It was the summer of ‘72 and exciting things were happening for me despite barely graduating high school due to serious senioritis during the spring. I had attained first-time love with a new girlfriend and was looking forward to a trip to London in August to visit family before starting college in September.
I was a kid who grew up on the “wrong side of the tracks” in a wealthy Southern California town and didn’t have a car of my own like many of my classmates. Instead, I borrowed cars from my parents or a family friend named Arthur, who sold a crapped-out rotating fleet of cars off the street through the local newspaper. Arthur would shuttle these cars from body shops to repair shops, and tire shops, far and wide, and even to Tijuana for upholstery work. I worked for free just for the privilege of driving the likes of a ‘64 Bonneville hardtop with the brakes failing 2 blocks from home (luckily at low speed) and a dash that looked like it had been mauled by a pit bull.
Other notables were a ‘63 red Triumph Herald convertible with rusted-out floorboards like a Flintstone mobile, and a 1963 Mercury Monterey Breezeway with the unique reverse “C” pillar and slant forward lowering rear window. All of these cars had outdated tags. The Monterey got me pulled over more than once by the Sheriffs. My long-haired hippy looks didn’t help, either. One day, at a stop on Sunset Blvd., the massive trunk full of folded drapes for some unknown reason got the Sheriff pulling his gun on me. I truly believe we both thought a body was beneath that hefty pile of drapery!
Anyway, this leads me to say that the plan was for me to live at home and commute to college, and some form of reliable transport was needed. Given that I had to give up my after-school grocery bagger job to overcome a couple of Senior fail notices, I didn’t have much green to apply to a car. My step-father was always adamantly against buying used cars. I had driven a neighbor’s ‘71 Toyota Carolla coupe which I truly liked, that was about the best lower-cost car I could aspire to. At least I thought.
Meanwhile, my stepfather was a chronic gambler and I knew I could find him in these lowlife card rooms around town if I needed to get with him for any reason. One day around this time he told me to go and see his card-playing pal who was the sales manager at a local Ford dealer to pick out one of the Mustangs they had on the lot. Well, that pretty much surprised me as I never expected a Mustang to be in my cards. I went to the dealer and was shown two leftover ‘72 models when the ‘73s were just awaiting arrival. One was the featured fastback Sprint special edition model the other was a well-equipped medium metallic blue Grande coupe with a vinyl top. I kind of figured that the Grande seemed more like a mom’s car. The Sprint edition seemed an oddity. I had never seen any of the ads for this model and wasn’t even aware of it. Of course, a real dream car for me would have been an actual Boss 302 or Mach 1.
I was concerned about what my friends would think of this version, like if this car was too garish. But that didn’t seem to be the case; in fact, nobody said anything. Just shows you when you grow up around a bunch of affluent nonplussed kids. I can remember my stepfather’s deal with his Ford guy was to pay half down in cash and the other half is 30 days. Everything was always a deal with him and most of anything new we had around the house always “fell off a truck “. So, I suppose getting my Mustang like this was just par for the course when you live with a compulsive gambler.
“What’s red, white, and blue and brand new from Ford?” asked a 1972 magazine advertisement. The answer was the Sprint Décor Option Package, available for “Ford’s three popular small cars,” the Pinto, Maverick, and Mustang—interesting that the ad grouped the Mustang among its “small cars,” as the Mustang’s 1971 redesign made it bigger in nearly every dimension. The patriotic option group, made available in February 1972, celebrated the American spirit and the upcoming Olympic Games in Munich and declining Mustang sales.
The package included a GT look without the GT price, and there were two options: Package A and Package B. The Sportsroof, which consisted of blue stripes and red pinstripes over Wimbledon White paint along with the Exterior Décor Group (a blacked-out honeycomb grille with driving lights, color-keyed front bumper, and hood and fender moldings), body-color racing mirrors and American flag shields on the rear fenders.
The interior, too, had the all-American color scheme, with blue Lambeth cloth inserts and red piping in the white vinyl seats. The original Sprint Package A included E70-14 white sidewall tires on steel wheels with hubcaps and the 302 V8 with automatic, or an upgrade B package like mine to 15-inch Magnum 500 wheels with Goodyear Wide Oval 60 tires, the 351 2V Cleveland engine joined to a SelectShift Cruise-O-Matic, and upgraded suspension.
In 2-barrel trim, the 351 Cleveland V8 was rated at 177 HP and 284 lb-ft of torque. Air conditioning and power brakes rounded out the fastback’s optional features. It had the standard AM radio, to which I added an under-dash 8-track player and foot well speakers.
A run of 50 convertibles with this motif was made in 1972. The goal was to have them take part in the Cherry Blossom Parade Festival in Washington D.C. in April of that year. These were handsome cars that had upgraded door panels that were a distinct improvement.
According to the 1972 Mustang Sprint registry, only 9383 Sprint Mustangs were built between March and June 1972—less than 7.5 percent of total Mustang production that year. 3086 Sportsroofs, 6247 coupes, and 50 of the aforementioned convertibles.
Folks ridicule this series of Mustang, but this about the time that I started driving, so they caught my attention.
If I had room in the driveway, a fastback would be more than welcomed.
Bought a ‘73 Mustang convertible new…6 cylinder, 3-speed (due to the gas crisis at the time). I thought it was a “looker” and a decent car. Unfortunately, it was no where close to how nicely my Mom’s ‘65 Mustang drove and handled with the same basic drivetrain; the bigger size and weight really made it feel more, well, lethargic, I guess, is the best way to describe it. I kept it for five years, until I needed a car that would fit two infant car seats!
Great first COAL, Bradillac! Also, awesome first car for a kid from the “wrong side of the tracks”. I knew about these Mustangs. Even with the low production numbers, a picture of a Sprint usually pops up in any Mustang history when talking about this generation, and they sporadically appear at car shows. What surprised me was the Maverick and Pinto. I don’t think I’ve even seen pictures of these two, much less ones in the wild. Their production numbers must be miniscule.
When mine was new, I never saw any of the other models in this livery either. It wasn’t until a few years later that I saw a Maverick. It was fun writing the article and a walk down my memory lane that made it worthwhile. I always knew a ’72 fastback would have been worth keeping as a collectible, but never thought the Sprint edition would be an added benefit.
I miss the days when the entire country could get excited about something like the Bicentennial for literally years leading up to it. 1972 seems a bit early to be ginning up special Bicentennial editions of something like a car; but hey, 7/4/1976 was going to be just about the greatest thing that had ever happened…ever. In America at least (and who cared about anywhere else?). Or that’s what we were told to believe.
Excellent first post, Bradillac. I’m guessing from the user name that you didn’t remain a Ford guy forever. Looking forward to the rest of the story.
Years ago, I discussed that same thing, Jeff, using a similar car. The consensus was that the ’72 Sprint was an homage to the 1972 Olympics, but the comments regarding the Bicentennial era were fun.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/car-show-classic/car-show-classic-1972-mustang-sprint-and-1974-chevrolet-impala-spirit-of-america-bicentennial-fever/
Good point about the 1972 Olympics also being a driver of these “spirit”, patriotic, editions. Funny thing is that I vividly remember the 1972 Olympics…which sadly were not much of a celebration as it turns out; and although I very much recall the years of hype leading up to the Bicentennial, when it actually arrived, it was sort of a big letdown.
I recall riding down to the Mall in DC in the Fiat 128 to watch the fireworks with my Dad, and the traffic was so bad that we didn’t get any closer than along the GW parkway on the VA side of the river. And the fireworks that year (unlike most years) were “special”…which ironically meant closer to the ground. So, from Virginia, we couldn’t even really see them. Bummer all around.
One of my favorite things about living in D.C. on Capitol Hill was having the National Fireworks display be my “local” show, then walking home after the fireworks while millions of people got into their cars or flooded the Metro.
Welcome to the COAL mines! I remember this color scheme/package, through in my memory it was more common on Pintos than on Mavericks or Mustangs. I thought these were cool in 1972, and still like them now.
Back in the day, seems like every couple of years leading up to the Bicentennial, each of the domestics had some sort of patriotic-themed trim package that was (usually) white with red and blue trim. AMC might have been the first with their red, white, and blue 1970 Javelin Trans Am (although the 1969 SC/Rambler and 1970 Rebel ‘Machine’ were white cars with red and blue stripes).
Then came the 1972 Ford Pinto, Maverick, and Mustang ‘Sprints’ shown here. Two years later in1974 saw the Chevrolet ‘Spirit of America’ Vega, Nova, Caprice, and even El Camino.
Finally, there was the 1974-75 Dodge Dart ‘Hang 10’ special with similar color and trim, but it didn’t specifically have a patriotic bent.
But, then, that particular fad seemed to completely disappear as quickly as it came.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-mystery-1974-chevrolet-el-camino-spirit-of-america-or-is-it-better-than-any-dime-store-mystery-novel/
Welcome to a new COALer! These Mustangs have really grown on me over the years, especially the fastbacks. I read that the roof line was supposed to allude to the GT40. I would love a Mach One of this series. Rearward visibility must have been terrible, but now I would just add a back up camera with the screen that replaces the rear view mirror.
If you think that these are big, park one next to a new Mustang for a new perspective. Looking forward to your next installment.
You need a camera for more than just reversing in these. You need it full time, even with dual mirrors, which Ford had the temerity to charge extra for.
Nice article! This gen in SportsRoof and convertible styles are nice looking cars. Ford was still doing feature cars into the 2000’s.
A little late to the party, but what a great COAL! Welcome.
CC Effect, or am I just reaching here? On my desk at this very moment is a mug featuring this car (see below).
Like others here, I remember all the Bicentennial hype. I was 16 in 1976 and it made quite an impression on a teenage me. And I remember all of these special edition cars too.
Red, White, and Blue were all the rage back then…
I too remember many Bicentennial cars but not these .
I like the white with blue strips now, not sure what I’d have thought back then .
I want to know how the ‘thirty days later’ part of the deal turned out .
I learned to distrust gamblers early on .
-Nate