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Buy A Classic Mustang?

Buying a classic Mustang can be fun or frustrating, depending on whether you do your homework. This first in a series of 2 articles will cover buying a car to restore. The second part will cover what to look for, when searching for the right restored classic.

Any time you buy a used car, its important to understand that there are areas that you need to check to make sure you are getting what you are paying for.

Restoring a classic mustang (my term for the years from 1964 1/2, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970 ) or any other car is not a job for the faint of heart, but can be done with the right attitude, some mechanical aptitude and a good set of wrenches. And of course, some place to actually work on your car.

Set a Reasonable Budget:

Knowing what kind of budget you have to spend and what things to look for, combined with the above, can help you make the right decision. Unless you are an expert on every aspect of rebuilding a car, you can expect to be spending money on hired help, whether that means removing the engine and sending it out to be rebuilt, or doing the mechanical repairs and sending your Mustang out to be painted.

The trade off then needs to be compared to what it would cost to simply buy a car in the condition that you would like.Early Mustangs are prone to rusted out floors. While Ford did a good job of adding galvanized steel to some areas, the floors were apparently not on the program. This, in my experience carries well past the 1970 model year.

Fortunately, partial to complete reproductions floor pans are available quite cheaply. They require cutting out the old rusty parts and welding in new pieces. Other areas to watch out for, are rusty lower rear quarter panels, rusted out trunk floors and battery trays in the front engine compartment.

Interior issues for a car this old usually are areas such as a cracked dash board, worn or missing door panels, cracked or worn seats and faded or worn out carpets and headliner.

Unlike even 10 years ago, replacement door panels, carpet kits and dash covers are in good supply and reasonably priced.

Assuming that there are no major exterior rust issues, its time to investigate the paint and evidence of previous damage repair. Now, I’m not one to insist that you don’t buy a 40 year old Mustang simply because it had some time in its long life, a fender bender. That’s more in the realm of miracles. No, we just need to see that it was repaired or restored properly.

Cracks in the paint that seem to have some kind of gritty or plastic material mean that the area has at one time been repaired,which is fine. But the crack (which may have some rusty residue) means that moisture had worked its way down to the metal and will need to be ground out and redone. Buying a car with this problem can lead to a bigger investment of cash unless you had planned on re doing the paint any how.

More Information:

A good classic mustang site is a great source of more detailed information restoration and buying tips and can help you make buying your dream car a good experience instead of an exercise in frustration. 
Where to buy:

In the old days, pouring over the newspaper was the way to go to locate the car of your dreams, but nowadays, I’d recommend the internet, and particularly some of the online classified resources. I’m not as big on eBay now as I used to be, as it seems its now been flooded with scams and overpriced cars. So shop carefully.

For more details on buying a good classic mustang that needs no restoration, stay tuned for part 2.

Cheers!

Shaun