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| No, not my car, way to nice, but same color/body |
To be clear, at the time I did not know anything about cars and couldn't tell you the difference between a Mustang or a Camaro, and the only difference between a V6 and V8 was only that the later sounded bigger. I certainly didn't know the difference between the legendary Mustang and the newer Mustang II.
It turned out that this was not some high performance muscle car. It was Fords answer to high gas pricess in the 70's. It was "economical", the hated word of all car-buffs, and built out of Ford Pinto parts.
But it looked cool, impressed the girls, and that counts for quite a bit to a young guy. In retrospect, it WAS a pretty good car. The V6 engine was peppy and handling better than one would expect (the front end would later be used in many custom car builds).
I have a lot of stories in this car. Learning to drive a stick in the hills of San Francisco. Driving cross country and 70 mph backwards off of the interstate in a Nebraska ice storm. Making the turn when common sense would say to go around and try again. Nearly killing my family on a trip to the airport ... and making the recovery look planned. The cheating girl friend who asked for custody of the car during the break up. Fun times.
Ultimately, the car was a victim of the Navy life style - extended storage periods, salt, and lack of routine mainenance. I traded it in for a pickup truck. A trade I almost immediately regretted - but life is like that some times. Now I recall the "little Mustang" as one of my favorite cars.
