The most egregious "errors" you've seen on a 71-73?

[will e]

I like my rear bumperettes but they came with the car.

 

[D-Maxx]

Kind of a weird question but what are the most annoying and oddball "mistakes' you have seen on the big-body cars?

The common ones I see are:

1) Rear spoiler mounted backwards! It is unbelievable to me how many I see that are so obviously mismounted and the owner hasn't a clue! Funny stuff...

2) On repainted 73s, the top of the front bumper fails to get blacked out. The black paint on the top rear section of the front bumper simulated the (now missing for '73) lower black lip on the 71-72 grilles, and also tended to make the new huge bumper a little less massive-looking.

3) Missing black paint (73-style) in tail-light bezels and rear panel strips on 71-72 cars. Many have looked at these lights and trim pieces over the years and never seen the difference...to me it sticks out like a sore thumb if not "correct".

These are all of course, meaningless in the real world, and some people may prefer thier car that way, but...

Much of the 35k I am about to pour into my 1972 Mach 1! Lol.

 

[Mister 4x4]

No one has mentioned the Mach 1 convertible as an egregious error?

I believe I did... along with the Mach 1 coupe.

But then again, ALL '71-'73s are Mach 1s... remember? Just ask anybody. rofl

 

[Kit Sullivan]

I must admit that I had probably the worst offender of "egregious errors" for a few years on my car.

My original rim-blow wheel literally disintegrated, cracked and crumbled to many pieces from the hot Texas sun over the years.

In 1987, I took a "Grant GT" steering wheel, and with a hacksaw cut the tubes off both sides above and below the wheel spokes...Batman/Knight Rider style. I put the rubber caps used on ten-speed handlebars to hold the tape-wrap on in the cut ends...a perfect fit, and it look "finished".

I will say straight out it took a little time to get used to it, but once you did it was much easier to use than a full wheel. Turns were faster and easier, the view of the dash was completely unobstructed and there was much improved leg room under the wheel.

Every year for the annual safety inspection, the inspector wanted to fail it, but I always made them check, and nowhere in the code did it ever say the steering wheel had to be a complete, unbroken circle. Eventually, it passed every year.

When I "restored" the car in the 90's, I wanted to ditch that wheel for a rim-blow if I could find one. There was a local kid wbo had a rusted-out, crap-tastic 72 Mach that probably wasn't worth $500, but...it had a near-perfect rim-blow in it. He would'nt sell the wheel outright, but I eventually bought and installed a brand new Grant GT wheel for him in exchange for the rim-blow. Cost me about $40 as I recall.

Those Grant GT wheels were very popular back then.

That rim-blow wheel sits today in my car and still looks great.

 

[will e]

here is the one modification I'm glad I made.

removing the Front and rear bumper guards, they ruined the body lines. .

Interesting: One of these is wrong (ergregious "error"):

Or maybe not? It looks like in 73 they were incoorporated into the mount and a little further out? Maybe the pointed them downward to avoid blocking the light?

 

[MechEng]

Or maybe not? It looks like in 73 they were incoorporated into the mount and a little further out? Maybe the pointed them downward to avoid blocking the light?

That 73 is correct. That's the way they came for the 73, not sure about 71/72 (though in that other picture they don't even look symmetrical!)

 

[Kit Sullivan]

In 71/ 72 the slender bumperettes were a dealer-option for rear bumpets and chrome front bumpers. I think they look terrible.

In 73, the shorter, fatter bumperettes were standard equipment on all rear bumpers. Only because they came from Ford that, I think they look "correct" on a 73. They are styled better and not unattractive to me.

 

[luxstang]

I removed the bumper guards too. They came with the protection group ( or whatever it was called) and completely ruined the clean lines IMHO.

 

[imusa76]

in 71-72 they were the high mount ones.

mine were Factory installed not dealer installed, it was a $28 option, listed as "Front and Rear bumper Guards"

Now they are in a box in my laundry room.

in 1973, they were standard on all Mustangs because of the "5mph crash requirements".

Quote "(though in that other picture they don't even look symmetrical!)"

your right there were not lined up, that's because they were loose and I was getting ready to remove them, they only clamp in place from the bottom.

 

[Kit Sullivan]

The rear bumper standard in '73 was 2.5 mph ( not 5 mph like the front bumper)

 

[imusa76]

The rear bumper standard in '73 was 2.5 mph ( not 5 mph like the front bumper)

I was close, only off by 2.5 mph

 

[Mike H]

And some are out of neccesity. Chrome bumper on a mach 1may be the only bumper available.

I get annoyed at obvious "mix and match" assembly:

1) chrome hood lip, but painted fender lips?

2) deluxe dash cluster panel, but standard passenger side or gauge-cluster panels?

3) mismatched tire brands or sizes

4) or, a single sport mirror on drivers door, no passenger mirror.

And my favorite ghetto-cheat is those that have simply removed the block-off plates from thier ram-air hood and with an open-element air-cleaner along with the ram-air hood paint and decals proceed to show off thier "ram-air" system to everyone.

The hood decal should read:"351 ENGINE DIRTY-IFIER".

Ok.... I admit, back in 1973 I did remove the block-off plates from the hood with the idea that I would give more fresh air to the carb:huh:. I did keep the air cleaner fresh and the engine could have been eaten off of. I couldn't afford a real ram air setup. I didn't think of the hood decal though. Great idea.