Ford : Mustang Convertible

        This is one of the nicest 71 to 73 mustangs you will find. These "big body" Mustangs have been my passion since before I learned how to drive. I have owned many nice low mile original examples. This is by far the best I have ever owned! It is an original California car which I purchased years back from the original owner. I flew into LAX and met him at the airport. His name was Hamilton Fisher Wilson. He was in his 70's and told me the story of how he and his wife had walked onto the showroom floor at a local Ford dealership and purchased the car in 1973.

         It was loaded with all the factory options they wanted. like the Q-Code 351 Cleveland Cobra Jet 4V engine. competition suspension (staggered rear shocks. variable ratio power steering. heavy duty shocks. springs and sway bars). C-6 heavy duty transmission. nbsp; tachometer and gauges. delay windshield wipers. convenience group (lots of cool bells and whistles. like a map/glove box/under-hood/ and trunk light. as well as a headlights-on warning buzzer and emergency brake warning light). Decor Group (Mach I style front grill. black or argent lower body paint treatment). Mach I style side stripes. leather wrapped steering wheel (a '73 only option). forged aluminum wheels. and dual sport mirrors. I have tons of original paperwork to document this car. including the factory "Eminger" invoice. owners' warranty card. and BOTH factory build sheets which were uncovered when the carpet was replaced. I have the original California blue-plate license plates somewhere (not sure if I can find them). as well as photos of the car before I purchased it.

          When I purchased the car it had 78. 00 original miles and all original paint. There were some factory pencil markings on the frame and other areas of the car that are still present today. It still has the original Ford emissions sticker on the drivers' side quarter window. I guarantee you'll never see that on another car! It's a great conversation piece. as is the story behind the delay windshield wipers (a movie called "Flash of Genius" was made about the man who invented them). Even the original factory side stripes we're still on the car. Everyone puts Mach I grills and side stripes on these cars. but very few convertibles came that way from the factory. This one did. The car had never been in any accidents and. obviously. it had never had any rust or rust repair of any kind. being a lifelong inland California car.

          The only thing I chose to change on this car was the color. I just didn't think the saddle bronze metallic color went well with the white top and white interior. So I changed the color to "Blue Glow Metallic. which was a Special Order Ford color for 1973 only. The optional color cost an extra $35. 00. big bucks back then! A New Old Stock (NOS) Ram-Air style "NASA" hood was added when the car was painted. I paid $2. 00 for the hood. It's probably the only one I'll ever see again. It fits much nicer than the cheap repo's available today.

          I also added an NOS argent front spoiler. It was a spoiler I had been saving for many years. They are no longer available in argent silver. only black. The factory forged aluminum wheels were swapped out for a brand-new set of 15X8 inch Magnum 500 wheels. with new Cooper Cobra radial tires. The ride is vastly improved with the taller wheels and tires. The wheels were balanced with a special adapter used for lug centric balancing. It's hard to find that adapter. and it is essential to balance these wheels properly. I had the raised white letters. valve stems. and center caps all lined up identically on each tire when they were mounted. This is a must for car shows. This car has won numerous first place awards at local and MCA sponsored shows.

           There are many things that set this car apart from all the others out there. Of note is the fact that the hood patch is just the way it would have come from the factory. I can say that because the hood patch was duplicated from an original Ram-Air Mach I hood. In addition. the front valence has the correct tape stripe treatment. just like it came with from the factory. Most people simply paint the entire valence completely in argent silver or black and leave the striping off. Ford had to change the striping in 1973 to account for the larger front bumper that was required for the safety standards which changed that year.  

         The base-coat clear-coat paint has a beautiful show quality finish. There are a few. maybe five. tiny paint chip touch-ups here and there. None bigger than 3 mm. and nothing that would detract from the price I am asking for the car. In addition. the paint on the top of the front bumper has some mild spider-webbing in a couple areas. I am discounting the price of the car to account for these minor imperfections. There are no dents. dings or scratches anywhere on the car. When I repainted the car. I replaced all of seals with new old stock rubber. The sport side mirrors were replaced with NOS units. The door handles were also replaced. The ignition key matches the door locks. and the trunk key matches the glove box lock.

        All of the stainless trim was polished and the original rear bumper was re-chromed (not replaced with a cheap Taiwanese repo). The rear bumper even has its' original bumper guards and rub strips. The convertible top boot moldings were also re-chromed. The sun-visor brackets were replaced with NOS units. A new honeycomb rear panel (with the correct trim) was added. as well as an NOS gas cap. The front grill and moldings were also replaced. An aluminized dual exhaust system (with the correct crossover and chrome tips that exit through the rear valence) was also added.

          The trunk compartment is completely detailed with an OEM style mat and spare cover. as well as the original jack. wrench. and spare tire hold-down bolt and nut. The original top boot storage bag is even in the trunk! These are extremely hard to find and have never been reproduced in the correct grain vinyl. The convertible top is brand-new with the correct glass back window. It is nice and tight. with no wrinkles. All of the hydraulics work perfectly. and the top goes up and down with ease.

         The windshield. as well as the side windows. were replaced with New Old Stock glass when the car was painted. There is nothing like looking through flawless new glass! The glass even has the correct Ford lettering. I used power window door glass. in case someone wanted to add that option. That's about the only option this car doesn't have. All of the interior was just replaced. The door panels. carpet. and seat covers are new. The dash pad. amazingly. is the original one installed over 40 years ago! I have a picture of the date code under the dash pad. The original leather wrapped steering wheel was swapped for a nice Mustang style reproduction.

          Many of the bezels and trim pieces inside the car were replaced with new old stock pieces that I had gathered over the years. Even the instrument lens with trip-meter is new old stock. All of the factory gauges work perfectly. In fact. every single electrical item on this car works exactly as it should (except for the clock. which has a mind of its' own). The AM/FM radio is an NOS unit. When I finished painting the car. I installed a new old stock speedometer with trip-meter. It shows just 5654 miles. This is the mileage I have put on the car since it was painted. There are only 2000 miles on the rebuilt motor.   It has just finished the break-in period and is ready to be put through its' paces.

             The engine compartment is detailed to show quality. Remarkably. the engine still has it's original cold air ducting system. These systems appeared on California cars that required NOX emissions testing and were often removed early on. The car also has its' original. hard to find. two piece heat riser and cardboard pipe with the correct ink marking leading to the air cleaner snorkel. If you look at the pictures provided you'll note "D986" written on the passenger side frame member and the head light bucket area of the radiator support on the drivers' side. These markings were not applied by me. They were applied by the line worker who assembled the car over 40 years ago! I believe they might have either been his/her badge number or a date code. but I am not sure. This is further proof of the pristine condition of the car when I purchased it. You will note that the car has new correct bolts and other hardware under the hood. It's hard to find an engine compartment this clean.

              I did not detail the undercarriage of this car and so it does not look as clean as the rest of the car. Luckily. the car still has its' original rear tie down brackets (the ones that were supposed to have been removed at the dealership before delivery of the car). Items like these tie down brackets make the car stand out at car shows. As I have stated before. this car has never had any rust-through anywhere on the body. The tail-light panel. trunk floor. trunk drop offs. passenger floors. quarter panels. fenders. fender aprons. and every other piece of sheet metal on this car is original. except for the ram air style hood and the rear valence panel with dual cutouts. The factory front fenders are absolutely flawless. You can still see the factory date codes stamped on the tops of the fenders.   Even the battery box area shows no signs of corrosion or prior repair!

            The car still has its original numbers matching "born with" drive train. I just completed a complete rebuild of the factory numbers-matching motor. The transmission was rebuilt a few years ago and shifts nice and crisp going through the gears. The rear tires even chirp going into second gear during hard acceleration. The car is fast but very tame. The motor was rebuilt with all the best components: forged flat-top pistons. tri-metal bearings. high volume/high pressure oil pump. professional three angle valve job. stainless steel valves. nbsp; hardened valve seats for use with unleaded fuel. new mild street cam. double roller timing chain. new lifters. new water pump. fuel pump. and starter. All of this was done to the original numbers-matching block and cylinder heads. I have a photo of the numbers stamped on the back of the block to prove it.
 
           I swapped the factory intake for an Edelbrock Performer intake and matching four barrel carb. The car starts and runs perfectly. The choke kicks the idle up as it should. and then you tap the gas pedal and the idle goes back down to about 600 RPMs. The car still has it's original exhaust manifolds. A Pertronix Ignitor setup replaces the factory points for dependability. Incredibly. the car has its' original 55 amp alternator and "born with" heavy duty 3 core radiator. Further proof of the low mile status of the car. The air conditioner blows ice -cold. This is hard to find on these cars and much needed in the south where I am located. I just replaced all the A/C components: the clutch. compressor. condenser. idler pulley. and expansion valve are all new. The underside of the car is bone dry. It does not have any leaks of ANY kind. and that is VERY hard to find on these old cars.

            So there you have it. A low mile. two owner. California Mustang convertible that is factory loaded. has its' original documentation from day one along with factory paint markings. and its' original emissions window sticker issued by Ford. Overall. as I stated before. this is one of the nicest big body Mustang convertibles in existence today. It has. however. been driven some after the restoration. When my daily driver died last year. I had to drive it numerous times back and forth to Atlanta from Birmingham. This car never let me down. and it won't let you down either. If you want to ask further questions. feel free to give me a call at 205-222-3646. Best of luck and thanks for looking! Kevin.

Also published at eBay.ca

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