This zaftig pony was calling my name on a spring day in 2014, riding on those Centerlines. Imagine this scenario: You have a big day of brokering ahead of you, and you have some serious negotiating to do on several, important deals which you are responsible to close. Which of the two household cars available to you would better serve as a rolling pep-talk on your drive into the city from your quiet, suburban enclave out in Naperville: Your Accord DX, or this? Exactly. I don’t know this gentleman, but I can only imagine: I’d love to be able to say my wallet was as fat as my Mustang.
Downtown, The Loop, Chicago, Illinois.
Thursday, June 5, 2014.
Related reading:
Curbside Classic: 1971 Ford Mustang Grande – Como Se Dice Brougham?
Thunderbird light.
Another fab shot; almost surreal. I’m so glad you decided to share these with us 🙂
Paul, thank you for the opportunity to participate. Great community here.
Congratulations amazing shot. I think those Stangs are more “bad ass” in the coupe version than the sportsroof…
Lord help me, the Grande is growing on me..
I’d definitely rather be riding that Pony over the Divvy bikes in the background.
I heard that!
“Hey Budweiser, count your Clydesdales, I think one may have gotten out.”
Great photo! I love the effect with the sun on the wrong side of the photographer.
I was never a big fan of the Mustang coupe’s of this generation but I absolutely love the paint job done on this vehicle, for me I much prefer the sports roof Mustang’s of this era over the coupe’s.
It’s a green Mustang coupe. I love it. I like the flying buttress roof panels. Think of it as more of a Ford Cougar and it makes more sense. I will probably replace my 70 with one of these. Besides having a little more room inside there were some noticeable improvements in the chassis: better steering system, either disc front brakes were standard or commonly optioned, fuel tank is now located under the trunk floor, v8s were almost standard at this point. These are pretty common around here and they are still very affordable.
Love this picture. Whether it’s from the tires/wheels or the photo angle, the car looks slightly elevated.
To me, it totally changes the proportions, so that this Mustang looks like a big bruiser, instead of an overfed slug sliding along the ground. Quite a transformation.
I agree on the elevated look. With the dark green paint , the wheel/tire combo and elevated stance it really does have a real street bruiser vibe about it. I never liked these in coupe, sportsroof, or ragtop from the beginning. However, they have really started to grow on me in recent years. Cars like this have really helped.
Back in the 80’s my nephew had a beat up ’71 sportsroof with a 351 Cleveland in it. I drove it a couple of times and it ran pretty good I must say. He got it before he got his license, I took him for a ride in it and ran it up to 100 where the front end started floating a little. I then told him, ” Look at the speedometer. Now you know it will do 100 and won’t get killed trying to find out”. He later restored it and sold it after high school.
Yeah the 71 always looked a bit too low, especially in back. I always felt in general these looked good with some California rake dialed in. This coupe looks downright wicked, even with the centerlines which I’ve been vocal about with my hatred of in the past.
From the time they were new, I’ve ALWAYS thought of this generation Mustang as a pregnant whale.
Until this moment.
In this shot, you actually made the car look good to my eyes. Good job…kudos!
For me 1971 brought about a big step back in looks for the Mustang(though I’ve since softened a lot towards them and the other new 71 cars I hated at the time.I’m looking at you Mopar B bodies and AMC Javelin).
Despite being a long time Ford fan(from where ever they’re made) I just can’t like the coupe as much as the sportsroof.The paint makes it look better but I’ve not softened anywhere near as much to the coupe.
Great photo! I know the car and city is not exactly the same, but it immediately brings to mind the Mary Tyler Moore show, and Mary driving her car on the streets of Minneapolis.
I seem to remember from the intro of earlier seasons of MTM that she drives a ’70 model into St. Paul / Minneapolis. And IIRC, later seasons have a clip of her washing her blue, ’73 notchback in the driveway.
It would be fun to write up a CC of all the cool cars in that intro.
It’s actually already been done, sort of! Maybe you could add to it with more detail…
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-tv-the-cars-of-the-mary-tyler-moore-show/
Excellent!! (Man, I miss Klockau’s new posts…)
Excellent pic Joseph. Amongst CC contributors, I especially enjoy your consistently high quality street scenes. This one looks like a publicity shot for a movie. I can easily imagine Peter Fonda behind the wheel.
Along with the work of Laurence Jones and Jim Grey, your efforts complete my CC top three photographer’s list.
Your ability to catch cars at the perfect moment is uncanny.
Sincere thanks, everyone. I’m just glad to be able to share some of my finds in this forum.
I just had a thought that the way the more linear roofline of the original Mustang notchback had morphed into flying buttress roofline of this car kind of echoed the hairstyles of the times. Almost like the clean crew cut of seven years prior grew out into a very 70’s hockey cut. I’ve liked this generation of Mustang probably since before I saw the original “Gone In Sixty Seconds”. Also really liked the script “Mustang” badge of this generation.
Very cool shot.
Is that the Quincy/Wells L station lurking in the background shadows?
Thanks, Dan. And it is that L stop! I was there just yesterday, caught in a rain storm.
This photo is so good it almost makes me want one of these Clydesdales, which otherwise rank with the Mustang II as the low point for the nameplate, in my opinion.
I always thought these would have been better regarded with a different nameplate. It might look good to some but it’s no Mustang, at least not to me.