Price: £49,995 | Year: 1967 | Engine: 4700 cc inline V8 200 bhp
Drop the top. Grip that evocative wood-rimmed steering wheel. Slip the period gear-lever into first. Ease down the accelerator. Now relish the deep thrum of the V8 as you pull away. This lime green first generation Ford Mustang Convertible is an impeccable piece of 1960s Americana, perfect in every detail. It's the American dream in beautifully honed metal.
The Pony car, as it became known in automotive slang, is the stuff of motoring legend. Though the Mustang's engineering was based on familiar Ford components, the rakish styling spoke of a car of leisure and long distance sports motoring. For Ford, it was an instant hit, a long way from its staid mass market offerings. There's something carefree about the very idea of a Mustang, like the wild horses that gave the car its name.
This Mustang was first registered on April 10th, 1967 by Courtesy Motors of Littleton, Colorado. The first owner specified Lime Gold as their colour preference, and that's how the car is presented today. There are the correct period chrome flourishes throughout. The renowned Mustang logo on the grille and the identifying model badges on the front wings are more prominent than the manufacturer's name, which appears just the once on the nose. The famous Ford blue oval is nowhere to be seen, as if to distance the Mustang from the company's more mundane fare.
The interior is virtually unmarked, having benefitted from a full refresh in 2013 in the original two tone green colour scheme. The Mustang is a rare manual example, the majority of Mustangs being automatics. It's all gloriously analogue and testament to a time when styling on American cars was all.
Open the bonnet and there's another artwork on show. The potent Ford V8 is superbly detailed, as befits a car with a mileage of less than 70,000 and a history of care that borders on the obsessive. Extensive paperwork documents a lifetime of considered maintenance by just five owners. The Mustang's last British keeper has ensured the Mustang has been undersealed, to protect the Mustang from less-than-Californian conditions.
Every classic car buff serious about their motoring deserves at least one Mustang. This may well be the car. Complete with all its original documentation, it's ready to bring joy and sunshine to a sixth lucky keeper.
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