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Ford Mustang Mach 1 Cobra Jet Manual

Ford Mustang Mach 1 Cobra Jet Manual

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Ford Mustang Mach 1 Cobra Jet ManualFord Mustang Mach 1 Cobra Jet ManualFord Mustang Mach 1 Cobra Jet ManualFord Mustang Mach 1 Cobra Jet ManualFord Mustang Mach 1 Cobra Jet Manual
Ford Mustang Mach 1 Cobra Jet ManualFord Mustang Mach 1 Cobra Jet ManualFord Mustang Mach 1 Cobra Jet Manual
Lot number 156
Hammer value N/S (est. £26,000 - £30,000)
Description Ford Mustang Mach 1 Cobra Jet Manual
Registration DRL 681L
Year 1972
Colour Grabber Blue/Silver
Engine size 5,752 cc
Chassis No. 2F05Q220458
Engine No. 2F05Q2204.58
Documents V5C; MOT April 2017; rebuild/service invoices; Marti Report

When Ford launched the original Mustang in 1964, the car was an overnight sensation, selling over one million units within 18 months, sales only being fuelled when Steve McQueen’s Lt Frank Bullitt hurled a Highland Green Fastback through the streets of San Francisco in the greatest car chase ever filmed.

However, by 1969 the opposition had finally got their act together and cars like the Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird and Plymouth Barracuda were fast eroding the Mustang’s place at the top of the ‘pony car’ tree. Ford’s riposte was the mighty Mach 1, a heavily revised Mustang with a new, larger Sportsroof (fastback) body, upgraded suspension, a distinctive interior and a more powerful 'semi-big block' 351ci (5.8-litre) V8 engine that pumped out 300bhp and 385lb/ft. Even larger 390ci and 428ci ‘big blocks’ were soon added with the option of Cobra Jet and Super Cobra Jet tuning packages to push the envelope still further (up to 335bhp and 440lb/ft).

This time James Bond was called in to fuel the sales charts, slamming a red 1971 Mach 1 through the streets of Las Vegas in ‘Diamonds Are Forever’, ultimately evading his police pursuers by tipping the car on two wheels and sliding it through a narrow alleyway in a stunt that destroyed four cars before helmsman Buzz Bundy finally pulled it off! Drag racing legend Mickey Thompson also took three Mach 1 Mustangs to the Bonneville salt flats and set 295 speed and endurance records over a series of 500-mile and 24-hour events.

Only in production until 1973 when the oil crisis kicked in and rendered such high octane fire-breathers obsolete overnight, the Mach 1 Cobra Jet is now regarded among connoisseurs as the pinnacle of the muscle car era and survivors are increasingly sought after today.

As the accompanying Marti Report confirms, this Mach 1 Cobra Jet was built in June 1972 at Ford’s Dearborn plant and despatched to Banner Ford of Bronx, New York. The specification included a 351-4V CJ engine (4V indicating 4-barrel Rochester Quadra-Jet carbs, CJ for Cobra Jet) mated to a four-speed manual transmission. It was finished in Grabber Blue with white Sebring knit/Corinthian vinyl bucket seats. Optional extras included a 3.25 Traction-Lok rear axle; power steering; power front disc brakes; Selectaire air conditioning; electric rear window defrost; tinted glass; AM/FM radio and Sports interior.

The car spent only a short time in New York before being shipped to the UK where it was first registered in December 1973. Used only sparingly over the next 30 years, it clocked up just over 40,000 miles before being put into storage in 2003, various invoices and old MOTs detailing maintenance and mileage over this period.

Finally unearthed in 2012, it was then treated to a ground-up restoration which included a bare metal repaint in the original Grabber Blue with silver highlights, a full engine rebuild, new clutch, new exhaust system plus numerous other items detailed in the history file. The interior is all original, including the carpets, and as you can see it has cleaned up very nicely indeed.

Now in superb order throughout and said to drive as it should, this 'matching numbers' Mach 1 has an MOT until April 2017 and is still only showing some 43,000 miles on the clock which is the genuine distance covered from new. A fabulous relic from an era of fabulous excess, it would be the pride of any muscle car collection.

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