Urgent Advice: Should I buy '73 Mustang Mach-1?

You're barking up the wrong tree. The car is not for you.

The car is a good buy for the right person.

That person is a collector who wants to restore it and bring it to car shows, go cruising, etc.

It is not a car for a person who knows nothing about cars or who wants to drive it on a daily basis.

If you want a decent car for $8k, try getting a used Taurus (the Taurus is a solid car) or a Countour V6. Both should be reliable. Of course, people will also recommend used Hondas and Toyotas.

The car you are looking at will be a pain the butt for you. You will be putting major engine parts, a transmission, a dashboard, etc., before you know it. Plus, it is not as safe because the brakes are not as good as those on more modern cars, it doesn't have air bags, etc.

Jeff

Snip

Well I would suggest you check for any more rust(uder the capets, the trunk, wheel wells, etc). The price sounds ok, and you have some money to spend on it. That helps... See if it has a current state inspection and or have a car person give it a look see. (independent eyes) Is this the car for you? Well, remember this is a 30 year old car. It does not drive like a Honda Civic or get 40MPG. Start reading some magazines like Mustang & Fast Ford, Muscle Car, or Hot Rod. They will be helpful on learning stuff about Mustangs.

Easy to fix? Depends on what you want to do. Daily driver? Show car? or Saturday night Drag car? The world is filled with parts for it & the engines are simple no computer technology or electronics.

VM opined in news:OZNId.113$ snipped-for-privacy@fe39.usenetserver.com:

The very fact that you are asking on here, and not AT LEAST, the Mustang group shows that this car and you are a very bad match.

When you buy a 30 plus Mustang, the LAST thing you consider are paint blemishes.

Also the ODO mileage is irrelevant for a daily driver. It ALSO has nothing to do with how reliable the car will be after this amount of time, and ESPECIALLY how much hidden rust there may be..

Also the GAS mileage on those cars REALLY sux! You will be lucky to get 14 MPG highway, look for 10 or under in town.

I suggest that if you want to get into Good performance cars with some reliability, you look into the late eighties Fox Mustand 5.0 cars... parts are readily available, they are already being "collected" sort of..

Or mid late 80 CamaBirds.

Once you have gotten a little of the "bug" and are comfy with the repair and upkeep required, THEN you can look at the older cars.

Believe me... I was in my thirties when those cars were brand new and they werent all that reliable even when they were young.

Rustang...

And after they come out of the bodyshop looking good, very often a "mudstang"

Kid brother had a '73 fastback with crankdown rear windows (from a Grande coupe) and fold down back seat. Quite a unique car. 351M engine went like there was no tomorrow, but still could not keep up to my other brother's '68 Sport Satelite 318 HO.(318 with all the 340 goodies on it)

snipped-for-privacy@sny.der.on.ca wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Mustang never used the 351m (the fact it wasn`t even intoduced yet is another fact) KB

Heh, I had a 68 or 69 Satellite 2 door with a stock 383 and 4on the floor. Got it running out of a junkyard (was hit in the nose), couldn't kill that demon and sold it at a small profit before college in the fall. Many many moons ago.

Never said it was stock did I? Never had crankdowns in the rear quarter window of a fastback either, from the factory. I don't think the fold-down was a factory option in that car either. Just like the sport fury never had a 318 with 340 heads and cam etc.