What are your least favorite design features of the 71-73s?

[1-Mach-1]

Dialing in the side mirrors, and getting used to the right rear side view is truly an art in a 71-73 fastback.

 

[rpmcarter]

POWER WINDOWS!!!

 

[MeanMachine]

I think the hockey stripes down the side are also about as much as there needs to be - even though it makes the car look almost impossibly long. Having some kind of stripe design above the crease would be too 'Mopar-ish,' and dual hood/trunk stripes would be too 'Camaro-ish,' not that it wouldn't look good.

I agree 4x4 about the length of the original hockey stripe. When I decided on designing a custom decal for my car, I wanted to pay homage to the original. As you can see, I've integrated more angle on the front of the stripe, to better match the edge of the front fender, then shortened and tapered it to end just before the rear tire. I think it conveys Mustang and motion, while also being different.

 

[Kit Sullivan]

I am not usually a fan of custom stripes, as they most-often are not as well-integrated into the cars design as a factory stripe usually is.

However, your custom stripe looks fantastic! Not too busy or overdone, and certainlyv does follow the lines of the car. I especially like how the forward slant echoes the fender shape.

It looks like it could have been a factory stripe.

Well done!

 

[MeanMachine]

Thanks for the compliment Kit, it was important to me that a custom decal be tasteful and compliment the car.

 

[sicndhed]

I am not usually a fan of custom stripes, as they most-often are not as well-integrated into the cars design as a factory stripe usually is.

However, your custom stripe looks fantastic! Not too busy or overdone, and certainlyv does follow the lines of the car. I especially like how the forward slant echoes the fender shape.

It looks like it could have been a factory stripe.

Well done!

+1

 

[cudak888]

Absolutely agreed - the effort put into designing that stripe to the car shows. It's spot-on perfect and looks as if it were made that way.

The forward slant echoes the front end so well that the factory stripe almost appears to be wrong by comparison.

-Kurt

 

[MeanMachine]

The forward slant echoes the front end so well that the factory stripe almost appears to be wrong by comparison.

-Kurt

I actually considered purchasing the factory hockey stripe, but the more I looked at it, the more I felt it needed 'adjusting'. I knew what I wanted to change and so I mocked up paper stripes until I had what I wanted, then transferred the image to silver vinyl.....time consuming, but in the end I was pleased.

Your quote above comparing the factory stripe to mine is quite a compliment! -Thanks

 

[detritusmaximus]

The coupe roofline....I think the convertible profile with the top up is much more pleasing than the coupe profile.

 

[goodnigh]

Rear visibility, it is like driving a pillbox.

Then again, when driving the Mustang,

what is behind me is not important.

mike

 

[thunderguns71]

I wished all the anodized aluminum, such as the front/rear window trim and drip edge were chrome instead. Chrome cleans easier and stays nice so much longer. Oh and I miss vent windows, but they'd never look right on our cars, lol.

 

[Thin Lizzy]

Would these tail lights have been any better?

 

[Mister 4x4]

I would have to spend a lot of time looking at that to get used to it. I think it's a little too much '64.5-'66 for my liking. The small lights look fine on the more delicate lines of the '64.5-'66, but are out-of-place on the somewhat brutish-looking rear end of our models.

Oddly enough, I think if someone were to take the taillights from a '71-'73 Cougar and install them "Shelby-style" into the taillight panel, that would look pretty awesome.

 

[luxstang]

Would these tail lights have been any better?

That doesn't look half bad. It would look better if they were a little wider, just like the actual 123 tail lights, only with the perpendicular line at the inner edge.

I remember someone on this forum did a photoshop of the ones I just described but I can't remember who it was.

 

[Thin Lizzy]

Yes, they do look too narrow. Must agree though, the existing lights aren't nice. I guess they designed the slopping angle on both sides so they could be used left and right and save on the cost of tooling.

 

[Mister 4x4]

I remember someone on this forum did a photoshop of the ones I just described but I can't remember who it was.

Yeah... it's like, on page 3 or 4 of this thread.

 

[luxstang]

Hmmm, that's what happens when tapatalk automatically shows you the last post you read.

 

[Kit Sullivan]

I must be the only one who actually likes the stock tail lights...

 

[Flatback72]

Would these tail lights have been any better?

Just a little too small for my liking, kinda like looking at Milhouse without his glasses on....

 

[Wide-body71]

The areas I'm not fond of are the areas I made changes too in the body kit I designed. Poor vision out the back is not one of them. When you go fast enough you don't need to look back. Neither are the tail lights. So odd that they're gorgeous. However:

-The original look of the nose up stance is not my favorite.

-The rear quarter top body line doesn't continue and connect to the door like previous years

-The front apron is non existent making the nose too narrow.

-The abrupt chop of the rear of the car when looking at the profile.

-The paper thin looking roof at the drip rails. Could stand to look a little more substantial.

-All the unused realestate in front of the rad support.

-vertical park lights and overall squareness of the 73 grill area and the fat lip looking bumper.

-The amount of sheet metal between the top of the fenders /quarters and the wheel flares. The shorter that distance the racier the look.

*YET with all that picky, picky, picky talk, the original car design truly needs no tweeting. In its original state it has to be the one car I've owned that received the most attention by both genders at any age or ethnicity. I just can't leave well enough alone. There , I'm glad I got that off my chest.