1973 Ford Mustang Convertible
1973 was the end of an era for Ford Motor Company. Ever since their humble beginnings in 1903, there was always a Ford that was available as a convertible – or at least with a soft top. That run ended on July 15, 1973, when an all white Mercury Cougar XR-7 drove off the assembly line as what was then the final convertible built by Ford Motor Company.
Sharing the Cougar’s platform was the only Blue Oval convertible that year – the Mustang. While it had increased in girth two years earlier – with a final growth spurt in 1973 of an additional four inches of front bumper for a total length of 194 inches – it was still of the same linage as the original from mid-1964. Ever since its first full model year in 1965, it was always available in three body styles – hardtop coupe, fastback, and convertible. One consolation with the burgeoning size was the availability of larger engines. Although the Ram Air 429 Cobra Jet only appeared in 1971, The 351’s from 1972 & 1973 did an amicable job of keeping the Mustang in the realm of being a performance car. Ram Air continued to be available up to the end of 1973, but only on the H-code two-barrel version of the 351 Windsor. A sign of the times, perhaps throwing a bone to the insurance industry to show that the High Output 248 HP 4-barrel 351 didn’t get all the performance goodies.
This example is in a beautiful Light Blue with new white top. The interior is black with white seating. It retains its original H-code 351 CID engine and transmission, with 76,000 miles from new. The optional equipment on it includes power steering, power brakes, power top, air conditioning, Deluxe interior, dual outside mirrors, & AM/FM radio. Everything is original with the exception of the installation of aftermarket fuel injection, but the consignor still has the original carburetor if the new owner wants to return it back to its original configuration. It also has a replacement dual exhaust system. Only the clock does not work.
1973 Mustang convertibles have held higher values over the previous two years with comparable engines due to the “final year” status, although exactly a decade later the soft top came back to stay for Ford on the popular Fox-platform Mustang. Here is your chance to have one of the 11,853 final year of the original series convertibles.
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