It seems to me that part of the fun of owning a classic car would be actually driving it around. With a perfectly maintained, garaged, or restored example, the less likely one would be to run errands in it. The formula is one of inverse proportion: the nicer the car, the lesser the use. This 1967 Ford Mustang notchback, which I’ve seen around the city, seems to support my theory. No trailer queen, this one.
Compare the slightly imperfect yellow one to this red ’67 notchback I had seen one month earlier, in the Chicago Loop. Granted, the admiring gaze of my fellow pedestrian left of frame partially obscures the view of this example, but its great condition is still apparent. Those chrome wheels were certainly not factory, and the car otherwise looks to be a solid “2”. Many office-dwelling car aficionados will occasionally take their treasures out of the garage for their commutes to and from work once the snow melts and the roads clear. My guess is that this red ’67 comes out of the garage only on special days, and is probably off limits for the kids to play in and around. And there is strictly no eating, drinking, or smoking allowed while in or around the red car.
The yellow one? Munch all you want, as long as you share and don’t get ketchup on the seats. Be careful when you fling ash out the window, and for Pete’s sake, at least flip open the passenger side vent window if you should fart. We should be careful not to assume that less than pristine condition somehow indicates lack of pride of ownership. Quite the opposite, actually. The unrestored state of this yellow Mustang carries with it a certain amount of roguish swagger that speaks to me. The cool kids have always been the ones who don’t care if they’re cool – and this yellow ’67 exudes that kind of confidence in spades.
I would eventually like to have my very own Curbside Classic (and write about it here). My budget will likely dictate that this car will not be the best example money can buy, but my hope is that it will still be a very nice car that I will be able to enjoy without constant fear of its theft or destruction, much like this gentleman appears to be enjoying his Mustang. Pass the French fries.
Top photo: Lakeview, Chicago, Illinois. Saturday, September 21, 2013.
Second photo: Downtown, The Loop, Chicago, Illinois. Wednesday, August 21, 2013.
Third and fourth photos: Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois. Wednesday, September 5, 2012.
Related reading: COAL: 1967 Mustang Convertible – The Adoption, Care and Feeding of a CC
Now, there’s a Mustang of a different colour. I’ve seen plenty of 1964-67 Mustangs, but I’ve never seen a mustard coloured Mustang before. 🙂
It’s Eleanor’s older cousin Ned. 😉
That shade of yellow was never used in 1967. May be unrestored but that shade was something from the turn of the century: “Chrome Yellow”.
Glad to see it out and about. Those painted bumpers are heinous tho.
There is an Earl Scheib in Edgewater not too far from where the last two pictures were taken. I wonder what year it was when the yellow one got its most recent refresh.
Very well could be an old Earl Scheib paint job since it appears to be lifting off in large pieces.
Painted bumpers were all the rage in the early 80s this paint job could be that old
’67 was the pinnacle of Mustang design IMO.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-1967-mustang-convertible-the-adoption-care-and-feeding-of-a-cc/
My opinion too but I’m not unbiased. 🙂 Which reminds me its time to wake her from her winter slumber.
Way cool. I am going to link your post to this one as soon as I can figure out how. Great read!! And that sweet car was your dad’s.
As an unlikely owner of a ’68 coupe I must agree with you. I liked the ’67-’68 style the most: a bit more aggressive than the first iteration, but prior to the bulking-up that progressed until the advent of the Mustang II. I am particularly fond of the rear end/tail light treatment.
It seems between ’67 and ’68 the Mustang was de-contented to some degree – the interiors were not as nice and/or fewer options were available. less/smaller trim…simplifies I guess.
My ’68 actually sports assorted parts from ’67 including windows cranks and the full wheel covers (’cause that’s what I found at the Canfield swap meet when I needed ’em.)
So agree. The ’67 was just right.
I love Pony Cars in general , have never owned a Mustang but I imagine I’d enjoy one quite a bit .
-Nate
As you know in recent years there has been a shift toward driving and enjoying unrestored, original or mildly customized cars and trucks. Not all of us can afford to restore a vehicle to show quality so the growing popularity of “survivor” cars is catching on and allowing more people young and old to be a part of the collector hobby or not.
I have encountered people who simply prefer to drive an older vehicle on a daily basis because they can’t afford something newer or just prefer a car or truck that is simple to maintain and fulfils their transportation requirements.
If I was serious about keeping my 85 Grand Marquis, I would only polish the wheels, redo the half-vinyl roof and leave it at that. The car still wears original paint and when clean turns heads or gets an occasional thumbs up from pedestrians. Perhaps not an ideal daily commuter car, but it never let me down this winter and has been fun to drive. If I sell it this spring I’ll find another diamond in the rough and enjoy that this summer.
I like the 67-68 notchback Mustangs, pure simple fun on four wheels.
I always thought 1967 was the best year of the Mustang’s, I’ve always thought they’ve improved among the great 1965-66 Mustang’s, I find it interesting how I prefer the notchback Mustang’s from 1965-68 over the fastback’s and the fastback Mustang’s from 1969-73 over the notchback’s.
I like Mustangs a lot but the 67 fastback is the best looker for that year.The notchback and convertible look best as early models.Never been a yellow vehicle fan if i could have it in another colour
I’m no fan of trailer queens. I don’t see much point in that. But I like my classics (and daily drivers) better kept up than this one.
Those yellow bumpers…they almost work. Look kinda neat from a distance.
Better a driver than a trailer queen any day!
Not sure about the bumpers, but certainly not heinous. At any rate, he’s driving his CC and I’m not driving mine yet.
It seems quite a few cars, of all brands, regardless of their niche in the market, were de-contented between 67 and 68.Most likely due to the changes required by government regulations, which did cost money
The reasonably sized torque thrusts make the yellow one very paletable, despite the general heinousness of the color, condition and execution of the paint. I find it more appealing than the mint looking red 67 with the too big shiny wheels.
+1. Inappropriately sized and styled new wheels on classics brings out the ‘get off my lawn’ in me.
My up-and-coming ’75 L-48-powered ‘Vette follows the same blueprint as that yellow Mustang- a mostly original survivor with loads of “character”. My only plans are to touch up and buff out the faded, slightly yellowed white paint as best I can, repaint the aftermarket replacement bumper caps with rattle-can Duplicolor, replace the threadbare carpet, and install an upgraded sound system. Other than that I’ll mostly leave it alone.
Here’s a recent pic I took of it while replacing the strut rod bushings, leaf spring end bushings, rubber rear fuel lines, and buggered up fuel sending unit:
That is so awesome. Your Corvette is exactly the kind of hobby car I’d want – cool, but still usable and fun – and those are some great wheels.
I have a rear bumper cover (with taillights) for a ’77 that I had mounted on my wall for years (it’s in storage now). It was my favorite piece of interior decoration, but doesn’t quite fit anymore with what I’ve got going on. I need a garage. And a car.
_THIS_ is when I was talking about last year when I asked about all those unbelievably CHEAP Corvettes .
Looks nice , I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun driving it .
Remember to flush out the brake fluid every 12 months ! those calipers are bugger all not fun to change if cheap @ your FLAPS .
BTW : you didn’t ‘ bugger up ‘ the fuel sender , you discovered a _HIDDEN_DEFECT_ ! =8-) .
As usual , I am loving all the comments and additional photos , it seems the plebeian Mustang still hits responsive chords in real Gear Heads who like to drive and enjoy their classics .
To me , the original smaller notchbacks are the essence of a cheap Pony Car . maybe not the fastest on the block but always puts a smile on your mug when you slide behind the steering wheel .
-Nate
The rear bumper cap, carefully sanded and sprayed white rattle can Duplicolor. Since these pics were taken, the bumper cap has been reinstalled, along with the taillight asemblies. Both lamp socket assemblies were literally coming apart from age and heat from the bulbs, so I replaced both of them. The original rear license light lens was cracked and yellowed, so I bought a new one. The taillight lenses are cracked and dull, but I’ll deal with that later.
try polishing tail light lens with DuPont rubbing compound also works on plastic head light lens.
Already did 🙂 . I didn’t have any rubbing compound, but I did have some Blue Magic that worked pretty well.
The passenger side came out great, but the driver’s side light is pretty well hashed. It has a network of spiderweb cracks, and a 1/8 inch chunk of plastic lens actually fell out. I fished it out and put it back in place with a tiny piece of clear packing tape. Total “Bubba” repair I know. The main problem is a big crack halfway encircling where the “teat” section of the lens meets the main section ( behind the chrome ring ). I ran a thick bead of black silicone sealer and smushed it all inside the crack, all the way through.
Its sort of a half-ass way to do it, but I don’t feel like paying $120 for a new pair of taillight lenses right now. One day, but not now.
I had a ’67 coupe for 23 years. It started out as my daily driver and eventually was used also in car shows. In addition I drag raced it a couple of times and also drove it in some road rallies. I had lots of fun with it and really liked it. Then I sold it because I thought I needed a street rod. Well after I did the street rod thing for a few years I decided that what I really like are Mustangs. I now have a pretty nice ’66 coupe that I drive every chance I get. Both the ’66 and ’67 Mustangs have their strong and weak points, but I like them both. The ’66 will stay until I am gone.
Cars are meant to be driven, not hauled around on trailers.
Not a big fan of the painted bumpers, but with the price of plating these days I don’t blame people for going that way.
… Well, then. You would have loved my green ’67 Coupe. Mechanically fresh, but with a color pulled from the Nissan catalogue, Ford dog-dish caps, and ’69 Cougar interior parts. I painted blackouts around the headlights and the taillight panel with chassis black paint. I owned that car longer than any other car I’ve had. Sold it in a divorce.
…BTW, the lack of fake side vents say ’68, not ’67.
Wow, that is odd about this one… No fake side vents like a ’68, but no side marker lights and also a ’67 grille. It’s kind of a Frankenstang, but I still really like it. What color was yours? Sounds like it was awesomely tricked out.
It was a color meant for mid ’90’s Nissan Sentras. Can’t remember the name. Cheap enamel paint I bought from a body shop that was unused. Looked good.
Over the years I have driven about 6 or 7 older Mustangs, including 2 1967 models (a 6 cylinder fastback and a V8 notch), a 68 notch, and owned one Mustang, a 66 notch. IMHO, the V8 (or even the 6 cylinder) notch epitomizes the Mustang “spirit”.
To me, it’s a toss-up between the 66 and 67 as both have their good points. The 68 and later models kind of “lose the plot” albeit slowly.
I agree these cars should be enjoyed/driven, not trailered. My choice would be a nice, ” bare-bones”, to lightly loaded notch as I am not a huge fan of the fastback or convertible.
Great images Joseph, keep up the good work.
Here is the Mustang parked in East Rogers Park a few years ago.
It reminded me of the customized ‘Stang used in the French movie “Le Marginal” with Jean-Paul Belmondo. http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_3349-Ford-Mustang-1967.html
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x49zwj_course-poursuite-le-marginal_shortfilms
Good to see a car being driven and enjoyed. That Corvette looks to be a great driver. Yesterday on the way to work I was following a first gen Datsun 280ZX Turbo for several miles. I can understand how some one who has a really nice car would be hesitant to drive the car on a regular basis, especially through commute traffic. I have a neighbor who has a couple of show type cars; a 36 Ford three window coupe hot rod, and a 56 Chevy Bel Air two door hardtop resto mod. I don’t see them driven much around town but I admire his commitment. I’ve been driving my coupe to work almost every day since last November. Drove it work this morning in the rain. Still got lots to do to it but enjoy driving it while I work on it.
I just stumbled across the yellow one while browsing craigslist
http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/cto/5948155840.html
Wow! Exactly the same one. I wonder how long it has been sitting in the garage since my last photo from 9/21/13.
! GAH ! .
.
I’m sure there’s a reason for no interior pix.
.
-Nate