Custom 1969 Mach 1 Mustang Is So Pretty It Hurts
Family ties and local craftsman come together to build a dream Mach 1 Mustang that’s yearning for stares.
Restoring a car is never an easy process. Beyond finding parts, collecting the right team of people to help with the project can be immensely difficult. Add a certain level of customization on top of that, and you have officially reached into “What the hell were we thinking?” territory. Thankfully, the muscle car love runs deep in the southeast, and a handful of local car heroes helped two brothers build their ideal Mach 1 Mustang.
We recently caught up with Jimmy Clayton, the man who helped organize the build and the brother of the car’s owner Kevin, to get all the details on this gorgeous Ford. The two brothers grew up in a Ford family. Their parents owned a Lincoln Mercury dealership, so the Blue Oval was a staple for the boys. From there the choice for which Mustang was a pretty simple one. It needed to be a Mach 1 and it had to be a 1969.
To hear it from Jimmy, “It’s the best of all the years.”
The beating heart of the car is a Ford Racing crate engine, a 427 small block making about 550 horsepower. To keep all that power manageable the car has been fitted with a full kit of suspension parts from Chris Alston Chassisworks, and you’ll find upgraded Wilwood brakes tucked behind the Billet Specialties wheels.
But all the parts in the world don’t make a great car. You need to put them together into a cohesive package. To help make this happen, Jimmy started making connections with some of the best local and regional shops and craftsmen. It took six years of hard work, but the results speak for themselves. This Mustang is as unique as the folks whose hands created it.
From the outside, it’s obvious this machine is a Mach 1,
but when you take time to look closer, it is so much more.
The custom interior looks astonishing with its contrasting colored leather, and the detailing like the metal grommets and Mustang door panel emblems perfectly fit the car. The aggressive red paint is an unexpected choice from Mazda’s catalogue called Velocity Red. A full custom stereo from the local American Radio shop is hidden inside, and the Hurst shifter is topped with a carbon fiber knob, rather than the traditional white cue ball. From the outside, it’s obvious that this machine is a Mach 1, but when you take time to get close and take a good look, it is so much more.
To make it easy to dive in deep, we have a full gallery here of photos we took when we were chatting with Jimmy. Enjoy, and be sure to jump into the forum to tell us what your favorite part of this car is. Or you can feel free to tell us what you might change or do differently to make it fit your ideal Mach 1 build.
