A rare 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 recently made its way onto eBay, but the car is not exactly as it seems. Fox News reports that the vintage muscle machine, owned by a Denver, Colorado man, was up for sale with all of the hallmarks of an incredible barn find; however, the real story is a bit more…odd.
The car’s a great find for sure, but don’t be fooled by its looks. Though the “M Code” Mustang was featured on barnfinds.com, it’s actually not the ratted-out hot rod everyone first thought it was. The owner says he covered it in a patina- and rust-covered wrap to give the car a barn-fresh look, finishing the ensemble with some rusty steel wheels. The car may have been parked in a barn briefly at some point, but underneath the wrap, it’s in pretty solid shape.
The seller first owned the car in high school and sold it in 1984 but tracked it down a few years ago and re-purchased it. The Mustang’s actual paint job is bright yellow with black accents. It came with the original 351-cubic-inch Cleveland V8, an Edelbrock air cleaner, and an automatic transmission, which replaced the factory three-speed manual. The original gearbox is still with the car and was included in the sale.
Ford added the Mach 1 package to the Mustang lineup for the 1969 model year, which included a 351 Windsor V8 (replaced by a Cleveland V8 the next year), a three-speed manual, and the now-familiar fastback roof. The cars carried upgraded suspension and an optional “Shaker hood,” which our pseudo-ratty Mustang has. The Mach 1 stuck around until 1978, even through the less-than-great Mustang II years. The name made a comeback 25 years later with the 2003 Mustang until phasing out again just a year later.
This Mach 1 is no longer for sale, but it had a “buy it now” price of $25,000—nearly $15,000 under the average retail price listed on Hagerty’s valuation tool and less than the reserve price of other Mach 1 models for sale on eBay at this time.