1969 Ford Mustang 351ci Fastback

Purchased in early 2013 as a ‘forever car’ from the same family who had imported it in 1983, it has been in the care of the vendor ever since. This ‘matching numbers’ Mustang underwent a bare-metal respray in 2014 before being carefully reassembled with new seals and treated to new carpets, a retrimmed rear seat and a full service of the engine including new hoses, seals, and leads, etc.

And yet, the owner’s ethos is: "The car has been kept as original as possible, with the original parts being rebuilt rather than replaced wherever possible. After all, they lasted 50 years so far so let’s give them the chance to last another 50."

Ao an example, the original driveshaft was re-bored to remove any movement rather than replaced, and the rear differential was rebuilt along with the radiator and starter motor. All cost more than buying aftermarket replacements but the car is more original as a result.

A custom stainless-steel exhaust system, from the manifold through to tips, has been fitted to the 351ci engine and the car was serviced and MOT’d only this month prior to being offered for sale.

Running beautifully and looking stunning, this is your chance to get your hands on one of the most iconic ‘pony’ muscle cars of them all.

The Ford Performance Blue bodywork is very good indeed. With great alignment and consistent shutlines, the vehicles flanks are free of ripples and other dents, dinks, and damage. The Mustang received new floor pans and a couple of wheelarches as part of its bare-metal respray in 2014 too, work that changed the car’s colour from a lime green to the Ford Performance Blue you see here.

We’ve assessed the paintwork as being “all good” and we were especially impressed with those iconic twin white stripes. Painted on rather than the more usual stick-on transfer, they cost £1,500 by themselves and they sit level with the surrounding blue paintwork – and in that one sentence lies many hours of painstaking work.

By the way, the vendor has photographs of the work in progress and he’s happy to pass on to the winning bidder. And, as he says: “if any problems with the paint were going to appear they’d have done so by now.” Quite.

The badges are good too, as are the light lenses, chromework, and glass. Black and silver number plates have been fitted for the win too, plus the twin exhaust pipes poke out from the rear, a stylistic flourish that’s echoed by the amber rear lights. The rear fuel filler cap is a work of genius too, even if it is lightly patinated.

The two-tone, 14-inch alloy wheels are also in great shape. With body-coloured centres and polished rims, they’re shod with matching 235/60R14 BF Goodrich Radial T/A tyres on all four corners, all of which have good tread.

As we will never tire of explaining, our experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but it does perhaps give you a shortcut into their attitude towards maintenance.

Issues, aside from the inevitable small stonechips, are few and seem to be limited to the passenger door and boot lid needing a firm hand to close them. This should be a temporary issue and one that will disappear as the seals compress over time, although an impatient new owner could probably have them adjusted.

The black vinyl interior is stunning, and not just because it proves that you don’t need leather to create an impression.

The front seats are only gently worn, still being firm and only lightly creased. They are as supportive and comfortable as they look but then that’s what you get with a sub-50,000-mile car that’s clearly been treasured over the past half-century, not least by the family who owned it for 30 years straight.

The backrests fold forward asymmetrically to give even better access to the newly retrimmed rear seats, seats whose rear backrest folds forward to create a useful storage area.

Other highlights include the deep-dish steering wheel whose combination of alloy and wood is echoed in the colour of the bezels on the dials. Thicker rimmed than we’re used to in contemporary British cars, it has chunky finger grips on the reverse for better grip.

The new carpets are very good and protected by new Mustang-branded overmats. The headlining is good too, as are the door cards. The dashboard is new.

There’s a Mustang-branded twin-spindle radio in there too, plus a brake pedal embossed with the legend ‘DISC BRAKE’: it is all so lovely in there that we can’t find anything to fault as long as you prefer your car original and lightly patinated rather than over-restored and too shiny.

A COBRA/Vodafone tracking system is fitted but will need reactivating.

The 5.8-litre, 351ci V8 engine looks stunning and sounds even better; as you can see and hear in the accompanying video, it starts well and quickly settles into a suitably imposing tickover. It revs nicely too, and goes very well - and the automatic gearbox you think you don’t want actually suits the Mustang’s nature better than we were expecting.

The owner tells us that it has been “super reliable” in the seven years he has owned it, and the mileage is believed to be genuine.

The engine bay is a solid 8/10, and what little refurbishment and detailing is needed is the sort of satisfying job that winter evenings were designed for.

The underside is very strong and well finished bar the odd small area that could do with touching up with a decent underseal. That said, it has been “heavily Waxoyl’d” to protect it, so any undersealing is likely to be only preventative and cosmetic.

The Mustang’s MOT certificate is valid until October 2021 and was gained without any advisory points, a key point that goes to the very heart of how good this car is.

Other paperwork is limited but what it does have is an invoice for the recent service, a ‘Marti’ report showing its original build specification and confirming its ‘matching numbers’ status, and a certificate for the immobilizer. It also has two sets of keys.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing to see this paperwork.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

Name-checked by everyone from David Bowie to Bruce Springsteen, and Elton John to Mr. Big, few cars are as iconic as a classic Ford Mustang.

And this one has it all; built in the same year as your writer, it’s weathered the intervening 51 years far better. Still stunning and running beautifully, its metallic blue coachwork and twin white stripes are made even more eye-catching by the simplicity of the black vinyl interior.

Stuffed full of the sort of cues that scream American muscle car, it’s your passport to the sort of rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle you’ve been dreaming of your whole life – and which recent events might have prompted you to realise sooner rather than later.

And while a modern Mustang would be a depreciating asset, this one might prove to be a surprisingly canny buy; with a guide price of somewhere between £36,000 and £50,000, cars of this quality are always in demand, so it might end up costing you less than you imagine overall.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.