Looking for info on Mexican built Mach 1's....

[TIGGER]

My uncle has a Mexican built 73 Mach 1. He bought the car new in 73. THe car has 53K kilometers which is about 30K miles. It has a 351W 4V under the hood and 4spd as the transmission. THe car has been repainted once but has been neglected for the past 20 years. He is thinking about shipping it up to me so I can fix it up and sell it here in the states.

Does anyone know where I can get some information on these Mexican built cars? I am not too familiar with the 71-73 cars much less the mexican built ones.

I saw the car in 1999 when I went to visit. My cousin gave me the keys and I went out to look at it. The car runs real good but has been sitting for quite sometime. It has been 10 or more years since my uncle has driven the car around the block. The tires are the original, cracked and bald. The body looked good. The stripes were gone. The only rust I saw was on the tail light panel. The space saver tire and canaster are still in the trunk. It is painted bright silver but I imagine the original color was pewter. The interior was blue which seemed like an odd color combo. THe seats had cloth inserts which I had never seen before. RImbow wheel, dash tach, console etc. Interior look decent but it was dark under the carport so it was hard to see for sure. The motor looked real good. It was painted black with gold valve covers, similar to the 64-65 cars. I don't remember what color the aircleaner was. I want to say it was ford blue? The decals looked mint and most of the markings were still visible. It looks like it would be an easy car to restore since it is mostly all there. The only thing it is missing is the original wheels. THe car came with some aftermarket slots. I assume they were dealer installed as my uncle said they where on there when he bought it.

Unfortunately, I have no pics

 

[allcarfan]

mexican mach 1s? Thats a new one to me.

Anyway you can get a VIN number?

 

[TIGGER]

I will see if my cousin can Email it to me.

 

[Ronstang]

I find it interesting that the 73 has a Windsor engine in it since that engine was only used in the 69.....must be a Mexico thing.

 

[bnickel]

there was an article in mustang monthly within the last couple years that was about all of the mexican stangs including the big body mach's and the mexican shelby's. from what i can remember in the article the wheels were your typical steel wheels with corporate "poverty" caps and no trim rings, probabaly why the dealer installed the slots, but check them carefully because carroll shelby inc. parts were pretty big in mexico and he had a line of wheels that included slots so it's possible that the slots that are on the car now are shelby wheels. the engine would have gold valve covers and blue air cleaner, i can't remember if the rest of the engine was blue or black also the 351w would be correct since ford did not export any clevelands to mexico and the windsor that is in there would actually have been cast in mexico and therefore be one of the most desirable of the windsor blocks since it has a higher nickel content. the interior came with the cloth inserts standard as did all mexican mach's if i remember right.as for the color i think the interiors were only offered in blue and orange (not vermillion but ORANGE) and MAYBE black. and i think the article mentioned something about the mach decals being similar to the american sprint decals for 71 but said mach 1 instead of sprint and i think i remember the article saying that these cars were marketed as a mach 1 sprint? . i'll see if i can dig anything up on the web for you

 

[bnickel]

here is some info:
http://www.darkhorseracing.net/south_of_the_boarder.htm
http://www.darkhorseracing.net/mexican_71.htm
and the ones you'll really want to see
http://www.darkhorseracing.net/73_mex_sprint.htm
http://www.darkhorseracing.net/gov_of_mexico.htm

 

[mrfomoco]

I find it interesting that the 73 has a Windsor engine in it since that engine was only used in the 69.....must be a Mexico thing.

Are you 100% on the fact that the Windsor was only used in 69?

 

[TIGGER]

Thanks for the info. There is some interesting reading there. The Governers car is similar to my Uncles car. I am not too sure about the spoilers though. I don't remember seeing the article on the Mexican stangs. I will have to search my collection of magazines as well to find the article. If you find it, please let me know. Sounds like these Mexican stangs are unique in many ways. Luckly my Uncles car is all there. Hopefully he decides to do something with it soon. The car is slowing rotting away. After seeing the cars in Nashville this past week, my dad is going to work on him some more

 

[bnickel]

actually i think what i posted was the article i was talking about. it came from mustang illustrated 1996. i thought it was later than that but i'm pretty sure that was the article

 

[TIGGER]

OK thanks. Let me know if you come across anything else.

 

[96 DOHC Cobra]

Most Ford vehicles in Mexico, about 90% had 302s in them. The rest got 351Ws and a few six bangers. Probably an equal breakdown came between toploader four-speeds and three-speeds manuals/automatics. The 302s and 351Ws for many years could be had with four barrel carbs. An uncle of mine down there had a 75 LTD that he bought new, and it was equipped with a 351W w/ four barrel carb. Also, no 8" or 9" rearends were factory installed. Everything that I could remember seeing got a Dana 44 rearend in it.

 

[Ronstang]

Are you 100% on the fact that the Windsor was only used in 69?

Yes. 1969 was the only year the 351 Windsor was available in a Mustang, unless you count the 1995 Cobra-R.

 

[96 DOHC Cobra]

Yes. 1969 was the only year the 351 Windsor was available in a Mustang, unless you count the 1995 Cobra-R.

That's w/4V carb and in the USA.