Category: Discovery

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Discovery

Sins of Our Youth

Being a child of the 1980’s I can remember owning Mustangs like this and and being obsessed with one thing…making them faster! Originality be damned, I wanted the fastest horse in town. These are the sins of our youth.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise when I opened the hood of this Mustang, and found one of the previous owners had the same obsession.

Gone was the original cast iron intake manifold and in its place was a very desirable Edelbrock Streetmaster 390 aluminum intake manifold. This manifold was long held as one of the best performing aftermarket manifolds for the Ford FE (see http://www.fepower.net/GFEIC.html).

Likewise, the factory manifold weighed 75 pounds, so the aluminum intake would not only perform better but would also be substantially lighter.

Likewise the original carburetor had been long been replaced. Sitting on top of that Edelbrock aluminum intake was now a Holley, 750 cfm, carburetor.

Here you can see the huge 750 cfm Holley carburetor.
The Streetmaster 390 has long been considered one of the best manifolds for a 390.

But this was just the tip of the iceberg. They also improved the spark delivery by installing a Hays Stinger ignition. Now for those of you too young to remember the 1980s, the Hays Stinger ignition was the ignition to get. Cars equipped with the Hays Stinger consistently made 5-6 hp more than those with the MSD units of the day.

It was basically an electronic conversion from points to a “Mopar-like” magnetic pickup unit in the distributor and a trick reluctor that was press-fit onto the Autolite shaft cam. The system also included an electronic box to read the signal from the pickup, similar to other units that were and still are available today.

Vintage Hays Stinger ignition system.

On top of adding performance items, they also lightened the car by removing as much weight as possible. This included the factory air conditioning compressor, condenser and brackets as well as the power steering pump and virtually every other power steering component. In short, if it wasn’t adding performance to the car it was removed!

Next Step: Chasing Classic Parts

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Discovery

Determining Provenance

With collector cars, determining provenance is critical in knowing its value. This means understanding its rarity and its history is important.

One of the first things I did was to order the elite Marti Report. This report, in addition to giving me the complete factory option list, door data plate info, a reproduction of the door data plate and a reproduction of the window sticker, would also provide me with the vital production statistics for the vehicle.

Determining provenance means understanding the rarity of the car. A Marti report provides this valuable information.

In this case, I had already decoded the door tag so I knew a fair amount about the car. I knew it was a genuine Mach 1 built in July 1969, that it had come with the rarely seen 390 engine, C6 automatic transmission and that it was originally a beautiful Acapulco Blue color.

That didn’t mean there weren’t a few surprises. For example, I had no way of knowing it was originally equipped with power steering. By the time I got it, the power steering pump and most of the components were long gone (see Sins of Our Youth).

It was also interesting to realize the car had originally been sold by Beverly Hills Ford, which was merely 30 miles from where it had been parked in 1989.

Even more surprising was to learn it was the only 1969 Mustang Mach 1 built in this color and with its specific list of options. So you may be asking yourself ‘What is so special about it coming with the fiberglass belted F70x14 raised white letter tires?’

What most people don’t realize is that while most of the restored Mach 1s you see at car shows are wearing those tires, very few of them actually came equipped with those tires from the factory.

Unless your Mach 1 was equipped with the 428 Cobra Jet in 1969, it actually came standard with a E78x14 tire. Now you could order the optional tires, but that upgrade actually got you a F70x14 white sidewall tire, not the raised white letter tires. Those tires were supposed to only be available on the Cobra Jet cars!

This was a confirmed one of one Mustang Mach 1 with the options ordered.

While cleaning out the center console and the glove box I found the bill of sale from the original owner to the second owner, several of the old vehicle registrations, and even a few repair bill receipts. With the combination of all these items I was able to track its lineage from when it was a new car until the day I purchased it!

Original Bill of Sale from the first owner to the second owner
Registration for 1977 in the name of the second owner.
Here is the 1981 registration still in the name of the second owner
Here is a repair bill from August of 1982 in the name of the third owner
Here is a 1985 registration in the name of the third owner
Here is the final registration from 1989 when the car was parked, and remained undisturbed until I purchased it.

Noting that the car still wore the original black and yellow California license plate, I decided to carefully peel back the registration tag stickers to see if I could get back to the first set (1969/1970). Note, California hadn’t begun using the ‘month’ stickers back then.

This original black and yellow license plate has been with the car since new.

Next Step: Sins of Our Youth

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Discovery

Transported Home

After months of searching I had found a true barn find Mustang, and came to an agreement with the seller to purchase it (see Unearthed After 30 Years). Now its was time to make arrangements to have it picked up by Reliable Carriers and transported home to Colorado.

After a few anxious weeks of waiting it was finally delivered. I quickly learned that large car transport trucks like this won’t actually deliver the car in front of your house. So the car got unloaded about a block from the house and would need to be driven home.

Transported Home – Car coming off the transport truck.

I knew I had made a wise purchase when the transport driver offered to buy the car for substantially more money than I had paid. I politely turned down his offer and explained I had plans for this one!

Transport driver who was hoping to make a quick deal on the car.

Once it was in my home garage I immediately put a drip pan under the car as I knew it would soon start dripping fluids. When cars sit for a substantial length of time the gaskets dry out and when they become saturated with fluid again they inevitably weep.

I than began the painstaking task of carefully documenting everything on the car. I knew photos would be an invaluable asset when we began the restoration process. So I was determined to treat the documentation process of this Mustang like it was an archaeological dig.

Next Step: Determining Provenance

Categories
Discovery

Unearthed After 30 Years.

For years we’ve been told all the barn find Ford Mustang were already discovered. I’m here to tell you, they are still out there!

After what seemed like an eternity of searching places like Hemmings Motor News, I stumbled upon a rather generic Craigslist ad in Los Angeles. After talking to the seller, I left a deposit on the car and flew out to California to inspect it.

Upon inspection I found the car to be a true Mach 1, built in July of 1969 and with the very rare 390 FE big block. It was very straight and just as solid as the seller had told me. It was obvious the car had received a very inexpensive paint job earlier in its life. In fact, it looked like it had been painted in a high school auto shop. The paint was flaking off in places revealing the original Acapulco blue underneath.

Here are pictures of the 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 as it was found in August 2019. This vehicle had been parked in a garage in southern California for the previous 30 years.

View of the drivers side. You can see the car is very straight.
View from the rear reveals the original black and yellow California license plate.

Likewise, the interior was fully intact and original down to the original AM radio. There were no tears in the seats or door panels and overall everything look in remarkably good shape. The only issue was the headliner which one of the previous owners had partially removed and never replaced.

The interior was remarkably complete and completely original down to the AM radio.
Car came with the desirable fold down rear seat.

Remarkably, with some fresh fuel the vehicle actually started and idled. I didn’t allow it to idle long, as I didn’t want to take any chances with damaging the engine. It wasn’t pretty, but it appeared to be complete.

View of the engine. Note the new, hastily installed, AC compressor. Seller added it prior to listing the vehicle as he didn’t think the car would sell without working AC.

I was unable to get a Marti Report on demand, but after checking the VIN number and the door tag I felt confident in moving forward with the purchase. Soon a deal was struck and arrangements were made to get it transported back home to Colorado.

Next step: Transported Home