“There’s less Pinto in a Mustang II than there is Falcon in a 1965 Mustang,”—John Clor, Enthusiast Communications Manager for Ford Performance

While formerly reviled by enthusiasts, Ford’s Mustang II has has finally seen as the model that saved the Mustang. The car was manufactured from 1973 until 1978.According to Pony Parts, for the 1974 model year, Ford sold 385,993 units, which was the fourth most in the iconic vehicle’s five-decade-plus history. The 1974 Mustang more than twice outsold the Chevy Camaro, which had also undergone a major redesign that same year. In an exciting turn of events for Ford, the 1974 Mustang won Motor Trend Magazine’s Car of the Year Award that year.

Mine Mustang II was a 1978 and I was inspired to buy it from the very same ad you see below. Much earlier I owned a 1966 Mustang convertible with 200 cubic inch six-cylinder and Fordomatic transmission and cool wire wheel hubcaps. I was determined that my Mustang II would be different: It had the 302 Windsor V8 and five-speed transmission. It was trimmed out just as you see in the illustration, a white fastback with T-Tops but mine had black pin stripes and interior.

The Mustang II had no common components with any of its preceding models sharing some of its platform with the equally unloved Ford Pinto but  Mustang II’s were used on the original Charlie’s Angels TV show. When I owned it some of my friends called it my Charlie’s Angels’ car even though the car Farah Fawcett drove was a white fastback Cobra with no T-tops.

Lee Iacocca who spearheaded the creation of the Mustang and then presided over turning it into a larger, less nibble car ordered the development of a smaller Mustang for 1974. Initial plans called for a downsized Mustang based on the Ford Maverick that was similar in size and power to the Falcon and it would have been a great way to bringing Mustang back to its roots but that didn’t happen. Instead those plans were scrapped in favor of a smaller Mustang. The final Mustang II production design was set in 1971 by Dick Nesbitt but according to him the new model was “less of a Pinto than the ’64½ had been a Falcon.”

Yet the quality control, at least for my car, was not as good as a Nissan Versa and my car had a number of electrical problems starting with it shutting down at importune times, like while driving down the highway. When it was towed to the dealership, guess what? It started right up. Several months of coping with that porblem got old, I’ll tell ya but finally when it went to the shop and wouldn’t start, they fixed it for not a lot of money.

In 1981 I moved to Colorado and lost all my connections with the Maryland car scene, especially mechanics which ended up costing me dearly. At one point, I had to have a new clutch installed (by an incompetent mechanic) making the car difficult to drive and Mary hated driving it. Ultimately I had transmission problems forced me to sell the Mustang but I still have a sense of nostalgia for the car, more so than my ’66. Every time I see a Mustang II—and they are few and far apart—I get excited. And to tell the truth I really would like to own one again, if I could find another T-Top fastback.

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“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”- Mark Twain.

A common phrase that you sometimes hear in the car business is that you have to “kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince,” meaning that you have to look at a lot of sad, bad cars to find the real gems. I’m guessing that in the automotive weirdness we’re all dealing with now, it’s even worse…

If you read my post When Mary’s MX-5 Was Miata of the Month, you got to read about some of the Mazda frogs we kissed to find the right Miata for her, including one with shark’s teeth,  The toothy Miata shown at left was not that one, this is a much nicer car than that one but the photograph gives you an idea of the effect. If the Miata we looked at was in as good shape as this blue car, I would have played part-time dentist.

We went through a similar process when Mary and I looked for a car to enter in The Great Race, which at that time required cars be of a specific vintage. Originally, I wanted to have a Ford Falcon because of the nostalgia factor but it’s a simple car that should have been able to handle a cross country rallye as well as being easy to fix when the inevitable old car breakdowns occurred. I found an early Futura, similar to my original Falcon, in Minnesota and asked a friend who lives near Burnsville to take a look at it. Not only was it not a real Futura but it was a rust bucket. And that’s one of the challenges of finding an old car that was originally inexpensive; people don’t seem to take care of them.

Then we went looking for a 1958-’60 Thunderbird “squarebird.” In 1958, Ford made 38,000 Thunderbirds and produced 200,000 over the three years the cars of this design. Although I was unable to find the original price of this car (if anybody knows, click Contact and tell me, I’ll send you a nice prize) but they were not cheap. The squarebird frog seen here was nice and was affordable but the cost of making it reliable enough for a cross-country trek was prohibitive for us. And while nicer examples of the hardtop model were available (at the time) those cars was outside our budget for this project.

We ultimately ended up with a 1953 Packard Clipper and while you can read some information about the car in that linked post, there is a “rest of the story…” aspect to our Great Race plans that will have to wait for another time, after the pain is gone.

So Mary and I have kissed a few frogs along the way in our search for automotive nirvana. And that’s kind of where I find myself today. It’s been more than three years since I sold my Mecedes Benz CLA 250. No, I don’t miss it but with all it’s quirks I like it better that driving one of Mary’s three cars. With the skyrocketing costs of even marginal cars it may be a while before I can find a car for myself. If you have any suggestions for affordable and interesting cars, click Contact and tell me about them. Thanks.

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The original 1960 Ford Falcon was powered by a lightweight 95hp, 144 cu-in straight six engine that had a single-barrel carburetor. The 1961 model year introduced the optional 101 hp, 170 cu-in six and two new models were introduced, including a trim level called Futura that had bucket-seats and a console along with special exterior trim, which is the model I owned. That car brand-new cost less than $2300. In 1963, more models were available, including hardtops like my blue car pictured below. Later in the year, the Fairlane’s 164 hp “Challenger” 260 cu-in V8 was offered in the Falcon.

My brand-new 1963 1/2 Falcon Futura coupe (above) shown parked in front of my parents home in East Baltimore was not an expensive car for its time and cost me somewhere around $2800 brand-new. But as a young father with a baby on the way, the payment was a challenge for the low-paid engineer I was at the time. I ended up selling the car to my father and buying a 1958 Volvo 444, which cost me $395 that I still had to finance at the bank with payments of $25 a month—that I could afford. You can read about my Volvo, the first of several I would end up owning over the years here.

All of which brings me to today: The Hagerty Collector Car app places the current value of my 1963 1/2 Falcon Futura coupe at $15.400 with the 144 cu-in engine, while mine had the 170 cu-in engine. Maybe that option is worth more? I think this valuation says more about the desirability factor of the car than might have been the case even a few years ago. I’m guessing there are not many of them around these day and those that are have probably been converted to V8 power.

Kelley Blue Book reported that the estimated average transaction price for light vehicles (not trucks) in the United States was $38,378 in July 2020. Household income varies depending on your age and the state you live in but the nominal median income for 2020 was $66,066, which means that a new car purchase represents approximate 58 percent of household income. In 1963, my personal annual household income was (no kidding) $3120 with the Falcon represented 89% of my income, so you can see why I ultimately had to sell it. The used Volvo was a better fit for me.

Scan of original 1963 Ektachrome slide by ScanMyPhotos.com.

After a press trip I took to San Diego was over the person driving me to the airport wanted to talk…about cars. He knew I started this site and asked, if I could have any car that I wanted what would it be? Without even thinking I answered “a Shelby Mustang.”

Shelby Mustang,The Total Performance Pony Car by Colin Comer is a wonderful and beautifully presented book about this automotive legend and will be appreciated by newcomers and aficionados alike. In fact I might as well say it now, this is the best car book I’ve read in a long long time.

The book is printed on heavy paper stock with photographic reproduction that is nothing short of superb. The author’s text combines the excitement of an enthusiast with the details of a historian. If you want to know what happened during the birth of the Shelby Mustang you’ll find it here along with amazing archival images plus beautiful contemporary photographs of the cars that made me originally fall in love with the Shelby Mustang oh-so-many years ago.

In it’s pages you’ll learn about special models that I never knew about like The Green Hornet or a GT500 EXP prototype notchback that was nicknamed “Little Red,” along with details about these cars and how they are being restored right now.

While the book is informative, entertaining and comprehensive, it’s not perfect and, like me, you may have mixed feelings about some of the case histories of Shelby Mustang owners that pop-up from time to time. I did, however, love the tale of Richard Morrison and his 1967 GT350 as well as the story of an unsung hero in the Shelby Mustang saga, Chuck Cantwell. Cantwell’s story is historical gold as is all the text by the author, Colin Comer, who makes this book sing and feel like he’s telling a story that happened last month, not fifty years ago.

The author’s prose is so illuminating that I could have done without the reprints of reviews and articles from car magazine of various Shelby Mustangs, although I am sure completists will gobble this stuff up. I guess having lived through and read some of this material back in the day it seems redundant; it may not be so for you. Not so for some of the contemporaneous Shelby promotional material that enhances the author’s fascinating telling of this legendary car’s history.

The bulk of the book covers the heyday of classic Shelby Mustangs from their birth in 1965 to the penultimate 1970 models, with an interesting trip south of the border for the Shelby de Mexico 1971 model. The last part of the book, called “The Second Coming,” looks at more modern Mustangs bearing the Shelby name. I am sure that some day this section will itself become its own book but for now, its here because there are still cars being built carrying Old Shel’s name, although built by Ford. And if you’ve been paying attention, you know this wasn’t anything new. Starting in 1968 All Shelby Mustangs were “built by Ford” but really rolled off the line at A.O. Smith’s facility  in Livonia, Michigan.

In my life I have owned two Mustangs: The first a 1966 blue convertible and the second a (don’t hate me) 1978 Mustang II T-top fastback. I have never owned a Shelby Mustang and, I guess, at this stage of my life I probably never will but I can own this book and while not quite the same thing, it’s a start. Shelby Mustang by Colin Comer is also the perfect Christmas or Hanukkah gift for the Ford lover in your family or maybe yourself.

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 10760365970
• ISBN-13: 978-0760365977
• Price: $26.76 (Amazon Prime, as I write this.)

Personal Note: As some of you know, I had surgery on my right hand in July. Having gone through three successive casts/braces I’m on my final one that with any luck at all, will be removed on August 20, depending on what the surgeon decides. I’ll be posting something on Instagram (follow me at @joefarace) that day to tell you know how it goes…

How I made this shot: To me the best part of attending car shows is meeting and talking with the car’s owners. I had a lovely chat with the owner of this immaculate 1950’s era Porsche 356A. Olympus Pen F with M.14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II R lens at 42mm with an exposure of 1/250 sec at f/10 and ISO 200.

In addition to physical therapy, I decided to give myself some photo therapy during the time when I have the final version of a brace on my index—yes, it’s my shutter release—finger and get the rest of my fingers used to working the way they used to. The subject I chose was cars* and the camera I selected for this therapy was an Olympus Pen F.

At 15.3 oz, the Pen F is far from lightweight; Olympus’s E-M5 mirrorless camera weighs in at 14.99 oz, so it’s lighter than the Pen F. But the compact form factor (OK and style) of the Pen F was the deciding factor(s.)

I would have liked to gone all Cartier-Bresson and use the M.Zuiko Digital 25mm f/1.8 lens but because I am a thrifty shopper it quickly sold out on Oly’s reconditioned lens Web page so I’m waiting for my ship to come it to be able to buy one. In it’s place, I used the uninspired M.Zuiko Digital 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II R lens that came with my E-M5. It’s main selling point for this application was its form factor and it weighs just four ounces.

How I made this shot: You don’t often get to see a 1956 Lincoln Continental Mark II and this one was pulling into the show as I was leaving. I could see that it was going to be driving behind this Ford hot rod, so I waited and just had a second or two to get them both in the same frame. I shot one frame with my Olympus Pen F and 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II R lens at 42mm with a Program mode exposure of 1/160 sec at f/7.1 and ISO 200.

While I later made a few photographs at the Parker, Colorado Cars & Coffee (see my Instagram account) these images featured were all made at the Chenango Car show and for once, I was able to get to the show early. But like all car shows this time of year, the time of day does not produce the best quality light and shooting at car shows has become a challenge for me, especially when you don’t have ten functioning fingers, but I tried, as Chief Dan George said in The Outlaw Jose Wales, to “endeavor to persevere.”

*To help with my rehab, I am also looking for a female model to work with me with some larger cameras and lighting gear in my home studio. If you or maybe you know a woman who might be interested and would like to help a photog out, please click the Contact button and let me know. No experience is necessary and I promise, we’ll have fun and make some beautiful photographs together.

If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to treat me to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), please click here. And if you do, thanks so much.

Because I am a Lego enthusiast, every now and then, this blog takes a look at Lego built cars. But with the new book How to Build Brick Cars, you get to build cars that Lego doesn’t offer as kits.

Author Peter Blackert works in Ford’s Asia-Pacific Canters focusing on powertrain and chassis system and his expertise is put to work for the designs in this book. He’s also a life long Lego enthusiast and that shows through in the text as well as the detail and complexity of each car’s specification and even in the cars he selected to model.

The beautifully designed and printed book is divided into three sections:

• In Foundation there are four cars ranging from a 1932 Ford V8 hot rod on to a Jaguar E-type with plans for coupé and roadster versions of each car. The designs in this section are what Lego fans call minifigure scale, so they can be used in cities and layouts, like mine. My favorite design in this section, however, is the legendary Citroën 2CV Charleston that only requires 249 parts. (More later.) The book also includes the Ferrari 488GTB and Spider. While Lego offers many Ferrari kits, they don’t offer this particular model in their Speed Champions series.
• Intermediate is the largest section of the book and the scale bumps up to 1:20 too. Here you’ll find everything from a Ford Raptor to, my favorite, a BMW i8 that’s on the book’s cover. Build difficulty for the cars in this section is up too: The relatively Z car, for instance require 499 parts but the cars in this section also have working suspensions so the build are slight more complex but obviously fun to construct.
• In the Advanced section, the car size remains at 1:20 but difficulty is ramped up too, so a parent might want to work with their youngsters to build these cars that include an awesome Plymouth Hemi Cuda and a Bugatti Veyron. These cars also use Lego Technic parts in order to create functioning internals.

The book works hard at being accessible and includes a detailed parts list for each car, including the Lego part number, color number and number of parts required. Building these cars won’t be as inexpensive as buying a Lego kit and even parts for the Citroën 2CV could cost $25 or so, although most Lego enthusiasts already have a stock of that should include some (or many) of the parts.

There are detailed sections showing how to actually build the cars but they do not use the simple and easy-to-understand format used by Lego in their instruction books. Because of space limitations there are short cuts that are explained in the “How to use this book.” So don’t just blast through to the cars you like and start placing parts order. Take a few minutes to read this section and the build will go smoother.

It’s obvious that How to Build Brick Cars was a labor of love for the author and Motorbooks has spared no effort producing a book that is just as lovingly crafted. If you like cars and like Lego, you need this book. And, hint hint, it’s not too early to order a copy for Christmas giving.

• Flexibound: 192 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks
• ISBN-10: 0760352658
• ISBN-13: 978-0760352656
• Dimensions: 9 x 0.6 x 10.2 inches
• Price: $21.47 Prime