CC loves to hate the Mustang II. Over a dozen posts dissected this little piglet of a Malaise mobile in various ways, so much so that there is little left, if anything, to uncover or analyse. The Cobra was comprehensively de-fanged (with venom), the Mach 1 supersonically skewered, the Ghia gored, gutted and goulashed to oblivion. Surely there is some bile left for one more?
Given how many times this car has graced (if that’s the word I’m looking for) these pages, we will probably skip the usual spiel about the model’s particulars and shrink it all into about three sentences, starting, strangely enough, at the beginning: These Pinto-based Mustangs appeared in 1974.
They were much smaller than their immediate predecessors, but still were mighty heavy and underpowered – not just the 83-92hp (depending on the year) 4-cyl. ones, but also the German-sourced V6 and the so-called “5.0” Windsor V8, which arrived in 1975 with all of 122hp.
They were mercifully replaced by the Fox Mustang in 1979, but still managed to sell an impressive 1.1m units in five model years. There, that’s all we really need, I guess. I’m sure the overwhelming majority of you have far more knowledge about these than I do anyway.
I’m not sure what happened to this particular one, nor why it landed here. I found it in a completely white rice area of north Tokyo, far from the places where one can usually run into interesting foreign-made classics. It should have been a ‘70s Nissan or Mazda, but there was a glitch in the matrix and this batshit crazy Ford materialized instead.
Compounding the oddity of this particular car’s presence in that location was its general demeanor. This Stang was pimped out to the nines and it has one axle in the junkyard. Nearly all the cars seen on Japanese streets are near pristine. These folks are obsessive about automotive cleanliness (and tidiness in general, of course), so much so that finding a rusty, dirty or otherwise imperfect automobile takes some doing. And this one is an impressive mix of sun-faded patina and grime, in the purest Detroit tradition, one might say.
The condition is one thing, but this particular Mustang is all about the accessories. Too numerous to enumerate, they decorate every panel of this portly porcine profile in a vain attempt at beautification. So much lipstick, fake eyelashes and tattoos… That grille ornament (using the loosest meaning of the word) is pretty unique, but those headlight dinguses (term copyrighted by Daniel Stern) take the cake by putting not one but eight cherries on top.
I’m not sure whether the situation is the same inside. For one thing, the window was not the clearest, despite my best efforts. For another, I’m really not well-versed in these Mustangs, so I have no idea whether that faux wood handle on the handbrake is legit or not. The colour of the seat fabric certainly seems out of place, but it was the mid-‘70s, a time when anything was possible.
The biggest source of bemusement, as far as I’m concerned, is that B-pillar vinyl comb-over. I did have a look at period Ford literature to check if this was part of some limited edition Ghia package or whatever, but I cannot find anything like it anyplace.
Given the look of the license plate, as well as the car’s general appearance, I’d guess this Mustang was sold new in Japan. And given how the tyres are slowly deflating and the lichen has started to grow under it, we’re witnessing its demise here, too. Kind of touching, really. Will anyone shed a tear for a Mustang II? No?
CC is a harsh place.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1974 Mustang Mach 1 – The Soul Survivor, by Dave Skinner
Curbside Classic: 1974 Ford Mustang II Notchback – Mustang II, Recognition Zero, by Joseph Dennis
Curbside Classic: 1975 Ford Mustang II Ghia – More Pinto Carlo Than PintoStang, by Joseph Dennis
Curbside Classic: 1976 Mustang II Cobra II – Ford’s Deadly Sin II, by PN
Curbside Classic: 1978 Mustang Cobra II — The Winter of My Discontent, by Ed Stembridge
Car Show Classic: 1978 Mustang II King Cobra – The First 5.0 And A Screaming Cobra, by Aaron65
Curbside Classic: A Tale of II Mustangs – What A Difference Five Years Makes, by Ed Stembridge
Vintage R&T Review: 1974 Mustang Mach 1 – “Neither Fast Nor Particularly Good-Handling…”, by PN
Vintage Comparison: 1975 Mustang II V8 vs. Chevy Monza 2+2 V8 – The V8 Shetland Pony Car Shootout, by PN
Curbside What If? CC Builds A Better Mustang II, by PN
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: 1977 Mustang II 2+2 – Pinocchio, by PN
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: Mustang II Notchback, by PN
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: Mustang II Found In Budapest – Why?, by PN
On The Go Outtake: Mustang II Ghia V8 – Too Hot To Even Consider Chasing, by PN
CC Cinema Outtake: Ford Mustang II Photobomb, by Robert Kim
I think the wings of the grille emblem are from a Hino truck.
+1.
+2 First thought that came to mind. Glad I’m not the only one… I guess we’re safe in the group, right?
Destined to be crushed in Japan. I would gladly give it a good home and some rehab.
If it runs and there actually is no rust its a candidate to emigrate to NZ Japanese orphans come here by the boatload but this isnt subject to the new safety regulations its too old to qualify it just needs to be totally solid underneath somebody would want it here guarenteed its a V8 and it certainly isnt the only Mustang2 to wash up on these shores.
The glass t-topped models of ’77 and ’78 had the “combover”, presumably to add structural reinforcement. Those t-tops are missing here, though, so I’m at a loss.
It’s curious, not only on this car but I’m almost certain I’ve seen more T top Mustang IIs without the band than with it, Cobras in particular, I’d think that band piece would interfere with the quarter window louvers.
I assumed it was purely decorative to emulate the Porsche Targa bar, but I do wonder if there is indeed hidden reenforcement now that you mention it, the normal B pillars are pretty thin
Matt, you are right. I Googled pictures of Cobra IIs with t-tops, and not all of them have this roof band. I hadn’t even thought of that. In my mind’s eye, when I think of Mustang IIs with t-tops, I think of that press photo of the yellow one with black trim – and that roof bar thing.
I think I may have figured it out after some sleuthing, the 78 brochure is the only one that features what Ford called the “T-roof convertible” (uh huh) and it mentioned it was “well recieved when introduced last year, it is again available on all 3 door models”
https://lov2xlr8.no/brochures/ford/78mustang/bilder/9.jpg
What I deduced from that is the T tops were probably aftermarket supplied conversions done along with the rest of the Cobra II package, and in 1978 Ford had engineered their own design with the bar(which I bet you’re right in covering reinforcement). Same thing happened with the Firebird and Camaro, 1978s were in house designs and 77 and earlier were conversions done by Hurst.
But then that doesnt quite explain the 78s that don’t have the band, including the King Cobra in Ford’s own glamour shot!
I would propose that the woodgrain parking brake handle is original, but that the seats are not.
Wow, this looks like something we might find moldering on a crumbling inner-city parking lot or maybe outside of a small town garage where someone parked it in 2002, but not in Tokyo. Is this someone’s way of demonstrating the superiority of the local product?
I spent more time around these than I wanted to back in the 70s and early 80s. Every time I start to get nostalgic, I remember a friend who owned one, who was jealous of the smooth idle of my slant six that was older and had far more miles than the 4 cylinder Mustang II he was still making payments on.
The doors look to have been waxed with an orbital sander, there is an air deflector directly behind the hood scoop (but it has two tiny leaks due to the creases in the hood), and the front fenders have not one but TWO engine callouts.
While this ’58 Buick of a Mustang II isn’t my thing at all, I do kind of give the owner credit for his creativity. That air deflector on the hood has simply made my day.
Glad you liked that deflector, cause I kind of found it irresistible too.
Here’s another view below.
Full of baubles and trinkets and signifying nothing. I see folks here doing that to new kei cars and old drift rockets…
Proof that broughaming anything is a crime against the Geneva Convention.
The Japanese Government has parked this car around the country for 45 years to discourage American imports.
The American 120y Datsun they share so many styling cues given by the ugly stick.
I know these cars were awful but I still hope this gets saved….
‘fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down’ .
-Nate
The success of the Granada, Torino and Mustang II really caps off Ford’s desecration of automobiles of this era. Wildly popular but a death knell for the Ford legacy. It is very difficult seeing any of these as a legitimate attempt to build a decent car. The profits must have been phenomenal, because there doesn’t appear to be a damn dime spent on engineering in any of these. Ford knew what it was doing – robbery.
Seriously, all common Fords of this era were lipstick on pigs. AMC had excuses for the sad vehicles they produced – desperation. Chrysler still made Valiant/Dart. GM actually seemed to assemble rides that would run longer than a year. Detroit seemed committed to shoving every American into buying a reliable tin-toy Toyota or Datsun. Detroit made loads of loot and kept on selling crap until buyers stopped returning.
I had a girlfriend with a Mustang II and it was so bad, that although I didn’t own a car – I wouldn’t drive it unless I absolutely had to. Most of the time I rode with the passenger’s seat reclined so that I could fit in it. My buddy ended up with a Granada and driving it was like punching a sponge.
The only thing that kept me looking a Ford was my family’s long-term employment with them. It wasn’t until 1978 when the Fairmont showed up that I started believing that Ford was serious about making a decent car.
Cars of this generation seem like a repeat of the finned years of bad rides.
I too had a girlfriend with a Mustang II and I can relate. I drove it once or twice and it was not pleasant. Riding in the passenger seat was no better. And in hindsight, it’s amazing how it had deteriorated in less than ten years. And felt like it was from a whole different era than the Fox Mustangs that were sold at the time.
This is your best find of the year, if not ever. Absolutely perfect, in every aspect and detail; the ultimate Mustang II. This is a CC poster child; the best find of 2021.
The Hino truck “wings”in the grille is the piece de resistance. If it weren’t for that, it could be something I might hope to find in some little rural Oregon hamlet.
Maybe we need a CC calendar; this could have pride of place!
Thank you Paul!
It was the second red Mustang I found that day, after an all-too-obviously-restored ’65 coupe. One of those weird days when lightning strikes twice and you’re there to bottle it up.
“Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last?” Must we continue to persecute this last standing, OK kneeling, example of FORD’s Better and brighter Idea? This was our Nation’s BiCentennial year and surely we remember just 10 years prior when everyone was reveling over and anxiously wanting to buy a new Mustang. How could so much go so wrong in just 10 years?
Somewhere, maybe very close by, sits the owner hoping against hope that someone would come and rescue his little puny before the Grim Reaper passes by and wipes his little steed off the global map. Has it come so far just to die in a foreign land? “Oh, the inhumanity of it all.”
Such an intentional train wreck. I remember when, 20 plus years ago, many friends had
beater cars modified in amusing, homebuilt ways. It was a tongue in cheek way to
have fun with a couple of hundred dollar, or free from grandma, car. If only I had taken
photos of such things back in the day. I remember one acquaintance, a punk rock kind
of guy who drove a battered Chevette that was faded battleship grey. what made it
interesting was that he had covered most of the inside class with cutouts from porn
magazines with the said images facing outwards. This, mind you, was his regular car
he drove in Baltimore. Not sure why this “Mustang” reminded me of that.
I thought the Mustang II couldn’t get any uglier when they came off of the assembly line.
I was just proven wrong.
I think that this car had something to do with the nuclear accident at Fukushima.
I love it!
It has a special kind of character that puts it apart from all the other 1976 Mustangs running around the streets of that Japanese city.
No doubt that the owner is saving up for a paint refresh soon! Adding a set of passenger side curb feelers would add to its charm!
There seems to have been quite an interest in these little Mustangs (or should that be “Mustangs”?) in Japan back in the day.
Nitto produced several kits of these, both the Mach 1 fastback and the Ghia coupe, but in 1/16 scale. They have opening everything, the usual Japanese poseable steering, possibly working suspension as well (my memory’s a bit vague about that. I know Bandai did working suspension). Now most Japanese model kits are 1/24 scale, pretty much the international standard (except US, where it’s 1/25); 1/16 models are quite a bit larger (and more expensive, thus less likely to sell); to do these in 1/16 makes me think these cars were viewed by the Japanese (or Nitto at least) as somehow special, and worthy. Maybe “Wow – Ford has made a Celica!” – that type of special. By the way, all the various front end lighting mods seen here are in the kit; apart from the odd fender-top dinguses, this appears to be all JDM standard issue. But it doesn’t come with Hino wings around the horsie!
I don’t have photos of the Ghia I built, but the end result looks a bit cartoonish – well, more cartoonish than it should. However, here is an AMT model in 1/25 scale. Much better.
Looking at the J-spec requirements on it, this might be a Honda-Hisco car, but then again nearly all the Japanese importers and dealers at the time used similiar sources for their US imports.
This one is just a wee bit too tricked out for me, all the dinguses and doo dads festooning this everywhere. It resembles something someone might have done to a Beetle.
Nice survivor though, too bad it is dilapidating before our eyes.
… This is the one I had in mind above. Not a Beetle, but a Rabbit.
I think a lot of the problem in the Mustang II is these “performance” packages with names like Mach 1 or Cobra utterly lack character and come off as the cynical decal specials they are. This example however oozes character, through the hell and back condition and weird accessories fitted by the owners, it doesn’t take itself seriously anymore, this is actually a fun Mustang II!
Mustang IIs would have been more fondly remembered if there was a Mustang I I think, along the lines of the Bronco and Bronco II in the 80s or its contemporaries the Camaro and Monza. Maybe that would have been the time to make the Mustang a brand, rather than now with that goofy SUV thing that instantly made the Mustang II look way better 🙂
Tough crowd tonight
-Nate
So sad to see. Remember my sisters co worker having one ; same color. Was a cool car.
My brother had the regular ‘Stang II” hatchback. His was a “74”, I believe.
I’m marvelling over the lighting on this car! The North American-spec turn signals have been left in the grille, but auxiliary clear/amber light clusters were tacked below the bumper (probably because the original signals were too far inboard to pass muster with local regulations). I wonder if both sets come on together when you flip the stalk?
As far as I know, the 1974 Mustang II was the first North American-built car to have amber-coloured rear turn signals in the North American market. The ’75 Granada and ’76 Chevette were probably the second and third. (The ’76 Vega should’ve tied the latter, but GM’s bean counters omitted the bulb and plugged the hole on the back of the reflector at the 11th hour.)
That, and also amber front position (Americans say “parking”) lights aren’t allowed by European (now U.N.) Regulations; they have to be white.
Definitely not! Noncompliant lamps are not allowed to be operable. It’s only recently that the UN Regulations have allowed more than one of any kind of signal light on each side of the car, and only under strict conditions that wouldn’t be met by this setup.
There’s more to marvel at, too. American sealed-beam headlamps rather than European-type units, despite that being one of the easiest conversion swaps. Minus front and rear side marker lights and reflectors; plus side turn signal repeaters.
I have no issues with this generation of Mustang. The car was a creature of the times and it did well for that time period if you were there to live it. I once found a Mustang II for a female friend who moved here from Singapore. It was the 2.3L engine with automatic and she was quite happy with that car for the two years she had it before being hit by another driver. That find was in 1984.
Old wives tale… NOT based on the Pinto.
They share a trunk pan and front suspension that hot rodders around the world covet.
Other than that, the car has more in common with the Maverick, that was based on the original Mustang/Falcon.
If you’ve ever had an 8 cylinder model, you’d realize that the torque was more than capable to burn the tires and if you made the typical after market modifications that EVERYONE makes on ALL Mustangs and muscle cars, you have a sneaky, low budget world beater with a lot of retro style.
if properly trimmed as a Cobra II, King Cobra, t-top or sleek bodid Coupe, WITHOUT the Disco era Ghia accoutrement, you’ve got a great classic, that’s raising in price all the time regardless of what old heads and Boomers think.
The low horsepower numbers of the time matched the Camaro and the Corvette of the time. You can’t blame this car for the era it was built or the oil embargo.
Here’s a picture of my 1974 Mustang II Coupe with a 1967 289 Hi-Po V8 and 4spd top loader. Beautiful car.
It’s not an old wive’s tale. The simple fact is that the Pinto was the starting point for the MII. Period. That’s an established fact. Not many parts may interchange, but that was the starting point. Certainly not the Maverick/Falcon/Mustang platform.
It’s perfectly ok to love your MII, but trying to rewrite history is not the solution, and not welcome here.
This is so bad that it makes the convertible Pinto from Friday a more preferable Ford product from the 70s!
Hab auch einen 2er Mach 1 viel Arbeit aber feines Auto
My Dad bought my younger brother a three year old Mustang II Ghia. It was bright red, with a white vinyl half top, plush red tufted vinyl interior, spoke hub caps with whitewalls. It was a plush mini Mark or more realistically a mini T Bird. It wasn’t fast, with a four with a manual four speed, but fuel economy was the most important feature. As a shrunken PLC it was okay, but as was said previously, it couldn’t fill the shoes of the earlier Mach One or Cobra nameplates. The color matched vinyl bumpers were some of the first on American cars. It was what was needed for the times, sales proved that.
Can go on and on, but was 45+ years ago. Lee I. wanted to bring back the ’65 Mustang,
But many look back with rose colored glasses assuming “all classic [’65-73] Stangs were real muscle cars!” blah blah. Most 65’s* were small v8 or I6 powered, and no big blocks til ’68.
Anyway, car quality was low then, so even if Ford based the II on a Euro platform, that some think “would have been impeccable”, would have still had issues. Capris didn’t last long, for example, and Celicas/Z cars rusted away.
*There were no 1964 factory/retail Mustangs, period. Were early 65’s, for the millionth time.