Images by L. Seddon from the Cohort.
As I mentioned in a recent post, marooned cars are an inevitable part of our surroundings. And somewhere in the UK town of North Yorkshire, this ’69 Mustang has sat in the same spot for years now. A neighborhood fixture, for sure.
Here it is, in images uploaded back in 2021 at the Cohort. According to the contributor, the owner “will never sell it.”
The odd way certain owners hold on to cars they can’t maintain is rather perplexing to some of us. Distressing even. In any case, they’re part of our everyday lives, and there’s little to be done about it. I guess in their minds, hope springs eternal?
For the time being, looks like the Mustang will remain a neighborhood fixture. May fate give it better luck in the near future.
I don’t know why the owner doesn’t put a tarp over that car to protect it from the elements? It looks in decent shape except for the mold growing on it!
It is amazing that the “rust didn’t consume it “ion’s ago”!! There had to be a garage for a good many years!
Placing a tarp over a car is one of the WORST things that can be done to it. It’s actually better to leave it un-tarped, even though that would seem to be better. The tarp helps to trap moisture and condensation, thereby accelerating rust, corrosion, and decay. I’ve personally experienced both of the these actions, and would never tarp a car again. 🙂
Other than a few photos (by very talented photographers) of abandoned cars posted here for years, I don’t ever recall a car owned by someone and parked legally (with inflated tires) that had moss growing on it. Or algae. Or whatever that green stuff is, because it’s not patina that so many of you are into.
Sad really. Don’t you need to drive a car at least once a week or so to keep the fluids flowing and not have the car end up with atrophy? A coworker of mine has a fleet of like 12 vehicles, and manages to find the time to at least drive them around the block once a week.
Personally, I was looking at my own Mustang this morning and feeling a little guilty about not taking it out last weekend for a drive. It’s been a whole 10 days now!!! Yikes! Not good for a car to let it sit. They’re meant to be driven. And mine is a 2007. A 1969? Good luck getting it rolling again.
It can be hard to get every car out for a drive weekly. For me as an example. I only have Wednesday and Sunday free. Heavy traffic patterns determine if and when I can get them out. Don’t need to be around heavy traffic filled with drivers not paying attention as a COAL on one of mine will point out.
So getting the five vintage cars moving means looking at a month rather than week. I got my 68 Mustang out this past Sunday for a 90 mile drive to visit my father’s grave in the National Cemetery which is in the direction away from the Bay Area.
Yeah, I hear you. After redoing the interior on my Mustang, making it now worth a lot less that I’ve spent on it, I am very leery of taking it out there amongst the very inattentive drivers that plague our roads.
I suppose once a month works, but my own car seems to make a lot less unusual noises when I drive it more frequently that that.
90 miles in a classic sounds like great exercise! How often do you take the Cougar out? I know that’s your favorite. 😉
My Cougar doesn’t get out as much. To get it out is almost an hour process as I need to uncover the F100 and the Mustang which sit in the way. Taking off car covers and folding them up take time and then one needs to start them up and move out of the way. Once out of the way they will need to go back once the Cougar is out and then repeat the process when I get back home. I do run the car though.
So, in the end, the F100 and Polara get out often since they are both at the head of the long driveway. The Parklane has had it’s engine removed for machine work before I assemble. The Sable behind the Parklane will come out when the Parklane can move so I can put an engine, newly built by me, in the Sable. So two engine build stories later next year. More to sit in limbo.
Nice council otherwise it would have been towed years ago. Yes it’s road tax free but I have had to insuranced and tax vehicle pinned with a ” We considered this vehicle abandoned” notice !. Council got an ear bashing….
According to the sign, it is parked in Disc Zone 3I. I did a quick Street View look around Scarborough Zone 3I, but I couldn’t find it. Maybe someone else will have better luck than I did.
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Embed/index.html?webmap=0cef413dd158447787e2054c7317b7d8&extent=-0.4314,54.271,-0.368,54.292&zoom=true&previewImage=false&scale=true&legend=true&disable_scroll=false&theme=light
Here’s the link to its location – on the very edge of Disc Zone 3I:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/N78P2ozGdGLworgNA
You have a gift, Eric… 😉
Thanks! I love that kind of stuff.
I never found it particularly distressing, especially when the owner passionately exclaims they’ll never sell it. I actually admire that, no matter the state the car is in.
I’m never getting rid of my Cougar, In recent years for some odd reason I’ve gotten a more compliments on it as well as “is it for sale” queries, which I also take as a compliment, but it’s not even a desirable collector car. Imagine actually having something desirable like a classic mustang and constantly being hounded by people who think they’re more entitled to your car than you because they have the money to fix it up, or worse yet flip it.
I reference this a lot when this subject comes up but the Bullitt Mustang, the one “enthusiasts stalked and harassed the owner who wouldnt sell, finally got their hands on it after that owner died – “hooray” the whole community exclaimed. not a year later it’s crossing the Barret Jackson auction block for the hyper rich to bid on in the very patina state everyone was bitching about it being in in the other guy’s possession for 30 years. I don’t believe this hobby should be reserved for those of means, and unfortunately that’s what it’s largely become when it comes to cars from this era, I get the impression at times that the ever higher bids are less a reflection of demand but a conspired effort to keep selected cars out of the grasp of lower classes, that to me is distressing.
Lucky Britain ! In my country, it would have got an orange sticker on the windscreen after 3 months and disappeared from the curbside after six months.latest
In Britain a car on a public street should be taxed, and to get tax you need an annual ‘MoT’ (roadworthiness test) and insurance.
Without these you will be clamped, and if you don’t pay the car will be towed and crushed.
I can only think that this Mustang escapes because of it’s age. Cars over 40 years old are collectable and don’t need the MoT and tax.
I haven’t seen other cars like the Mustang on the street though.
Ah, well, I see. Thank you for the information.
Nice council otherwise it would have been towed years ago. Yes it’s road tax free but I have had to insuranced and tax vehicle pinned with a ” We considered this vehicle abandoned” notice !. Council got an ear bashing….
Interesting.
The 40 year excuses you from the MoT and the tax, but if your car is on the road it will still need to be registered and insured, to a minimum of third party level.
It would also have to be roadworthy, meaning in practice decent tyres, reflectors, number plates etc. It can be mechanically U/S but not “unroadworthy”.
Most cars like this, or actively used hobby and summer classics, will be stored off road and likely spend the winter on a SORN (statutory off road notification) to excuse the tax, MOT and insurance requirements.
The scene has a Mary Tyler Moore Show vibe.
That was my first thought when I spotted the post this morning.
Only it wasn’t a ’70 Mustang. So close though. 😉
Some things never change. I could not get excited about these when I was 9 years old and they were new. I still can’t.
It is interesting how there are different kinds of long-term owners. There is the “old person car” that stays out of the weather and seems to escape the sands of time that grind all the similar models into dust. 40+ years down the road we call them time capsules. Then there are cars like this that sit out and deteriorate before everyone’s eyes.
I find it distressing that some owners won’t even cover their old car to keep the water intrusion to a minimum. I had an old convertible parked in the driveway for a time, I covered the passenger cabin with a tarp that extended past the windows so that rain wouldn’t get inside the car, I covered that with a grey car cover so that it didn’t look so bad.
Before I retired I would drive each of my hobby cars to work and use it for errands for a week. Now that I’m retired, it’s a bit hard to keep them in rotation, though I keep two in the garage. Sometimes I think that owners just like the attention that they get by people trying to buy their cars.
On a side note, the ‘69 is my favorite year Mustang. The proportions just look perfect.
Sad to see the tin worm raising it’s ugly head on this old Mustang .
Patina is B.S. ! I hate it and get hounded endlessly in my ’59 VW Bug because it’s a raggedy old thing .
It doesn’t sit though ~ I drive it hard and often .
-Nate
Thought I, “Why, haven’t I seen this car before?”, and then got all frowny sad-mouthed that my head-gears were beginning to slip a bit, but thank the lord, it isn’t that.
No, this very car was indeed on display here at CC, on 10 December 2021!
It is detectably more horticultural now than it was then, thus doing its bit for the re-wilding movement, but otherwise unchanged and almost certainly unmoved.
Maybe the owner is similarly conditioned within it.
Congratulations. I was wondering who would be the first to notice.
Here’s a link to the 2021 post. Amazing how many duplicates we have here at CC anymore. Maybe the world really is running out of classic cars.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-cohort/cohort-pick-of-the-day-1969-ford-mustang-grande-the-mustang-goes-thunderbird/
In any case, I enjoy these “revist” posts to see how these cars have change over the years (usually not for the better, like this one).
For those of us in the US according to Google:
“A Disc-Zone allows time-restricted free parking close to shops and local facilities by displaying a parking (clock) disc where your vehicle is parked. A disc zone is marked by signs and road markings. You will need to clearly display the time of your arrival on your vehicle’s dashboard.”
The owner likely has connections with the local counsel or they drive it to other parking spots on a regular basis. At first I thought this would be someplace in Oregon until the author mentioned the UK. I didn’t even notice it is parked on the opposite side of the road as I was fixated on that funky moss.