The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Enough talk about chemical warfare. Let's take a close look and see what we have here. 

It's a 1967 Mustang Fastback 2+2, with the GT package, and lots of options inside and out. While the car came with a slew of documentation from the original owner, including a window sticker copy, I hadn't yet ordered the Marti Report for the car (that'll come later..).  


1967 Mustang window sticker

Of the more than 470,000 Mustangs produced in 1967, just over 17,000 were Luxury Fastbacks (the 'luxury' here referring to the type of interior trim - luxury or standard). Coupes outnumbered Fastbacks roughly five to one. This car appears to have more options than I'd ever seen on a car, enough to more than double the price of the car. The biggie, a 'special order induction system' clocks in at nearly $900 on a $2600 car. What in the world is that? (hint...I'll tell you later...)


Walking around the car, I found a lot of the options listed:

Exterior Decor Group -  including a hood with rear-facing louvers that contained turn signal indicators, wheel-well moldings as well as a pop-open gas cap. Those hood pins are not part of the package.


1967 mustang hood pins and turn signal hood


1967 mustang gt gas cap



The GT package which included the grille mounted fog lamps, power front disc brakes, dual exhausts, GT gas cap, handling package, rocker panel stripes, and GT emblems. Also installed is the ribbed taillight panel. The lit horse corral was an option that, as far as I can tell, very few people ordered - with good reason.


67 mustang gt emblems and stripes

1967 mustang fastback rear taillight ribbed panel

67 mustang illuminated corral

And then the interior options are abundant as well.

The Deluxe Interior includes the aluminum inserts in the dash, door panels and consoles if equipped. Which this one is - both upper and lower consoles are in place.


67 mustang deluxe interior brushed aluminium

The seats are trimmed in a vinyl called 'Comfort-weave' and have chrome emblems and hard plastic backs with chrome trim instead of the vinyl covered backs. The pony interior died with the 1966 model. Also included are the fold-down rear seat, 3-point front seat belts (yeah, 'optional'!), and some fun bits like the tilt-away steering column, Air Conditioning, and the 8,000 RPM tach.


67 mustang original 3-point seat belts

67 mustang deluxe interior door trim

67 mustang 8000 rpm tach

67 mustang deluxe interior seats



The new car smell has been replaced with something like a mixture of mold, smoke and mouse pee. A box of baking soda is not enough to fix that.

The drive-train is just about perfect, aside from the decades of decay and gunk.

The engine is a 289 V8, power steering, power brakes, and a neat intake that has three 2-barrel carbs on it called a Ford Tri-Power. Looks cool, but multiple carbs are notoriously tricky to tune correctly, and even more so at a mile above sea level.


67 ford mustang tri-power 3x2 carbs




The transmission looks to be the venerable four speed Top Loader, and the rear end is the tough Ford 9-inch, a favorite of hot-rodders everywhere.


67 mustang 9 inch rear end

(Oops - might be skipping a little ahead with this shot...)

Now the bad news..
The paint is shot, cracked, chipped, and faded, no amount of waxing will save it. So we'll need to paint it. And for the record, the original color is called Vintage Burgundy (paint code X) and I swear it's purple in the worst way. I'd like to change that if we can, and since SWMBO gets to choose the color (that's the deal we made) I'm likely to get her agreement on that one. Seriously, purple? Ah, the 60's...


1967 mustang vintage burgandy




There are some dents in the roof, the rear end of the hood doesn't quite set right, and the VIN number has been etched into all the glass and body panels with a home etching tool. The windshield is cracked, there's some accident damage at the back, and on and on. The worst issue found so far is the rusted out hole in the rear passenger side wheel well, what is technically referred to in the classic car restoration world as "a significant bummer".


1967 mustang rear wheel well


From underneath, there is precious little rust in the floors, frame rails, and rockers. No undercoating that looks to be hiding the typical trouble spots. No rust bucket here!


67 mustang floorpans

The car is a good thirty-footer, but any closer and you'll start seeing the warts. So, it's complete but needs a lot of work to bring it back to it's former mass-produced glory.

So now I just need to decide what direction we're going with the project. I'm still a little worried I'm sitting on a super-rare example due to that K in the VIN. I don't want to screw up on a 1 of 1 car. Need to get that Marti report...

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wow, that is a really clean (relatively speaking) and complete car! If you're lucky, that rot in the quarter panel will be the only thing that has to get cut out and replaced. Do you know how much more rust is hiding under that awful looking paint? Enough to patch, or will the car disintegrate into a pile of rust and dust?
Peter said…
Hi, this is gorgeous stuff. I'm completely staggered. The options on this car are unbelievable, especially K-code with A/C??? How's that possible? Can you say what that special induction system is? And I've never seen "deluxe door speakers" on 67 Mustang, do you have any pictures? Man, do some research on this car, contact Kevin Marti for more information... this is very special. Good luck
Adam said…
According to the previous owner the 'special induction' system was a dual 4-barrel carb setup, which I hear is pretty rare on a 289. When I got the car, it had the tri-power setup on it, also rare, and has the benefit of needing to sync three carbs instead of two.
Adam said…
As for the quarter patch, it's hard to say how bad it is yet - certainly the outer wheel well needs help as well, and I have not yet decided on whether to reskin it or replace the whole thing.
Anonymous said…
This is a very special car, perhaps more highly optioned than any '67 I have seen. The K code fastback was rare enough in '67 but the other options take this one over the top. There must be a story to why it was ordered the way it was.

My advice is to restore it exactly as it came new, or sell it as is (still worth big $$$) to someone who will and use the money to buy a more run of the mill fastback. This car is that rare!
Anonymous said…
No, you DON'T need to synch the carbs. They are progressive. Once the linkage is adjusted so they all hit WOT at the same time, you are done forever.
Adam said…
Good to hear. I'm looking forward to using the tri-power setup.