1970 Ford Mustang Walkaround With Steve Magnante

Hey, Steve Agnani here at High Octane Classics with the original Pony Car. Now, this is the second generation, if you will, of the Ford Mustang, which arrived in 1964 and a half as a 1965 model year vehicle. In fact, there are no Mustangs with 1964 VIN codes. They're all 65s, even though Ford started building the Mustang pretty early in 1964 to get ahead of the rush that they knew was going to come for the sleek and exciting Mustang. Now, they've got to remember that the Mustang was basically a Ford Falcon with a really nice body. Underneath that Mustang skin was a Falcon, Ford Falcon, with four lug wheels on the six-cylinder models and basically the underpinnings of a Falcon. With that said, they knew that the baby boomers who were just becoming of driving age in 1964-65 were going to want cool, sexy cars, and they knew the Mustang was going to be hot, and it was. A total of 681,000 Mustangs were sold in 1965, the full model year, 64 and a half through 65, and that's more than Ford anticipated. They had two factories, I think even three factories, eventually cranking out Mustangs to meet the demand. So, Mustangs then is now popular cars. Now, this one again is a 1970. From 67 onward, we kind of call those second-gen Mustangs because they're a wider engine bay to handle a big block. They're a little bigger than the 64 and a half, five, and six. So, 67 through 70 would be considered the second-gen Mustangs. Now, here's the thing. In 65 of those 681,000 Mustangs, only 77,000 were fastbacks or two-plus-twos, but by 1970, 87,000 of the 191,000 Mustangs built were sports roofs or fastbacks like this one here. So, you know, the fastbacks started off very humbly, but eventually came up to almost half of production by 1970 as people realized that it's sleek, it's sexy, it's cool. The Mustang notchback is okay, but it's more workmanlike. Closer to a Falcon or a Fairlane, frankly, it's not as Mustang as a fastback. Convertibles were always a fraction of production. But again, this one here, it looks like a Mach 1. It's actually kind of a hot rod. This car was born in F code 302 two-barrel. Nothing wrong with that. Along the way, an awesome shaker has been added, and the shaker hood, again, say what you want about the 70 Hemi Cooter or the 70 Trans Am Firebird Pontiac, which had shaker hoods. Ford did it first in 1969. Of course, this scoop is actually affixed to the engine and wiggles with the engine. More on that in a little while. But this one here is a beautiful, sleek example, was just basically an F code 302 fastback. Not a Boss, not a Mach 1, just a run-of-the-mill car, which is a fine thing. Upgraded with American Racing Torque Thrust wheels, 15s front and rear. Factory disc brakes up front, which are just fine. They do the job very well. And inside, of course, the bucket seats. We'll get to that. But again, this beautiful fastback roof right here, which Ford called the Sports Roof by this point in time. For 1965 and 66, it was called the 2 Plus 2 because two in the front, two in the back. But by this point in time, Sports Roof became the name for these. But something really cool is right here in this spot here. In 1969, when this body style debuted, there was a fake duct right inside of here. For 1970, Ford smoothed it off and got rid of it. But here's the rub. In 1969, the Boss 302 Mustang previewed this effect. So the only 69 Mustang without a slot here event would be the Boss 302. For 1970, all Mustangs deleted the slot. So a little bit of trivia there for you. One thing I love about all Mustang fastbacks of this period is the built-in cam back, this sort of jaunty, snubbed-off tail, and the built-in deck lid spoiler right there, which absolutely has some impact on downforce at speed, but also just makes this thing look so cool. If this came straight down, you'd lose some of the height. It just wouldn't look as cool. And again, by adding in this tail spoiler here, the stylist gave the Mustang a very blunt, business-like tail effect. And like all Mustangs up to this point, the gas filler is right where it should be, right in the middle here, in the rear taillight panel, right there with a cable. The early 64 and a half cars didn't have this cable. And as a result, a lot of folks lost or misplaced their caps. But for 65 onward, the cable there helps us to stay right where it needs to be with the car. So the outside of this car is gorgeous, but we now have to look under the hood. Under the hood, there's that mighty shaker we saw sitting on top of a Ford small block. Now, I like the way this one's been presented, right down to the Ford blue paint with the OK, which is something that certainly could have been seen at the factory after perhaps the engine was wet-tested on the dyno. They would do that to every so many engines to make sure they were happy and healthy. Very correct underhood presentation, semi-flat coloring here. Of course, the shock braces to the firewall. There is a small four-barrel, looks like a Holley four-barrel on this one here. So that's a good thing to see right there. So the two-barrel F code engine from days of old has been upgraded with a four-barrel carburetor, again, on the small block Ford. The shaker is a wonder. Again, when the engine moves, the shaker wiggles with it. And at a stoplight, if you put the car in gear or neutral, you rub the gas, it does a little kick like that. It just kind of gives the car an element of life that it wouldn't have otherwise. Radiators and Mustangs traditionally have been decent, but this one's a little better. It looks the part of a stocker, but this is a wider, thicker aluminum item from the aftermarket, which is just fine with me. It hides in plain sight. And we do see on this one, the dual horns, which of course are part of the Mustang, every Mustang package. On certain cars, the 428 Super Cobra jets with the low gear sets, they had an oil cooler right here. So the second horn would move over to that side. Again, that would be only on the 428 Super Cobra jet cars with the 391 of the 430 gears. But little details like that are interesting to study. The shock towers on this Mustang are kind of intrusive into the engine bay. But again, with the small block, it's plenty of room here to change plug wires. No problem at all. On a big block, things are a little different, but again, the small block is lighter. It's very peppy and will give this car pretty decent handling going down the road versus a big block that might make it a little more nose heavy. But again, the small block Ford, this one here is basically stock externally down to the cast iron exhaust manifolds, which is a nice thing because sometimes steel tube headers can develop leaks at the header flange and kind of need some tightening every once in a while as the cast iron manifolds are there for life. On this side, there's the stock type Ford alternator right there. Nice to see that. No unnecessary bling, but the tower clamps here are correct and accounted for, as is this hose clamp right here. All of that's Ford factory assembly line stuff. And even the hot tube to the choke with the asbestos ring around it right there from the manifold to feed the carburetor warm air to help it warm up faster is present. And the powered by Ford valve covers, first seen in 1968, present and accounted for, all very nice and tidy under the hood. So it's nice that this car is tasteful on the outside, tasteful under the hood. No boy racer touches. Now, some would say, well, that shaker's boy racer, right? Nah, if it was good enough for Ford on the Mach 1, it's good enough for me. That's factory stuff right there. So that's a story about the under hood area. Let's look inside. The inside of the Mustang is just as sporty as the outside. In fact, that goes all the way back to 1964 and a half for the 1965s. They always have bucket seats with some having a bench up front, but again, the buckets give these things a very sporty vibe. They always have a floor shifter, whether it's the automatic or the stick, no column shifters in Mustangs ever, unlike Camaro and Firebird, which actually could be had, and Barracuda for that matter, with a column shifted to automatic or three-speed. Always a floor shifter, just like a sports car in every Mustang. Now here's the thing. This one here has a Hurst T-grip handle on it, like a Boss 302 Mustang would have had, but underneath this 1234 is actually a five-speed manual. Now, you got to remember that the five-speed manual didn't arrive in Mustang land until the mid-1980s as Ford sought better fuel economy in the days of the EPA and CAFE, which we still have. But again, that five-speed manual is not your enemy. It's your friend. The one in this one is a heavy-duty piece to keep up with that four-barrel 302, and the beauty of the five-speed is that first gear is a little bit lower than a four-speed for better dig off the line, and fifth gear is overdrive, which drops engine speed, RPMs, noise, and fuel consumption on the open road. So again, while it says Ford, this one has a hidden TKO five-speed under the floorboards. Got to love the dual-cowl effect of the dashboard right here. Standard fare on all Mustangs. The padding here was sort of a crash-worthiness effect to protect the occupants against impacts inside as Detroit made its way towards safer interiors. But again, just very sexy, almost like a fighter aircraft co-pilot scenario here. And this one has the original Ford Mustang AM-FM radio. We do this little slider here that's FM. There's AM. You can listen to either or. But if you want to listen to some more modern music, here's a JVC CD player here, AM-FM. So they're both present and accounted for. If you ask me, I like the looks of this one. I like the function of that. I'll take some CDs or, you know, modern music any day versus the old AM-FM. Now, of course, the glove compartment in this one is very cool, very tidy. Even has the original consumer information pamphlet, which was standard on all Ford products in 1970. Tells you about buckling up for safety, as, of course, safety became more and more important as the 1970s unfolded. And again, the back seats on these, not massive. You know, these were often called two-plus-twos because of the fact the rear seat was built for two human beings. Here's those seatbelts right here. Standard fare in 1970. But again, this back seat has a pretty hard center, which goes over the driveshaft tunnel. So one, two, three, four, a four-passenger car. I mean, you could cram three in the back. It wouldn't be much fun. But these were meant to be two-seaters from the back area here. But again, a very tidy interior, nice headliner, a nice carpet. All of this is fresh. I even like the aftermarket floor mats here. They have the Mustang logo and the Ford blue oval in them like that. Just a little touch, a cherry on top, if you will. So that's the inside of the car we've seen under the hood. Let's take a look at the trunk. Now, the Mustang never claimed to be a full-sized galaxy or, you know, a family-type car. These were sporty, personal luxury or personal sports cars. So the trunk lids on these are short, but they're surprisingly big inside. These actually have a pretty good cargo volume, as long as whatever you have to go in the trunk will fit through this slot right here. Most things will. Grocery bags, stuff like that. So you can fill it right out to there, in fact. So there's plenty of room in the trunk of this and all Mustangs at this point in time. Now, the convertibles were a little bit more restrictive. The top stack would fold down here, so you wouldn't have access to that forward foot and a half or so. But again, the trunk areas on these are pretty big if you're, you know, a single person or a newlywed couple without a whole bunch of kids to travel with and all their things. Now, under this trunk mat, which is the correct piece, let's have a look at the trunk floor. One thing that's very unique about Ford vehicles at this point in time was the fact that they were designed with the gas tank as the trunk floor. Now, that's not an issue at all. Ford gave you a nice, thick rubber mat right here, which prevents any damage to the top of the gas tank. And speaking of gas tanks, this one is a very nice reproduction, brand new. The gray paint on that keeps it protected forever. Top and bottom, kind of nice to see that. The trunk floor and all the other areas on this one are very, very tidy. This is a very rust-free, clean example of the breed. A lot of people sometimes say rustang instead of Mustang. You can't blame the Mustang for rust. You know, you drive any car in a salty environment, it's going to succumb to rust eventually, especially in, you know, New England or Michigan or a place like that. But if you care for your Mustang, it won't become a rustang. And again, the trunk on this is pretty big. You've got to love how Mustang's spelled out with individual letters, M-U-S-T-A-N-G. And that's actually fairly expensive to do compared to a single Mustang with a web holding it together, because each letter has to be installed by a human being on the assembly line, which is what happened when these were built. So, but it gives the Mustang a little extra elan and just a beautiful example. Now the wheels on this one are kind of cool. They're not factory, but that's okay. If you know your Steve McQueen history, there was a movie called Bullet from 1968. He drove a Highland Green Ford Mustang GT, similar to this, same family, the second gen, a little different in the body, but he had American Racing Torque Thrust mags front and rear. So these are a wonderful nod to Steve McQueen's Highland Green Bullet Mustang from that timeless 1968 movie. In fact, that car sold for, I think, multiple millions recently. So these wheels are appropriate on any Mustang. So that's the story of how 1970 was the final year for the second generation Mustang. 1971 brought the full size Mustang with that massive fastback. And you know, you like it or you don't like it, you choose. They're bigger cars, but if you want a tidy, good handling little Mustang, 1970 would be the final year for it. With the shaker, the 5-speed manual, the torque thrust, the front disc brakes, this would be a heck of a daily driver. If you like what you've seen in this video, keep in mind that most of the vehicles shown on the High Octane Classics YouTube channel are available for purchase for as little as 10% down. And even though High Octane Classics is located in Auburn, Massachusetts, we can deliver these cars anywhere on the planet. And we do consider trades. So if you have a motorcycle, another classic, an exotic, you name it, we can certainly consider it as a possible trade toward the vehicle you want to buy. To learn more about these vehicles, check them out on the High Octane Classics website or call 508-859-4515.