Mach 1 Club

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Hello everyone. New here but not new to muscle cars.

There is a Mustang a few blocks from me for sale. The sale tag in the window advertises a '71. The car has what appears to be all the markings of a Sportsroof, non-Mach I. Here's where I'm getting a bit confused. The VIN shows this as a '72 Mach I if I'm decoding this correctly, 2F05H153XXX. Asking price is $4900, obo. I've not contacted the seller yet to get a good look at this.

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Could this be an option delete car?
Correct on the decode of the vin for a 72' Mach, but it does not match up what I am seeing for Mach 1 equipment. Concerns would be incorrect grill, front bumper, mustang script on fender and tail trim panel. Not to say these have not been replaced over the years from front or rear end damage, but I would suspect it is a sportsroof. Was this the dash VIN you provided? Dash trim panel could have been removed from a Mach.
I snapped a pic of the VIN while was snooping around it. I doubt someone went to the trouble of retagging this car with a different VIN/hacking and welding a new firewall in it just to call it a Mach 1 but you never know. Every thing looks like a non-Mach car to me but like you said, everything could hav been replaced over the years. I think even the high back seats that you can kinda see don't match up to a Mach but I'm not really sure on that.
Id agree with BKDunha. There are many parts that don't mesh with this being a Mach 1. Its also missing the poly front bumper. Although this also could have been replaced it just seems weird someone wouldn't want to return that unique part if they had the chance for the Mach 1.

Id say if you like it buy it. The overall condition of this Stang is what matters. Honestly in my opinion these cars truly have so little value after the restoration process is completed you need to own the car because you love it.
You could always make this a clone. If you can get the price around 3000 I think its worth buying providing there's not tons of cancer eating through it!
The VIN on the dash that is visible through the windshield is part of the dash assembly and slides right out after removing about 6 or 8 screws, so no cutting or welding required to change the VIN.

There should be a Ford Data Sticker on the edge of the drivers door next to the lock or on the door sill (I forgot which year they changed them offhand, my 73 is on the door). The Data Sticker also has a VIN number on it. Other than that, there is a hidden VIN under the top edge of each front fender.

As the others have indicated the distinguishing Mach 1 features could have been changed out over the years. The Mach 1 bumpers are not reproduced and the Mach 1 grills are only a recent reproduction, so repairs made years ago may have required using whatever was available. The NASA style hood was an option on Non-Mach 1 cars, so that's not proof it is a Mach 1 either.

Anyway these are fun cars and if the condition checks out OK, make an offer if you like it.
Obviously a mixed matched car.

You'll want to make sure the dash vin matches the title and since there is some obvious doubt I would think that you would want to check out the vin on the driver's inner fender lip as well.

According to the dash vin it is a 1972 Mach 1 with a 351C 2V.

A deal might be in the works as it looks as though he has more than one toy up for sale.
thanks for all the replies. My next step was/is to start looking for VIN data plates/stamps in other places to see what this really is. Engine block (if it's still numbers matching), frame rail, fender lips, tranny... btw... where would it be stamped on these transmissions? And, I do believe this was a column shift C6 transmission... Don't recall that Machs came with an auto, thought they were all manuals.
I believe they made more automatic 71/73 Mach 1's than 4 speeds. Basic trans was a 3 spd. The C6 trans is an automatic, but no column shifts in the 71/73 Mustangs.

Here is a old picture (before restoration) of the Data Sticker on my 73 convertible with the various codes and VIN number.

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The numbers that need to (must) match are the driver fender lip VIN, the dash VIN and the VIN on the title. Everything else could have been swapped in it's lifetime.
The only locations that are easily accessible to get the VIN are the dash cover and the drivers door sticker. For the front fender apron VIN you will need to remove the drivers fender or at least loosed all of the top bolts to slide it out far enough to see the numbers. They are typically located in the general area of the drivers side shock tower. All other locations will be hard to get to. The engine VIN stamp is not ususally visible unless it is out of the car or at least the hood is off. The transmission will not have a VIN associated marking. It will have the metal tag identifying its production location date and designation.

As you probably may know most people will advertise a sportsroof as a Mach 1. Some think the NACA hood was the only difference.

If you like the car and reach a fair price I would go for it. Just go in knowing it is not a Mach 1.
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