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..).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
(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...
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".
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!
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...
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..).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
(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...
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".
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!
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
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!
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