A few questions, looking at an interesting deal on a 73 mach 1.

How rare were the mach 1's back in the day. It has a 351 in it, it looks stock. This is a farm car, pretty rough looking, might be a solid find.

But if i run the vin how will i know if its was cobra jet or a 429 car?

Any good vin decoders? I emailed the guy and asked for it.

Thanks guys!

 

 

 

there is a pic of the back end ( much better condition ) but it wont load on here

 

 

yes there are some vin decoders but I would not touch that car. Just me.

 

It depends on the motor/trans options, and the options on the car, as well as the asking price of the car. Im assuming the car is complete, minus the obviously missing body panels. Are the trunk and floor pans rusted out? Wheel wells? Some more details on the car would help. Depending on the factors i would go for it.

 

Well 73 most didn't like the bigger front bumper and no big block.I would offer 1200 bucks maybe 1500 depending on rust and had bad the interior is.The big block was only offered in a mustang 67-71 from the factory.But if you don't care about being prefect a big block will bolt right in.This is what it could look like http://image.automotive.com/f/images...background.jpg Or if you change the front end to 71/72 http://image.automotive.com/f/images..._side_view.jpg

 

well she looks like a project alright. engine seems to be a 351 cleveland in there.
And yes with the VIN you can figure out what _should_ have been in there. As andrew said, if you don't care about correctness just shove a big block in there.

check the cowl (pour some water down the cowl in front of windshield and check where it's coming out). If inside the car then it will be an even bigger project (check for mustang cowl repair). Check the framerails as well
decoder:
http://www.mustangdecoder.com/plates_1973.html
it's for the door data plate, but you can put in the VIn only if you want

the engine codes for that year were:
Engine Code Engine Type
F V8 302 CID 2V
H V8 351 CID 2V
L I6 250 CID 1V
Q V8 351 CID 4V

so if the 5th letter in VIN is a Q, there should have been a 351C in there. yours is looking like on e of those. so if you actually have the original 351c (4v), then this is a very sweet engine

 

A common over looked rust spot on those is the lower part of the rear window frame.You can look up from the trunk with a flash light or pop off the window trim.If you need help with parts or ideas let me know.