it does not take a lot of visually identifiable rust that looks minor to turn into a horrendous undertaking. Our 1973 Mach 1 was deeply re$tored, but it ended up costing us far more than the $25k - $35k I had estimated for the work. Several times more. But, we moved forward for love of the breed. Below are some YouTube links for you to look at if you like. One is made from a series of progress photos taken over the 13 1/2 month long project. The other is a walk-around video of the Mach 1 after it was completed.

If I could redo that Mach 1 purchase I may have followed the same path, but more likely I would have kept looking for a vehicle without any rust. The seller could have given me the car and the restoration would have still left me 6 figures in the hole. Beware...

 

[kevken1959]

I do not like to be bringing a rain cloud, but I am about to. The seller may be a great guy, and the deal may be legitimate. But, a friend of mine got scammed on a 69 Mach 1 R Code he thought he was buying. He got scammed for $46,000 the other year. His mistake was letting the seller choose an "escrow company" that they had "used in the past." LAPD and FBI took their reports, but he was told to not get his hopes up as it was a low priority case because it involved less than $100,000!

I would not send any money anywhere until after the car is inspected, if not by yourself at least by someone who is both trusted and familiar with these cars. I used Chip Davis ([email protected]), from Florida to fly to Ottawa, Canada, to validate a 69 Shelby GT500 for me, and to inspect it for its general condition. I got lucky, the seller is a great guy (and a good friend now), the Shelby was really a Shelby, and it is in at least the excellent condition Chip told me it was purported to be. I got lucky, Luckier than my friend.

Also, use an escrow company of YOUR choice, and do not send anything outside of escrow you are not willing to part with permanently if things go south. Do not trust photos to reveal everything about the car's condition. Some things can't be predicted (impending engine or transmission problem). But, other things can be seen, such as body damage, unibody or rail damage, rust, electrical system not working properly, etc. I can tell you from our experience that it does not take a lot of visually identifiable rust that looks minor to turn into a horrendous undertaking. Our 1973 Mach 1 was deeply re$tored, but it ended up costing us far more than the $25k - $35k I had estimated for the work. Several times more. But, we moved forward for love of the breed. Below are some YouTube links for you to look at if you like. One is made from a series of progress photos taken over the 13 1/2 month long project. The other is a walk-around video of the Mach 1 after it was completed.

If I could redo that Mach 1 purchase I may have followed the same path, but more likely I would have kept looking for a vehicle without any rust. The seller could have given me the car and the restoration would have still left me 6 figures in the hole. Beware...

I agree with Mtgmhale. I've been there many times. Personally, I've never paid the money to have someone else go inspect a car, and I've bought many cars through ebay and other venues by description or pictures alone and I've been burnt many, many times. However, I don't deal in high dollar cars like Shelbys, so the dollar cost per car has not been that bad. And cars that I wrote off, if bought because there was something unique about the car, or if it had a lot of options, turned out to be good buys if I waited a few years for them to appreciate, even if they did have some issues like rust. People who have been on this sight a long time know about 2 cars I bought where I was truly scammed. Luckily, I bought both of those cars off Ebay, and Ebay insurance paid me back every penny I bid on the cars. This is what sets Ebay apart from Craigslist or other online car resources. With that said, there are lots of rules that must be followed to get your money back from ebay, and you need to familiarize yourself with those rules. Believe me, Ebay doesn't just give you your money back. They investigate, have you fill out a lot of paperwork, work with the seller, give them time to respond, and look for pretty much any reason NOT to give you your money back. It's not their business to loose money. It would take me pages and a lot of time to go over those rules. If you want me to cover those on this site, ask me, and I'll try to go over them.
lLI[/MEDIA]
[/QUOTE]

 

[kevken1959]

I agree with Mtgmhale. I've been there many times. Personally, I've never paid the money to have someone else go inspect a car, and I've bought many cars through ebay and other venues by description or pictures alone and I've been burnt many, many times. However, I don't deal in high dollar cars like Shelbys, so the dollar cost per car has not been that bad. And cars that I wrote off, if bought because there was something unique about the car, or if it had a lot of options, turned out to be good buys if I waited a few years for them to appreciate, even if they did have some issues like rust. People who have been on this sight a long time know about 2 cars I bought where I was truly scammed. Luckily, I bought both of those cars off Ebay, and Ebay insurance paid me back every penny I bid on the cars. This is what sets Ebay apart from Craigslist or other online car resources. With that said, there are lots of rules that must be followed to get your money back from ebay, and you need to familiarize yourself with those rules. Believe me, Ebay doesn't just give you your money back. They investigate, have you fill out a lot of paperwork, work with the seller, give them time to respond, and look for pretty much any reason NOT to give you your money back. It's not their business to loose money. It would take me pages and a lot of time to go over those rules. If you want me to cover those on this site, ask me, and I'll try to go over them.
lLI[/MEDIA]

[/QUOTE]
Okay. So maybe I can cover a few of the rules I learned dealing with Ebay. First, if you are going to cut a deal with a seller on Ebay before the auction ends, try to get them to list it to you through Ebay with a "Buy it Now." Second, try to do most or all of your communications with the seller through the Ebay messaging system. Also, if you want to confirm a deal is legit, call Ebay and ask them to link the correspondence you have available with the Ebay user ID. This might allow you to pick up if someone else's Ebay account is being "hijacked" by a criminal. Next, if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Also, scammers now can be incredibly sophisticated, using technology that never existed years ago. I was victim to an incredibly elaborate scam where an ad from a website was copied and transferred with all the relevant photos and description to an Ebay auction, but the VIN numbers in the pictures were photo shopped and changed so that running a search for the VIN would not show the car on the internet. I had long conversations with the seller whose area code showed up as the region where the car was being sold, but I in fact was talking with some guy in Russia or somewhere else overseas. I asked for a copy of the Washington State title for the car in the sellers name and he was able to send me a forged title that was somehow generated from a blank Washington State title. It looked incredibly real and legitimate, with all the correct terminology and descriptions of the car utilizing the bogus VIN. I made sure I was wiring the money to the person whose name was on the title using his bank account and address. My bank had no indication the money was going to a criminal. The supposed owner seemed legit from all of my communications with him. He answered questions about the car and "promised I'd be very happy with it." He even offered to help me arrange shipping for the car. One thing that is key to mention is that I had doubts all along the way, but the "seller" was able to provide me every piece of information I requested about the car. When I asked for something, he would contact a third party who was able to produce the documentation I wanted. I don't recall exactly how I came upon the ad, but the auction had actually ended when I contacted the "seller." I think I had the ad saved on my watch list and saw that the auction had ended with a "no sale," so I sent a message to the "seller" asking for his contact information. There was no ongoing auction when I was talking to the "seller." It turns out that this same scam was going on at the same time with thousands and thousands of cars, and the investigator told me that this scam had cost victims in the neighborhood of $20 million. The smart thing I did was to get the "seller" to re-post the car on Ebay with a "buy it now." I clicked the BIN and followed Ebay's instructions after that. It was actually someone on this site that noticed the photo shopped VIN. Luckily, Ebay insurance paid me back the $25,000 I paid for the car. The bank had video of the guy going to the bank and walking out with the money, but he, to my knowledge, was never caught.

 

[71ProjectJunk]

Okay. So maybe I can cover a few of the rules I learned dealing with Ebay. First, if you are going to cut a deal with a seller on Ebay before the auction ends, try to get them to list it to you through Ebay with a "Buy it Now." Second, try to do most or all of your communications with the seller through the Ebay messaging system. Also, if you want to confirm a deal is legit, call Ebay and ask them to link the correspondence you have available with the Ebay user ID. This might allow you to pick up if someone else's Ebay account is being "hijacked" by a criminal. Next, if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Also, scammers now can be incredibly sophisticated, using technology that never existed years ago. I was victim to an incredibly elaborate scam where an ad from a website was copied and transferred with all the relevant photos and description to an Ebay auction, but the VIN numbers in the pictures were photo shopped and changed so that running a search for the VIN would not show the car on the internet. I had long conversations with the seller whose area code showed up as the region where the car was being sold, but I in fact was talking with some guy in Russia or somewhere else overseas. I asked for a copy of the Washington State title for the car in the sellers name and he was able to send me a forged title that was somehow generated from a blank Washington State title. It looked incredibly real and legitimate, with all the correct terminology and descriptions of the car utilizing the bogus VIN. I made sure I was wiring the money to the person whose name was on the title using his bank account and address. My bank had no indication the money was going to a criminal. The supposed owner seemed legit from all of my communications with him. He answered questions about the car and "promised I'd be very happy with it." He even offered to help me arrange shipping for the car. One thing that is key to mention is that I had doubts all along the way, but the "seller" was able to provide me every piece of information I requested about the car. When I asked for something, he would contact a third party who was able to produce the documentation I wanted. I don't recall exactly how I came upon the ad, but the auction had actually ended when I contacted the "seller." I think I had the ad saved on my watch list and saw that the auction had ended with a "no sale," so I sent a message to the "seller" asking for his contact information. There was no ongoing auction when I was talking to the "seller." It turns out that this same scam was going on at the same time with thousands and thousands of cars, and the investigator told me that this scam had cost victims in the neighborhood of $20 million. The smart thing I did was to get the "seller" to re-post the car on Ebay with a "buy it now." I clicked the BIN and followed Ebay's instructions after that. It was actually someone on this site that noticed the photo shopped VIN. Luckily, Ebay insurance paid me back the $25,000 I paid for the car. The bank had video of the guy going to the bank and walking out with the money, but he, to my knowledge, was never caught.
[/QUOTE]
For them to catch someone like that they have to do this dozens and dozens, if not hundreds of times. It's like with credit card fraud, no one in law enforcement really cares. You were really lucky on that one. I have been selling on eBay for 20 years, and I have seen all types of scams, I have also been in business most of my life. When we get scammed with a credit card, no one ever gets caught, unless it is a local deal at the store where we can personally trace the guy and basically bring him in to law enforcement. When you own a business and you get a fraudulent credit card transaction, the credit card company gives the owner of the card their money back, and you as a business owner are left holding the bag. The owner of the card does not care as he got his money back, and the credit card company does not care as it has lost nothing, in fact they charge you $15 for the fraudulent transaction. Same thing happens with eBay scams, the bank you used, or the credit card company have not lost anything, eBay usually does not loose anything, and you are left holding the bag. You can call local law enforcement as a business owner or as a private citizen, but the most you will get from them is a "report". Usually these scams are from out of state, so you local law enforcement can't really do anything. Most of these scams are not for thousands and thousands of dollars, like on a vehicle, they are for smaller stuff under $1,000, and in reality, we as a business don't even waste our time anymore calling the police to do a report, and I would be willing to bet most sellers or buyers on eBay don't report this stuff either, and even if they do, no one will look into it anyways. So, you could probably do this all your life and never get caught. The only way they will go after these people is if they are constantly stealing on eBay and eBay is actually loosing money, or they are stealing directly form the credit card company, where the credit card company is loosing money. If the big businesses are loosing money time and time again, they will look for you, they will find you and you will end up in jail. Or the scammer has to do this to such a big degree that someone in law enforcement eventually, because of all the complaints, has no other choice than to look at it. Here is a guy in South Florida that scammed over 5,500 buyers on eBay of over $717,000 before they caught him...
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2010-02-23-fl-e-bay-scam-south-florida-20100223-story.html

 

[kevken1959]

Okay. So maybe I can cover a few of the rules I learned dealing with Ebay. First, if you are going to cut a deal with a seller on Ebay before the auction ends, try to get them to list it to you through Ebay with a "Buy it Now." Second, try to do most or all of your communications with the seller through the Ebay messaging system. Also, if you want to confirm a deal is legit, call Ebay and ask them to link the correspondence you have available with the Ebay user ID. This might allow you to pick up if someone else's Ebay account is being "hijacked" by a criminal. Next, if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Also, scammers now can be incredibly sophisticated, using technology that never existed years ago. I was victim to an incredibly elaborate scam where an ad from a website was copied and transferred with all the relevant photos and description to an Ebay auction, but the VIN numbers in the pictures were photo shopped and changed so that running a search for the VIN would not show the car on the internet. I had long conversations with the seller whose area code showed up as the region where the car was being sold, but I in fact was talking with some guy in Russia or somewhere else overseas. I asked for a copy of the Washington State title for the car in the sellers name and he was able to send me a forged title that was somehow generated from a blank Washington State title. It looked incredibly real and legitimate, with all the correct terminology and descriptions of the car utilizing the bogus VIN. I made sure I was wiring the money to the person whose name was on the title using his bank account and address. My bank had no indication the money was going to a criminal. The supposed owner seemed legit from all of my communications with him. He answered questions about the car and "promised I'd be very happy with it." He even offered to help me arrange shipping for the car. One thing that is key to mention is that I had doubts all along the way, but the "seller" was able to provide me every piece of information I requested about the car. When I asked for something, he would contact a third party who was able to produce the documentation I wanted. I don't recall exactly how I came upon the ad, but the auction had actually ended when I contacted the "seller." I think I had the ad saved on my watch list and saw that the auction had ended with a "no sale," so I sent a message to the "seller" asking for his contact information. There was no ongoing auction when I was talking to the "seller." It turns out that this same scam was going on at the same time with thousands and thousands of cars, and the investigator told me that this scam had cost victims in the neighborhood of $20 million. The smart thing I did was to get the "seller" to re-post the car on Ebay with a "buy it now." I clicked the BIN and followed Ebay's instructions after that. It was actually someone on this site that noticed the photo shopped VIN. Luckily, Ebay insurance paid me back the $25,000 I paid for the car. The bank had video of the guy going to the bank and walking out with the money, but he, to my knowledge, was never caught.

For them to catch someone like that they have to do this dozens and dozens, if not hundreds of times. It's like with credit card fraud, no one in law enforcement really cares. You were really lucky on that one. I have been selling on eBay for 20 years, and I have seen all types of scams, I have also been in business most of my life. When we get scammed with a credit card, no one ever gets caught, unless it is a local deal at the store where we can personally trace the guy and basically bring him in to law enforcement. When you own a business and you get a fraudulent credit card transaction, the credit card company gives the owner of the card their money back, and you as a business owner are left holding the bag. The owner of the card does not care as he got his money back, and the credit card company does not care as it has lost nothing, in fact they charge you $15 for the fraudulent transaction. Same thing happens with eBay scams, the bank you used, or the credit card company have not lost anything, eBay usually does not loose anything, and you are left holding the bag. You can call local law enforcement as a business owner or as a private citizen, but the most you will get from them is a "report". Usually these scams are from out of state, so you local law enforcement can't really do anything. Most of these scams are not for thousands and thousands of dollars, like on a vehicle, they are for smaller stuff under $1,000, and in reality, we as a business don't even waste our time anymore calling the police to do a report, and I would be willing to be most sellers or buyers on eBay don't report this stuff either, and even if they do, no one will look into it anyways. So, you could probably do this all your life and never get caught. The only way they will go after this people is if they are constantly stealing on eBay and eBay is actually loosing money, or they are stealing directly form the credit card company, where the credit card company is loosing money. If the big businesses are loosing money time and time again, they will look for you, they will find you and you will end up in jail. Or the scammer has to do this to such a big degree that someone in law enforcement eventually, because of all the complaints, has no other choice than to look at it. Here is a guy in South Florida that scammed over 5,500 buyer on eBay of over $717,000 before the caught him...
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2010-02-23-fl-e-bay-scam-south-florida-20100223-story.html[/QUOTE]
All really good points. Like I said though, the good thing about ebay is that they offer buyer protection. True, the scammer will probably not be caught, but my main goal would be to get my money back. Luckily, I think I've finally bought enough cars and stuff, so my chances of being scammed has gone way down, lol.

 

[PNWMach1]

Shouldn't the rear valance have cut outs for the dual exhaust?

 

[71ProjectJunk]

Shouldn't the rear valance have cut outs for the dual exhaust?

I don't think that Ford used the valance with cut outs in 1973.