Restored Indian Fire Red Mustang Mach 1 390 4 Speed

An awful lot of you have E-mailed, called, and visited to inquire about the black-on-black 1969 Mustang Boss 429 tribute we had in the showroom for a few weeks, so apparently there's a lot of pent-up demand for these late-60s ponies. And why wouldn't there be? Great looking, fast, with strong aftermarket support, they're ideal hobby cars. Fresh off the transporter is this very nice 1969 Mach 1 in rare and cool Indian Fire red with an S-code 390 V8 and a 4-speed, just in time for the summer cruise and show season.

The door data plate decodes as follows:

9 1969
T Metuchen factory
02 Mustang Sportsroof (fastback)
S 390 4-barrel V8 engine
42452 42,452nd vehicle built at Metuchen
63C Mustang Mach 1 Sportsroof
Y5 Indian Fire Paint with blackout hood treatment
3W White Clarion Knit vinyl Mach 1 bucket seats
25L Scheduled to be built November 25, 1968
24 Jacksonville Ordering District (DSO)
R 3.25 Traction-Lok rear axle
5 4-speed wide ratio manual transmission

Recently restored, including a fresh engine rebuild in March of 2009, this Mach 1 looks killer in person. Personally, I really like the unusual colors, and the Indian Fire red paint on this car certainly qualifies. Not red, not orange, it's somewhere in between, with a good dose of metallic just to make it glitter in the sunlight. Applied over decent bodywork, and topped with a correct blacked-out hood treatment and Mach 1 stripes down the flanks, this car will definitely get a lot of second looks. Like most cars these days, it uses 2-stage urethane for a better than new finish that will look awesome for years and years with a minimum of care. Body gaps are above average, and the whole car was bolted back together with more care than the original workers could have managed. A correct wing has been installed on the rear deck-lid, matching the front chin spoiler, both of which I'm certain were part of the attraction to the black Boss we featured. According to the Marti Report that comes with this car, it is one of only 1093 cars built in this color combination, making it a relatively rare piece nice bonus!

The chrome and stainless on this pony are also very nice, with fresh bumpers front and rear, and the rest of the trim being polished up for show before being reinstalled. Glass is good all around (a new tinted windshield is being installed this week here), and all the correct Mustang logos are in place, including the traditional galloping pony in the front grille. The taillight lenses are outstanding, with the correct chrome trim surrounding each one. Underneath, correct dual exhaust tips poke out of the rear valence.

Remove the hood pins and open up that blacked-out hood and take a look at the S-code 390 living underneath. Rebuilt in 2009 and fully detailed, it runs extremely well, pulls hard, and makes an incredible sound at full throttle. The block carries a 9D23 casting date, so it's too late to be the original piece, but it's a correct 1969 piece that has been fully dressed in Ford Blue and reinstalled. It was given a .030 inch overbore, and now carries a Lunati camshaft in the middle of the V. On top, there's an Edelbrock intake manifold that was painted to match the block, helping it blend in and look stock, and hiding under the original 390 chrome air cleaner is a fresh Holley 4-barrel carburetor. The 390 is a tight fit in the engine bay, and the builder wisely chose to keep the original exhaust manifolds, which are not only durable, but fit perfectly and actually flow pretty well. Up front there's a giant OEM radiator keeping things cool, with an assist from a factory clutch fan and shroud. Other details are correct, ranging from hoses and tower hose clamps, to a new wiring harness, to the markings on the inner fenders that replicate the factory paint inspection stamps. This car was originally equipped with power steering and power brakes, so both systems have been rebuilt and reinstalled. You've also undoubtedly noticed that Sanden air conditioning compressor and lines under there it was added during the rebuild, and blows ice cold today.

Up on a lift, you'll see the rebuilt 4-speed manual transmission, a wide-ratio box, as it came from the factory, and it feeds twist to a Ford 9-inch rear with 3.25 gears as original. The floor pans have been sprayed in correct red oxide primer, as original, and as an original Florida car, only two small areas show signs of metal replacement. A new dual exhaust system with Flowmaster mufflers has been installed and sounds great, and at the very rear of the car, a new gas tank was added. It rolls on a set of beautiful 15-inch Magnum 500s wearing 215/65/15 Firestone performance radials in place of the original F70x14 Wide Oval bias plys.

Usually I'm not a huge fan of white interiors, but with the Indian Fire paint, and the fact that it isn't a searing, bright white, but more of an off-white, I really like the Clarion knit buckets in this car. Thanks to a contrasting red insert, it looks much more upscale than the base Mustang interiors, and the knit makes it incredibly comfortable on hot days (pretty much a non-issue now that there's a powerful A/C system in the car, but surely a consideration when buying a new car in Florida). The carpets are black with red inserts that keep the interior all-business, but with a sporty edge, which pretty much sums up this Mach 1’s demeanor. The headliner is clean and taut, while the dash and original wood grain look excellent. The door panels are excellent, and were surely replaced when the rest of the car was restored; they're just too nice to be originals, even well-preserved originals. A pair of accessory oil pressure and coolant temperature gauges has been added on the console, while the original radio remains in place front and center in the dash.

The trunk has been nicely finished as well, with a fresh mat and a steel spare wheel mounting a Goodyear radial tire, secured with the correct jack and base.

I know I mentioned the Marti Report on this car earlier, and there's more, too. This Mach 1 also includes an original Owner's Manual, plus a stack of receipts documenting much of the restoration work including the engine rebuild.

I keep telling the boss that we need more cars like this in our showroom clean, gorgeous, fast, and aggressively-priced. Like that black Boss I mentioned, this is a car that a lot of people can relate to, and I hope that the color will be a plus for most folks like it is for me. Red and black Mustangs are a dime a dozen, but Indian Fire is awfully rare and all of a sudden, it's a very contemporary color again. This one is fully dialed-in and is a reliable, fun cruiser, making it an ideal hobby car. If our history with the black Boss is any indication, the phone will start ringing about 10 minutes after this car hits our web site, so if you're in the market for a nice Mustang to drive and show this summer, make sure you take a good, long look at this Mach 1. Call now!