Starter Pony Ride: 1973 Ford Mustang Fastback
DT — This next 1973 Ford Mustang Fastback offered for $5,999 on craigslist, located in Sandown, NH comes as a tip from Scott T, who writes:
So you’ve given up on ever owning the Mustang of your dreams amid rising values of the good ones.
Why
not settle for this one, with it’s, homely design and wacky early 70’s
extended nose. Who cares, it’s a running driving mustang with a v8
right? It’s kinda like dating one of the lesser Kardashians. And at
least it’s not a Mustang II. This one has it’s issues, but at under 7K,
in New England, it’s not so bad.
DT — An early 70s Ford 302 is a perfectly good starter engine for the gearhead in training; you’ll have to remove any pesky smog controls, rebuild the top end for proper compression and add a hot cam.
See another cool old car from the Original Gone in 60 Seconds that needs a new home? tips@dailyturismo.com
Not my favorite ponycar, driving one is like looking over the foredeck of an aircraft carrier, though I'll admit to a fond memory of one we had as a loaner car back in the '70s while ours was in the body shop.
The good news is that, like a small number of other Ford products of that era, they realized GM was doing better stuff, so it uses the same Saginaw 700-series steering box as the Camarobirds and can be tuned to your choice of ratio and effort with a call to Lee Manufacturing in SoCal, think a first-gen Camaro-type Delpihi 600 box from ATS,etc. will also fit.
re GM doing better stuff – if you look at Lincolns and Thunderbirds of early '70s vintage the steering boxes and air conditioning compressors and power steering pumps and other accessories are GM. The lesser Fords got the Tecumseh compressors and Ford boxes and other crap. So Ford clearly knew who was doing better stuff.