My first car in 1976 was a 1964 1/2 Mustang convertible I paid $100 for. So rusted the only way to open or close the passenger side door was to put a floor jack in front of the passenger rear tire and jack it up a little! Didn't matter to me. Thought I was the coolest kid in high school!
I loved my 67 Mustang! Being a California car it never had any rust. Baby blue, 200 inch 6, 3 on the floor, no console, black bucket seat interior. What it did have was a history of running over errant deer. I commuted 60 miles each way to work, and had to leave at 6 in the AM. During winter, being still dark at that hour, the deer were still active. Let me tell you the front end of a 67 Mustang was not designed to run over deer sized animals at 60-70 MPH! After the 3rd one I built a locomotive style "deerslayer" front end out of 10" channel iron. It was totally ugly and the deer avoided me after that. One little Datsun pickup felt the rath one day, but that's a different story LOL
I had a 67 in high School about 1981. Had the unibody welded and had it on a lift in Auto shop. When it went all the way up the back end sat 6 inchs lower because the repaired welded steel bar broke away from the car on the drivers side.
@@mexicanspec Yes he did, Mr Anderson said to me why did I get rid of my 67 Pontiac Catalina that I bought off the original owner. Perfect example of a dum kid!
@@stephenyoutubin4476 Auto shop teachers were a breed all on their own. This kid brought in a 1974 T-Bird one time with a 460. He said it was running rough. The teacher looked at it, shook his head and walked away. The kid had unplugged 4 spark plugs to get better gas mileage.
When I was of driving age in the late 1980's in the Desert Southwest of the USA, our junkyards had plenty of rust free Mustangs in them (right when Mustang restoration was becoming a thing). The interiors, paint, and weather seals were all beat to hell from the sun 😅 I remember showing up to a junkyard one day to pick up some parts for my high school jalopy, only to witness a flatbed semi with Wisconsin plates getting loaded up with every last Mustang carcass 😢
Great video Steve, I bought our 65 Fastback in 1990, the original motor/trans were long gone, it had a 289 HiPo that was built by Booth Arons back in the day, also had a T-10 4-speed.
Steve, love your videos and knowledge, amazing!!! Would like to see your Model building series come back to life. I'm currently building a 1974 edition of a REVELL '69 Shelby GT-500. I get your drift ....Cheers from Canada.
My dad had a 67' fastback mustang that had a 390 engine and he said something about it being a factory experimental car. But all's I can remember is how cool I thought the speaker in the back was.
Often sales brochures are printed months before production and don't reflect late changes to the game plan. The W-code 427 Mustang did not happen. Lit also shows 427 availability for the Torino, and that didn't happen, either. Sure, some guys may have had an engine swap done by the dealer on a new car, but none will have a W VIN. With all your years in this hobby, Steve, don't you think you would have seen one by now if they were a real production option?
I’m originally from Western Mass, and Mass is surely the eastern anchor of the Rust Belt. Traveling to upstate New York in the 60s and 70s, there were many lace fendered cars on the road back then.
I remember my friend had one of those! It was a convertible! That thing was so rusted that i was surprised when he tried to restore it to the best he could! But like you said I was full of bondo! That if he crashes the whole car would be In bondo pieces!😂 great video Steve!👍
In 1976 I bought a red 1966 Mustang 2 door hard top, in running, driving and average condition for $250 ... I swapped the 289 2V V8 engine, 3 speed automatic, shifter, radiator, drive shaft, rear axle assembly with 5 bolt wheels and drum brakes: into a Blue Metalic 1970 Ford Pinto Hatchback... I called Gap & Roush and ordered the conversion kit... In ordering the parts a man explaining everything; for about 20 minutes, now famously known with NASCAR was Jack Roush in Detroit... Everything else bolted together easily fitting as; if it were factory... I sent what was left of the Mustang back to where I got it from: being I bought rhe Mustang from the owners daughter; their primary business was a early version of "COPART" providing Bidding Services on junk & salvage cars... The winning bid was $350 on the 1966 Mustang stripped down of all those parts lol 😆
camera angle from 4:54 & on kinda make a piece of something hanging from the roof look like a face in the car. When I looked away and was kinda watching from my periphery it really fooled me for a moment 😂 Great stuff as always Steve!
Yep back then things were a lot different around here. Just shows you how fast things change , and are changing . From Saginaw to Toledo,it was remarkable.
Mustang did not acquire the "mid-size platform" for 1967. Subframe rails and towers were still one inch shy of the Fairlane width. The '66 Falcon did, though.
@@413x398 Please don't stop. It bothers me that I've never seen Steve correct a single error. Elsewhere in the comments he's still stating this is a Fairlane platform. The Hudson video was so bad a viewer suggested he remove it. This is really awful stuff. But unlike many know it alls he's not obnoxious or rude. (Think Scotty.)
@@bradkay While I applaud Steve's dedication to the hobby, it is impossible to know everything about old cars and trucks, and ultimately he has to rely on published "general" knowledge. By this time, he may think that admitting to errors may tarnish his reputation. Don't know, and I don't care to analyze because he is still an asset either way. I myself stick to stats mostly involving early Fords and Mercurys, as I have an inordinate number of them here. Still, I do make the occasional miscall, and I am all too happy to acknowledge adjustments from someone who makes an accurate correction. It's not a matter of national security, after all. Or maybe it is...
Just remembered something. In his first book Lee Iacocca complained that Bunkie Knudson ruined the mustang when he made it wider to put in bigger engines. Well here we have it happening in 67 and Knudson wasn't hired at Ford until 1968. I liked Iacocca a lot but it's important to remember no matter how much you like someone they're not immune from being wrong.
I love the details you provide. I'd not realized they had switched platforms in '67 to the Fairlane. I had just assumed it was a cosmetic update. I prefer the '64 1/2-'66, but the '67-'68 was ok. No other Mustangs ever looked as good as these. The '05 was ok, too, to the extent it reflected Gen I.
I had a '74 Mustang II that had orange paint, white vinyl seats and black dash and carpet. I was traveling across Iowa late one night near Ames back in 1993, it was maybe -15F and the timing belt broke. A friend drove to Ames and we pulled it the 3 hours home behind his car and ended up putting another used 2.3 liter engine in it. We found a bunch of other issues with the one it came with and the job was really easy. It finally just rusted to bits and I sold it to a scrap yard for $75 in 1994.
Just so you know, 0 production Mustangs came with 427 W code engines in 1968. 356 1968 Mercury Cougar GTEs came with W code 427s. The ONLY 1968 Ford Motor Co. production Vehicles to be equipped with 427s. Kevin Marti at Marti Auto Works has verified this. If you come across a W code 1968 Mustang, (and I've personally seen 2) they are cars with altered V.I.N.s.
My Dad, God bless him, bought me a brand new '67 Mustang convertible on a factory worker's pay. We ordered it...red, black top, 6 cyl., 3 speed, whitewalls, radio and full wheel covers. It was the happiest day of my life the sunny Spring day I picked it up.
Good chance sold out of Jack Dykstra (home of the $1995 Pinto) lol or Max Curtis Ford dealerships. I lived in Lansing from '68-2016 Another good Video Steven
Been waiting for you to get around to the Mustangs.I have a 1968 Mustang coupe in gulfstream aqua. Spent most of its life in salt lake city then Florida. Very solid car.289 2bbl auto. Well optioned car. A/c PB/disc PS even the clock(works)I added a NOS 8 track.
Another cool tale -- thanks Steve. There is one potential downside to buying vehicles from the southwest. Some years ago I purchased an early '65 Dodge D200 sweptline that had lived all its life around San Diego, had it shipped cross country. It was turquoise and rust-free, really a beautiful sight to behold. But... it had no heater controls in the cab, only a manual shutoff valve on the intake manifold, which was frozen shut. I drove it through one winter and that was enough. I wasn't ambitious enough to try and find vintage parts to add proper heating, or to fabricate something, so I let it go. It was a radio delete truck as well, so maybe the moral of the story is avoid the most basest of base models. :-)
I remember one of the first JC Whitney catalogs I got when I was young looking at the Mustang section and for a 64-66 you basically only needed the roof and maybe the top of the cowl, you could buy just about every single other panel for the car from them. Of course now they repro entire bodies, but it would have been a fun project back then to actually order all those panels and see how much of a car you could build from them - and how far off it would turn out from factory.
JC Whitney had similar selections of body parts for VW and Jeep. Of course the aftermarket was pretty sketchy back then. Rumor has it that every panel was off by a quarter inch somewhere. By the time you built half way around the car none of the doors worked. It was about the same for panels needed for most any pick up bed.
@@rupe53 Nothing new, a buddy got a 37 Chevy that had ... I forget the brand but an expensive replacement patch for the lower trunk and it was off by that much on one side of the opening.
Those sheet metal shock towers were the #1 one reason why many Mustangs and Falcons were totaled out by insurance companies. If the car got hit hard on a corner back before frame pullers were common it was almost impossible for a body shop to fix it properly so they would just write it off. Back in 1971 a friend of mine bought a 1963 Falcon Sprint that looked great that had the 260 V8 and floor mounted three speed but soon discovered that that alignment was so bad on the drivers side that it would wear a tire completely out in about 500 miles. One of our friends dad had a professional auto shop and he looked it and told him it had been hit on that side and the shock tower was bent and the toe in and camber and caster was adjusted as far as it could go already.
thats always been my point, people are remembering some cars and trucks as being rust buckets, but the simple fact is they where the models that where still on the road when the others fell apart mechanically, so they remember 100k miles on most cars and then there are 300k mile scouts that wont die, so thats how they got remembered
Close, we need to go all the way with the VIN for the win: 7 for 1967 model year, F for Dearborn, MI assembly, 01 for two door Mustang hardtop, C for 289 V8 with two barrel and the rest is the production sequence. The Dearborn plant produced Mustangs up through the 2004 model year. After that, they were assembled in Flat Rock. In some years, a Mustang could be made in Metuchen, NJ ("T" on the VIN), San Jose (Milpitas), CA ("R" on the VIN) or Dearborn as we have here. The San Jose plant was in operation from 1955 to 1983 and Metuchen (also called Edison) assembly operated from 1948 to 2004. We got the tag, we can brag: 65A for two door Mustang with bucket seats, W for Wimbledon White exterior paint, 2A for black vinyl interior trim, 29E for May 29, 1967 production which was a Monday, 35 for Lansing, MI sales district, 0 for 3.10:1 non-locking rear axle ratio, and W for C4 automatic.
He may have mistaken the 427 for the 428's in the late 68 Mustangs. I had a 67 390 that the original owner blew up while under warranty, the dealership replaced the short block with a 427 and put the 390 top end on it.
Same with my 68 Cougar, rusted out so bad I had to sell it as a parts car, shock towers, firewall, rear wheel wells got so bad. Had a hole in front footboard so big you could throw a basketball through it.
@@dogsense3773 The problem in Pennsylvania is salt, it was my daily driver until I took it of the road to do bodywork but it was too much for me to do floors. You are very lucky to have the 67 in my eyes. Very fun car to hoon around the neighborhood. Keep her safe!
These were essentially a roller skate with an engine. They were a fun roller skate; don't get me wrong, but there wasn't much protection if a crash happened. A nearby town used to put a wrecked car in front of the police station as a not-so-subtle warning to youth. It was usually a mustang or a chevy2 rolled and smashed into non-recognition. Horsepower and alcohol don't blend together well.
Bought a 65 Mustang for a 100 bucks in about 1981. The floor rust was actually "repaired" with expanded metal, lift the carpet and you could see the road. In Minnesota cars rust but Mustangs for some reason were generally worse than their contemporaries. Kinnda like Chevy Vegas in the 70s, worse than average.
Speaking of Oldsmobile, that actually looks like a pretty clean mid-70’s Cutlass sitting in the background - like it! That bondo job was the finest work a group of high school boys could come up with one early 80’s summer afternoon out in the old man’s garage…..!!!!!
Steve mentioned that a "handful" of 427's were installed in some 1968 Mustangs. I've heard that rumor for years by have never seen one or been able to confirm that one even exists. I'm talking a regular order car, a street car, not race stuff. Anyone?
Assembly-line 427 Mustangs are urban legends. Sure, Holman-Moody, Tasca and Shelby would put a 427 in a Mustang if the customer was willing to pay for it, and maybe that's where people get confused. But those were converted 390 or 428 cars, not factory. OTOH, the 427 was available as a regular production option in the '68 Cougar. They were expensive, and not a whole lot were built, but many documented examples exist. Why, when both cars were built on the same assembly lines were they installing 427s in Cougars but not Mustangs? Who knows? But Kevin Marti has the original Ford production records for '67 and '68, and they confirm no 427 Mustangs were built.
@@DragPakMerc Thanks for that info, which is exactly what I thought. And even the 427 was on the order sheet for a 1967 GT500 Shelby, but you ended up with a P.I. 428; the only 427 made was for testing at Shelby. The 1968 Cougars equipped with the 427 were C6 Auto-only; 428's could be optioned with the 4-speed or auto trans.
A junkyard crawl aficionado prowling about the the premises. If you enjoy a libation during the brief tour remember don’t drive do the junkyard crawl. That Mustang seems to have been through the local chop shop for some impromptu modifications but was succumbing to road salt corrosion. Alas mores the pity,, probably never to terrorize the boulevard again, but the memories remain.
There is an older gentleman a few years back who restored a 66 mustang Fastback. He used 1967 mustang shock towers and was able to install a 428 SCJ . It looked factory . No one was able to figure out how he did. I hung out in his shop and in a rare moment he said what he did. The car is still around
Did Ford modify the Falcon chassis accordingly to accommodate, or did Ford simply use the Fairlane chassis that had the shock towers set the 2 inches further apart already? I can’t find anything online to confirm which way Ford did this on the 67 Mustang.
Hi Kendall, we have to remember that Ford "upsized" the Fairlane in 1966, one year BEFORE the Mustang was transitioned from the Falcon to the Fairlane platform. The Falcon lived on in 1967 but - also - with somewhat larger proportions (including the space between the spring towers - and on a platform that was also re-engineered in 1966. It's a little confusing but it was all about adding the room for the optional 390 / 427 / 428 big block to Fairlane and Mustang as the muscle car era blossomed (though the cross-bolted 427 wasn't installed in Mustang on any assembly line other than a possible handful of '67 Shelby GT500's). THANKS for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
@@SteveMagnante So switch platforms but keep the same greenhouse. Come on. While there were some changes made to the front inner structure for 67 it has been established in this discussion that the 67 mustang did not use a Torino platform.
@@SteveMagnante Thanks so much, Steve for your detailed reply. Mystery solved. Mom had a new 67 Mustang back in the day. My twin brother and I (14 at the time) unscrewed the Speedometer cable to keep the mileage low and took the car for many outings while Mom and Dad were in Europe. We are big fans of yours, and have been following you for years. Have just discovered you on RUclips. Your encyclopaedic knowledge and passion for all things automotive is so entertaining and educational. Keep up the great work! Kendall
Steve is completely wrong, the 67 and later never used the Fairlane chassis. The easiest way to prove this is go shop for a floor pan for a Mustang. The 1965-1973 all use the same one.
Idaho started using road salt concoctions about a decade ago. So if you are buying a car that was a recent daily driver here, it is well on its way to rust bomb status.
Hello Chuck P, the structure supporting the Jeep in the background is a metal support Bernardston Auto Wrecking uses to allow under-vehicle access when they need to get at exhaust parts, gas tanks, drive shafts, transmissions, etc. I don't know how often it is used, but that's the premise. THANKS for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
true...no W code Mustangs ever, even though Ford had it planned and even the sales docs that year showed it as an option. Have to give Steve credit though...his knowledge base is HUGE, I don't know how he remembers all of the facts that he does. Spoke with him several times at SEMA and the guy is a walking computer....
Fairlane platform LOLOL. Steve, look at the car vs a 66. It's a reskin from the belt line down. Just LOOK at the car! If you want more specifics, the cowl area is a critical part of a platform. Lots of hard points that can't move. Well guess what? The 66 and 67 Mustangs have the same windshield and its not the same as a Fairlane windshield. The Mustang back glass is the same 66 and 67. Certainly it's possible to re-shape the shock towners to create more room in the engine compartment. But guess what? The hard point where the shock mounts remains the same. Aftermarket vendors sell shock tower braces, same part, to fit 65 - 70. And something else. The shock absorber is the same 66 and 67. Somebody else has already commented on the 427 issue. The Lansing Sales Office code means it went to the Lansing District not necessarily to the town. Ford had at the time I think 30 to 40 district sales offices. And remember, I'm just one guy and I know I don't know everything. I'm not even a Ford guy. But if I can pick up errors like this about cars I'm only casually familiar with, I'm sure these videos are much worse than I realize. Long live the 54 Hudson on the Nash body shell!!!
The windshield doesn’t mean anything the fairlane platform is true look at a 66-69 US falcon it’s a fairlane roof and doors with different fenders and quarter panels
@@travislostaglia8861 Yes, of course. They put in a whole new platform and modify its windshield opening to fit last years windshield from a different platform rather than using the windshield opening that came with the platform and the Fairlane windshield.
I had one. 3500 lbs per the title, 11 MPG going uphill, going downhill, if WhistlinDiesel dropped it from a helicopter it would probably still get 11 MPG all the way down.
I spy a Ramcharger. I've melted in the back of one on many family vacations because my dad bought the base four wheel drive instead of the Prospector Edition they let him drive for a couple days.
Hi Brian, did you work at 6420 Wilshire Blvd.? I was there from Tuesday, August 19, 1997 through Tuesday, January 20, 2004 as Tech Editor at Hot Rod magazine where I had the honor of working under Hot Rod magazine Editors Ro McGonegal and David "Roadkill" Freiburger. Thanks for writing, Steve Magnante
I really had a cursed mustang, it was a 69 convertible. It took me 20 years to restore it, because every friend, relative, and aquaintance who let me put it in their yard to help me work on it suffered a death in their immediate family. I dont know the history of the car prior to my owning it, and i lost it in a divorce, so i cant say if the curse continues or not. All i can say is if you are the one who got my car, and think youre lucky, guess again.
I could watch these videos all day. Thanks Steve for starting "The junkyard crawl" series".
My first car in 1976 was a 1964 1/2 Mustang convertible I paid $100 for. So rusted the only way to open or close the passenger side door was to put a floor jack in front of the passenger rear tire and jack it up a little! Didn't matter to me. Thought I was the coolest kid in high school!
I got you bet mine was a 67 but the doors was held shut with ratchet straps and 🛑 floor pans
That's funny shit. I live in the northwest and never see rust unless I go east
Very Cool.
I loved my 67 Mustang! Being a California car it never had any rust. Baby blue, 200 inch 6, 3 on the floor, no console, black bucket seat interior. What it did have was a history of running over errant deer. I commuted 60 miles each way to work, and had to leave at 6 in the AM. During winter, being still dark at that hour, the deer were still active. Let me tell you the front end of a 67 Mustang was not designed to run over deer sized animals at 60-70 MPH! After the 3rd one I built a locomotive style "deerslayer" front end out of 10" channel iron. It was totally ugly and the deer avoided me after that. One little Datsun pickup felt the rath one day, but that's a different story LOL
Killed A Japanese Rice Burner! GREAT Job!
Steve's automotive joy and excitement is infectious.
I had a 67 in high School about 1981. Had the unibody welded and had it on a lift in Auto shop. When it went all the way up the back end sat 6 inchs lower because the repaired welded steel bar broke away from the car on the drivers side.
Did it burn rubba?
Your teacher must have been laughing his ass off. Mine would have been.
@@mexicanspec Yes he did, Mr Anderson said to me why did I get rid of my 67 Pontiac Catalina that I bought off the original owner. Perfect example of a dum kid!
@@stephenyoutubin4476 Auto shop teachers were a breed all on their own.
This kid brought in a 1974 T-Bird one time with a 460. He said it was running rough. The teacher looked at it, shook his head and walked away.
The kid had unplugged 4 spark plugs to get better gas mileage.
I had a 67 Fastback in High School back in 82-83. It had a 351C in it. Too much motor for a 18 year old kid. Lucky to be alive with the stuff I did.
When I was of driving age in the late 1980's in the Desert Southwest of the USA, our junkyards had plenty of rust free Mustangs in them (right when Mustang restoration was becoming a thing). The interiors, paint, and weather seals were all beat to hell from the sun 😅 I remember showing up to a junkyard one day to pick up some parts for my high school jalopy, only to witness a flatbed semi with Wisconsin plates getting loaded up with every last Mustang carcass 😢
Great video Steve, I bought our 65 Fastback in 1990, the original motor/trans were long gone, it had a 289 HiPo that was built by Booth Arons back in the day, also had a T-10 4-speed.
This was a great segment. Your the best Steve. We love ya.
Yea, and usually he's a bit more accurate than Kremlin propaganda!
Steve, love your videos and knowledge, amazing!!! Would like to see your Model building series come back to life. I'm currently building a 1974 edition of a REVELL '69 Shelby GT-500. I get your drift ....Cheers from Canada.
1:10 Those are factory bolt locations.
Early Mustangs rust wasn't worse or better than 1960s cars in general.
Good video and thank you for sharing your knowledge. Would like to see you do a video of the Ramcharger in the background please.
I noticed that as well. That would be an interesting story. And just why did they put it up on the retainer wall
My dad had a 67' fastback mustang that had a 390 engine and he said something about it being a factory experimental car. But all's I can remember is how cool I thought the speaker in the back was.
King of knowledge
Often sales brochures are printed months before production and don't reflect late changes to the game plan. The W-code 427 Mustang did not happen. Lit also shows 427 availability for the Torino, and that didn't happen, either. Sure, some guys may have had an engine swap done by the dealer on a new car, but none will have a W VIN. With all your years in this hobby, Steve, don't you think you would have seen one by now if they were a real production option?
But, but,... I saw one in a Revell. LOL
@@bradkay4794 The recent release of the Ford taxi kit has a Boss 429 in it. I can see the youngsters getting in a fist fight over that one.
That SUV up in the air in the background is interesting. So you can check out the underside of it.
I too couldn't ignore the grand Cherokee archway. I'm guessing it's just a forklift driver having a bit of fun.
I’m originally from Western Mass, and Mass is surely the eastern anchor of the Rust Belt. Traveling to upstate New York in the 60s and 70s, there were many lace fendered cars on the road back then.
I remember my friend had one of those! It was a convertible! That thing was so rusted that i was surprised when he tried to restore it to the best he could! But like you said I was full of bondo! That if he crashes the whole car would be In bondo pieces!😂 great video Steve!👍
I hope you're feeling better Steve thanks
Steve….”A wart on the arse of progress” ….love it. Thanks for your knowledge and great commentary.
great video! I had a 74 Vega it was a great car but by the mid 80s rust finally got it!
In 1976 I bought a red 1966 Mustang 2 door hard top, in running, driving and average condition for $250 ... I swapped the 289 2V V8 engine, 3 speed automatic, shifter, radiator, drive shaft, rear axle assembly with 5 bolt wheels and drum brakes: into a Blue Metalic 1970 Ford Pinto Hatchback... I called Gap & Roush and ordered the conversion kit... In ordering the parts a man explaining everything; for about 20 minutes, now famously known with NASCAR was Jack Roush in Detroit... Everything else bolted together easily fitting as; if it were factory... I sent what was left of the Mustang back to where I got it from: being I bought rhe Mustang from the owners daughter; their primary business was a early version of "COPART" providing Bidding Services on junk & salvage cars... The winning bid was $350 on the 1966 Mustang stripped down of all those parts lol 😆
camera angle from 4:54 & on kinda make a piece of something hanging from the roof look like a face in the car. When I looked away and was kinda watching from my periphery it really fooled me for a moment 😂 Great stuff as always Steve!
Yep back then things were a lot different around here. Just shows you how fast things change , and are changing . From Saginaw to Toledo,it was remarkable.
Cool thanks for the great work Sir
Mustang did not acquire the "mid-size platform" for 1967. Subframe rails and towers were still one inch shy of the Fairlane width. The '66 Falcon did, though.
Can you imagine how many things became accepted as truths because of presentations like this?
@@bradkay I've been correcting car "facts" online since 1995. Not one person has sent me a cookie in appreciation. 😢
@@413x398 Please don't stop. It bothers me that I've never seen Steve correct a single error. Elsewhere in the comments he's still stating this is a Fairlane platform.
The Hudson video was so bad a viewer suggested he remove it. This is really awful stuff. But unlike many know it alls he's not obnoxious or rude. (Think Scotty.)
@@bradkay While I applaud Steve's dedication to the hobby, it is impossible to know everything about old cars and trucks, and ultimately he has to rely on published "general" knowledge. By this time, he may think that admitting to errors may tarnish his reputation. Don't know, and I don't care to analyze because he is still an asset either way. I myself stick to stats mostly involving early Fords and Mercurys, as I have an inordinate number of them here. Still, I do make the occasional miscall, and I am all too happy to acknowledge adjustments from someone who makes an accurate correction. It's not a matter of national security, after all. Or maybe it is...
Just remembered something. In his first book Lee Iacocca complained that Bunkie Knudson ruined the mustang when he made it wider to put in bigger engines. Well here we have it happening in 67 and Knudson wasn't hired at Ford until 1968. I liked Iacocca a lot but it's important to remember no matter how much you like someone they're not immune from being wrong.
I love the details you provide. I'd not realized they had switched platforms in '67 to the Fairlane. I had just assumed it was a cosmetic update. I prefer the '64 1/2-'66, but the '67-'68 was ok. No other Mustangs ever looked as good as these. The '05 was ok, too, to the extent it reflected Gen I.
I had a '74 Mustang II that had orange paint, white vinyl seats and black dash and carpet.
I was traveling across Iowa late one night near Ames back in 1993, it was maybe -15F and the timing belt broke. A friend drove to Ames and we pulled it the 3 hours home behind his car and ended up putting another used 2.3 liter engine in it. We found a bunch of other issues with the one it came with and the job was really easy. It finally just rusted to bits and I sold it to a scrap yard for $75 in 1994.
Another great video Steve! I enjoy the history and insight on your videos. The only part I don’t like is when it’s over.
Just so you know, 0 production Mustangs came with 427 W code engines in 1968. 356 1968 Mercury Cougar GTEs came with W code 427s. The ONLY 1968 Ford Motor Co. production Vehicles to be equipped with 427s. Kevin Marti at Marti Auto Works has verified this. If you come across a W code 1968 Mustang, (and I've personally seen 2) they are cars with altered V.I.N.s.
My Dad, God bless him, bought me a brand new '67 Mustang convertible on a factory worker's pay. We ordered it...red, black top, 6 cyl., 3 speed, whitewalls, radio and full wheel covers. It was the happiest day of my life the sunny Spring day I picked it up.
Mushtangs never got the 427 from teh factory BUT the Cougar did.
Good chance sold out of Jack Dykstra (home of the $1995 Pinto) lol or Max Curtis Ford dealerships. I lived in Lansing from '68-2016 Another good Video Steven
Been waiting for you to get around to the Mustangs.I have a 1968 Mustang coupe in gulfstream aqua. Spent most of its life in salt lake city then Florida. Very solid car.289 2bbl auto. Well optioned car. A/c PB/disc PS even the clock(works)I added a NOS 8 track.
GSA is a beautiful color.
Another cool tale -- thanks Steve. There is one potential downside to buying vehicles from the southwest. Some years ago I purchased an early '65 Dodge D200 sweptline that had lived all its life around San Diego, had it shipped cross country. It was turquoise and rust-free, really a beautiful sight to behold. But... it had no heater controls in the cab, only a manual shutoff valve on the intake manifold, which was frozen shut. I drove it through one winter and that was enough. I wasn't ambitious enough to try and find vintage parts to add proper heating, or to fabricate something, so I let it go. It was a radio delete truck as well, so maybe the moral of the story is avoid the most basest of base models. :-)
WJ Jeep is completely weird… looks like it’s sort of just floating past 😉👍😉
I had a 67 in Whimbleton White. 200 cu. in. six and three speed on the floor. Snappy combination. Bought it in 72 w/ four new tires for $750.
Rusty gems still tell a story. Even the jeep hanging out in the back.
Looks like it got parked there by them Hazzard County Duke Boys
Really diggin' the 67-72 stepside in the backgound.
We're all pulling for you Steve. Hope to see you soon
Please do one on that Skylark behind you. Or any other Skylark 75 to 79. Thanks!
'A wart on the arse of progress'? I'll have to remember that one
I think it was an album's name or a song.....
Another great video professor keep them going get well soon
steve!! .. the mustang II, while hated, was used most for it's front suspension and steering rack.
I remember one of the first JC Whitney catalogs I got when I was young looking at the Mustang section and for a 64-66 you basically only needed the roof and maybe the top of the cowl, you could buy just about every single other panel for the car from them.
Of course now they repro entire bodies, but it would have been a fun project back then to actually order all those panels and see how much of a car you could build from them - and how far off it would turn out from factory.
Every jc Whitney body pannel I’ve ever seen was thinner than oem
Like buying a lot on ebay
@@fastinradfordable Factory light-weight. lol
JC Whitney had similar selections of body parts for VW and Jeep. Of course the aftermarket was pretty sketchy back then. Rumor has it that every panel was off by a quarter inch somewhere. By the time you built half way around the car none of the doors worked. It was about the same for panels needed for most any pick up bed.
@@rupe53 Nothing new, a buddy got a 37 Chevy that had ... I forget the brand but an expensive replacement patch for the lower trunk and it was off by that much on one side of the opening.
Those sheet metal shock towers were the #1 one reason why many Mustangs and Falcons were totaled out by insurance companies. If the car got hit hard on a corner back before frame pullers were common it was almost impossible for a body shop to fix it properly so they would just write it off. Back in 1971 a friend of mine bought a 1963 Falcon Sprint that looked great that had the 260 V8 and floor mounted three speed but soon discovered that that alignment was so bad on the drivers side that it would wear a tire completely out in about 500 miles. One of our friends dad had a professional auto shop and he looked it and told him it had been hit on that side and the shock tower was bent and the toe in and camber and caster was adjusted as far as it could go already.
thats always been my point, people are remembering some cars and trucks as being rust buckets, but the simple fact is they where the models that where still on the road when the others fell apart mechanically, so they remember 100k miles on most cars and then there are 300k mile scouts that wont die, so thats how they got remembered
Close, we need to go all the way with the VIN for the win: 7 for 1967 model year, F for Dearborn, MI assembly, 01 for two door Mustang hardtop, C for 289 V8 with two barrel and the rest is the production sequence. The Dearborn plant produced Mustangs up through the 2004 model year. After that, they were assembled in Flat Rock. In some years, a Mustang could be made in Metuchen, NJ ("T" on the VIN), San Jose (Milpitas), CA ("R" on the VIN) or Dearborn as we have here. The San Jose plant was in operation from 1955 to 1983 and Metuchen (also called Edison) assembly operated from 1948 to 2004.
We got the tag, we can brag: 65A for two door Mustang with bucket seats, W for Wimbledon White exterior paint, 2A for black vinyl interior trim, 29E for May 29, 1967 production which was a Monday, 35 for Lansing, MI sales district, 0 for 3.10:1 non-locking rear axle ratio, and W for C4 automatic.
The flying red Jeep. I have questions.
I smell the smoke of the 427 Mustang myth. Hit the books Stevie Mags. No 427 cars
He may have mistaken the 427 for the 428's in the late 68 Mustangs. I had a 67 390 that the original owner blew up while under warranty, the dealership replaced the short block with a 427 and put the 390 top end on it.
Same with my 68 Cougar, rusted out so bad I had to sell it as a parts car, shock towers, firewall, rear wheel wells got so bad. Had a hole in front footboard so big you could throw a basketball through it.
I have a 67 cougar with a 390 4 speed California car, no rust!
@@dogsense3773 The problem in Pennsylvania is salt, it was my daily driver until I took it of the road to do bodywork but it was too much for me to do floors. You are very lucky to have the 67 in my eyes. Very fun car to hoon around the neighborhood. Keep her safe!
Cool can you do the Jeep up in the air behind you next. 🤠
These were essentially a roller skate with an engine. They were a fun roller skate; don't get me wrong, but there wasn't much protection if a crash happened. A nearby town used to put a wrecked car in front of the police station as a not-so-subtle warning to youth. It was usually a mustang or a chevy2 rolled and smashed into non-recognition. Horsepower and alcohol don't blend together well.
I'm loving this new theme music lately 😎
Thank you Steve Get well soon
Bought a 65 Mustang for a 100 bucks in about 1981. The floor rust was actually "repaired" with expanded metal, lift the carpet and you could see the road. In Minnesota cars rust but Mustangs for some reason were generally worse than their contemporaries. Kinnda like Chevy
Vegas in the 70s, worse than average.
Wasn’t the fairlane just a wider longer Falcon anyway? I had a 64 ranchero and it’s lack of floor was due to poor drainage.
Yes until 66 look at a 66-69 US falcon it’s a fairlane with a different fenders and quarter panels the roof and doors are 66-67 fairlane
Great video. I was just wondering about what looks like a jeep on some kind of stand up in the air. How about a look at that. Keep up yhe great work.
Speaking of Oldsmobile, that actually looks like a pretty clean mid-70’s Cutlass sitting in the background - like it!
That bondo job was the finest work a group of high school boys could come up with one early 80’s summer afternoon out in the old man’s garage…..!!!!!
That's a '76 or '77 Cutlass. I noticed that too
Cool info Steve.
Steve mentioned that a "handful" of 427's were installed in some 1968 Mustangs. I've heard that rumor for years by have never seen one or been able to confirm that one even exists. I'm talking a regular order car, a street car, not race stuff. Anyone?
Assembly-line 427 Mustangs are urban legends. Sure, Holman-Moody, Tasca and Shelby would put a 427 in a Mustang if the customer was willing to pay for it, and maybe that's where people get confused. But those were converted 390 or 428 cars, not factory. OTOH, the 427 was available as a regular production option in the '68 Cougar. They were expensive, and not a whole lot were built, but many documented examples exist. Why, when both cars were built on the same assembly lines were they installing 427s in Cougars but not Mustangs? Who knows? But Kevin Marti has the original Ford production records for '67 and '68, and they confirm no 427 Mustangs were built.
@@DragPakMerc Thanks for that info, which is exactly what I thought. And even the 427 was on the order sheet for a 1967 GT500 Shelby, but you ended up with a P.I. 428; the only 427 made was for testing at Shelby. The 1968 Cougars equipped with the 427 were C6 Auto-only; 428's could be optioned with the 4-speed or auto trans.
Water leaking through the cowl panel vents did some damage too.
A junkyard crawl aficionado prowling about the the premises.
If you enjoy a libation during the brief tour remember don’t drive do the junkyard crawl.
That Mustang seems to have been through the local chop shop for some impromptu modifications but was succumbing to road salt corrosion. Alas mores the pity,, probably never to terrorize the boulevard again, but the memories remain.
Was that Bernardston Auto Wrecking?
Kar-Kraft built the Boss 429s
Hey i love that skyhawk or monza ,starfire in the back want to find one and drop a ls into it i think it could be a contender....
Always liked the 67 and 68 mustang
Shook your hand as you were packing up to leave!!!! Was that a Buick skylark behind the rustang??
I see a Ramcharger back there!
God I'm loving this channel 👍
There is an older gentleman a few years back who restored a 66 mustang Fastback. He used 1967 mustang shock towers and was able to install a 428 SCJ . It looked factory . No one was able to figure out how he did. I hung out in his shop and in a rare moment he said what he did. The car is still around
You could use Boss 429 shock towers on some Mustangs and slip in the Boss engine or a 427 Cammer.
Crites has had a shock tower kit for that swap for 50 years. Still does. Not a mystery.
Good to see all the mopars they need to be saved but in the upper north salt etc might not be much left to save
Steve, you call 'em Rustangs, I call 'em a career.🙂
Get well soon, Steve.
Did Ford modify the Falcon chassis accordingly to accommodate, or did Ford simply use the Fairlane chassis that had the shock towers set the 2 inches further apart already? I can’t find anything online to confirm which way Ford did this on the 67 Mustang.
Hi Kendall, we have to remember that Ford "upsized" the Fairlane in 1966, one year BEFORE the Mustang was transitioned from the Falcon to the Fairlane platform. The Falcon lived on in 1967 but - also - with somewhat larger proportions (including the space between the spring towers - and on a platform that was also re-engineered in 1966. It's a little confusing but it was all about adding the room for the optional 390 / 427 / 428 big block to Fairlane and Mustang as the muscle car era blossomed (though the cross-bolted 427 wasn't installed in Mustang on any assembly line other than a possible handful of '67 Shelby GT500's). THANKS for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
@@SteveMagnante So switch platforms but keep the same greenhouse. Come on. While there were some changes made to the front inner structure for 67 it has been established in this discussion that the 67 mustang did not use a Torino platform.
@@SteveMagnante Thanks so much, Steve for your detailed reply. Mystery solved. Mom had a new 67 Mustang back in the day. My twin brother and I (14 at the time) unscrewed the Speedometer cable to keep the mileage low and took the car for many outings while Mom and Dad were in Europe. We are big fans of yours, and have been following you for years. Have just discovered you on RUclips. Your encyclopaedic knowledge and passion for all things automotive is so entertaining and educational. Keep up the great work! Kendall
@@kendallbingeman2036 You have my sympathy
Steve is completely wrong, the 67 and later never used the Fairlane chassis. The easiest way to prove this is go shop for a floor pan for a Mustang. The 1965-1973 all use the same one.
No-one could ever accuse you of NOT being animated.
He is a beast
Being a Mopar fan we called Mustang's and Camaro's a "me too car". The joke was, what kind of car you got?
A mustang! (or Camaro!)
Me too!
Idaho started using road salt concoctions about a decade ago. So if you are buying a car that was a recent daily driver here, it is well on its way to rust bomb status.
Excellent.
Mags is the best! Walking encyclopedia of cars and if didn't get the Iron Maiden reference, that's your loss.
Well Mopar’s don’t rust - they are to fast for the rain and salt!! Just kidding. Great video
This yard is a time machine
Sweet, undercoating a must, maybe times two?
What's with the Jeep in the background? I'm trying to figure what that structure is holding it up. It almost looks like an art installation.
Hello Chuck P, the structure supporting the Jeep in the background is a metal support Bernardston Auto Wrecking uses to allow under-vehicle access when they need to get at exhaust parts, gas tanks, drive shafts, transmissions, etc. I don't know how often it is used, but that's the premise. THANKS for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
@@SteveMagnante Makes a little more sense. Thanks for the info.
No 68 Mustangs got a 427 at the factory. Only the Cougar GTE.
He might be thinking of the ones put into the shelby gt 500kr
@@scottvincent3062 KR's came mid year 68 and that is when the 428pi was dropped and the KR was introduced with the 428 cobra jet
true...no W code Mustangs ever, even though Ford had it planned and even the sales docs that year showed it as an option. Have to give Steve credit though...his knowledge base is HUGE, I don't know how he remembers all of the facts that he does. Spoke with him several times at SEMA and the guy is a walking computer....
@@HeathKopp I am sure Steve knows. Its not easy working without a script. Makes it more interesting though.
The shock towers rusted out all by themselves without the benefit of an accident. Those metal bars look like somebody's attempt to hold them in.
love the flying jeep
That's more like Frankenstang. Being from Michigan Lansing is up the road From Dearborn, Lansing is north of Dearborn.
Looks good right where it’s at even though it’s a collector car.
Fairlane platform LOLOL.
Steve, look at the car vs a 66. It's a reskin from the belt line down. Just LOOK at the car!
If you want more specifics, the cowl area is a critical part of a platform. Lots of hard points that can't move. Well guess what? The 66 and 67 Mustangs have the same windshield and its not the same as a Fairlane windshield. The Mustang back glass is the same 66 and 67.
Certainly it's possible to re-shape the shock towners to create more room in the engine compartment. But guess what? The hard point where the shock mounts remains the same. Aftermarket vendors sell shock tower braces, same part, to fit 65 - 70. And something else. The shock absorber is the same 66 and 67.
Somebody else has already commented on the 427 issue.
The Lansing Sales Office code means it went to the Lansing District not necessarily to the town. Ford had at the time I think 30 to 40 district sales offices.
And remember, I'm just one guy and I know I don't know everything. I'm not even a Ford guy. But if I can pick up errors like this about cars I'm only casually familiar with, I'm sure these videos are much worse than I realize.
Long live the 54 Hudson on the Nash body shell!!!
Fords suck and no one cares
The windshield doesn’t mean anything the fairlane platform is true look at a 66-69 US falcon it’s a fairlane roof and doors with different fenders and quarter panels
@@travislostaglia8861 Yes, of course. They put in a whole new platform and modify its windshield opening to fit last years windshield from a different platform rather than using the windshield opening that came with the platform and the Fairlane windshield.
The weirdest repair i have seen in a loooong time.😵💫
I traded a car that had '666' in the VIN. The used car guy at the dealership joked about it. I didn't even realize it until the day I traded it.
Steve referred to it as the number of the beast. Perhaps he's a Maiden fan from back in the day.
"No crowds were run over during the filming of this Mustang"
- amazed spectator
What about a straight axle up front? Gasser style.
Mustang restoration. Even in the early 80s a fortune to be made
Owned a used 72 Grande in 79. Couldn't get my wife out of it ! LOL
Love the 67-68 Mustangs BUT... you haven't done a video about the Ramcharger in front of it??? That's a rarer find. Best truck ever made!
I had one. 3500 lbs per the title, 11 MPG going uphill, going downhill, if WhistlinDiesel dropped it from a helicopter it would probably still get 11 MPG all the way down.
@@CR7659 But it would still drive home after hitting the ground.
I'm more interested in that 40's wet blue potato back there and that '76 Cutlass behind it
I spy a Ramcharger. I've melted in the back of one on many family vacations because my dad bought the base four wheel drive instead of the Prospector Edition they let him drive for a couple days.
Steve, do you remember at Car Craft, after work, we'd go out back and eat a frog
Hi Brian, did you work at 6420 Wilshire Blvd.? I was there from Tuesday, August 19, 1997 through Tuesday, January 20, 2004 as Tech Editor at Hot Rod magazine where I had the honor of working under Hot Rod magazine Editors Ro McGonegal and David "Roadkill" Freiburger. Thanks for writing, Steve Magnante
@@SteveMagnante hi Steve, close to there, I remember Freiburger, and Doug Glad, I remember your back page articles, always looked forward to your work
I really had a cursed mustang, it was a 69 convertible. It took me 20 years to restore it, because every friend, relative, and aquaintance who let me put it in their yard to help me work on it suffered a death in their immediate family. I dont know the history of the car prior to my owning it, and i lost it in a divorce, so i cant say if the curse continues or not. All i can say is if you are the one who got my car, and think youre lucky, guess again.