So after my pal Jim bought a 1963 1/2 Galaxie 500 XL to have a cool hot rod to work on, I was jonesin’ pretty hard for a cool hot rod of my own.  After pokin’ around on Craigslist for a few weeks, I’d decided to look at a 1971 Mach 1 being sold for way too much money… but it was locally in San Angelo.  I originally saw the first pic (below, swiped from the CL ad, as a matter of fact) and was intrigued, but not “all-in” for $2800. I kept seeing it on CL for a few weeks with the price dropping a bit each time. It had gotten down to $2200 when I called the seller and asked about it. He said he’d had lots of interest (B.S.) and it wouldn’t last long (more B.S.). I waited a few more days and called to go see the car – meanwhile, my wife had found his ebay ad for the same car (more pictures) with pretty much the same description – for $2000. I printed that out and took it with me. My pal Jim was warning me off the whole time, but I had the Mach 1 Goggles on and I was going to have this car. The seller had said something about the $2200 CL ad price, and I showed him the ebay ad… to which he reluctantly agreed to honor that price. After crawling all over the car, noting the holes in the floor, the seized engine, seized master cylinder, the fact that he had no title or even a set of keys, along with Jim “Dude-ing” me the whole time, I walked away. We both came to the conclusion that it was WAY too rough for the money and that it was probably better to pass on this one (OK – he decided it was better to pass on it, but I wasn’t done considering all options yet). 

After another week, I called the guy back and asked how things were going, and he once again came back with the ‘lots of interest’ and ‘won’t last long’ B.S., and I told him I’d like to check it out one more time. So, I met him on a Saturday morning with a trailer and looked it over one more time. He still wanted $2200, and I reminded him of the ebay ad I’d shown him last time. He sighed and agreed again. But then I threw him a healthy dose of reality. He kept claiming it was a rare and desirable car, and worth a lot more – he’d just seen one go for $40K on Barrett Jackson. To which, I threw up the B.S. Flag. During that week away, I’d joined 7173Mustangs.com and I think this forum as well, and done a ton of research. Turns out it was a Boss 351 that went for $40K (very much NOT a ratted-out H-Code Mach 1), and I explained everything in detail about the car (production numbers, DSO code, how insignificantly not-rare or collectible the car is, etc.) and told him with the seized engine, rust, no title or keys, and overall sad shape of the car that I would give him $1600 and not a penny more. He started to protest and I basically told him that I’ve been watching this car not selling for the past 2 months, and that he wasn’t going to find another sucker to give him even that much. He wanted to argue, but finally agreed after seeing the trailer outside… and a few minutes later my other friend Don and I winched the Mach 1 onto the trailer, I handed him 16 Benjamins and took his quickie Bill of Sale that he’d scribbled out. I later found out he’d only paid something like $1000 for it, and was trying to pull off a Gas Monkey kind of a deal.

It wasn’t until I got it over to the Auto Hobby Shop that I’d started being concerned about a few things… First, that I’d gone against Jim’s advice, Second that I’d paid too much, and Finally that there were no keys. I wasn’t even concerned with the lack of title, but that would sink in later and turn out to be no big deal as well, since it had ancient Texas plates, a military ID tag, and a Texas registration sticker from 1980 (it had fallen out of the system a long time ago). Jim was there just shaking his head, looking more like a disappointed father after I’d just wrecked the family car or something.  He wasn’t pissed or anything, but he was definitely not initially very supportive. I’d even asked him, “OK, Jim. What should I start with?” Without missing a beat, he replied, “A tetanus shot.” Looking back on things, that was freaken hilarious… but at the time it just irritated me.

Don said he’d ease the car off the trailer with the winch, but after I hopped in, he hit the release and the Mustang and I rolled off the trailer and picked up speed before bouncing hard onto the pavement and coasting away.  This was the first time ‘driving’ the Mustang, but I was really more of a passenger, since the steering wheel was locked (with no keys), and the brake pedal was solid from the seized master cylinder.  After it came to a stop, the guys helped push the car to an outside stall, and the comments began to roll out.  Everything from, “whatta pile,” to “I wouldn’t have bought that POS,” to “what possessed you to buy THAT,” to “you’ll never make that nice again,” came from just about everybody who laid eyes on it… which just made me more determined – whatever… it’s my car now, and I’m going to make everybody eat their words.

Here are some pics – a couple of Craigslist pics and a few from after getting the car to the shop.