Looking for My Grandfather's 1973 White Ford Mustang – VIN Search

[rebecca_wit]

Hi everyone,
I'm hoping this amazing community might be able to help me find a piece of our family history.

I'm trying to track down my grandfather's 1973 white Ford Mustang, which he owned and loved dearly until he sold it independently in 1996. We have the VIN number: 3F01F248848, and I’m looking to find out where the car ended up — whether it was sold, restored, scrapped, or still on the road today. Many search sites want a 17-digit VIN, but this one is 11-digit being manufactured before 1981.

This car meant a lot to our family, and it would mean the world to reconnect with it in some way. If anyone has seen it, worked on it, or owns it now — or even if you have tips on how to continue the search — please reach out.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I’m happy to provide more details and old photos if helpful!

— Rebecca
Buffalo, NY

 

[Mcmahst]

Try posting this on 7173mustangs.com

 

[Noobz347]

Wait.... What are you trying say?


[All] Mustang people know each other?







Will keep an eye out. Twice, I've seen folks here, find long lost Mustangs.

It took a couple of years in each case but it happened.

That hardest part is [yours]. You have to remember to check back every few months.

 

[ToroWhirlwind]

Rebecca,

I just saw your post now. Sorry I did not see it sooner. I was actually searching the internet using the VIN, myself, just out of curiosity. It led me here.

I am the one who Ken sold the Mustang to in June of 1996. I had it until September of 1998. I traded it plus a 1973 Ranchero GT in on a New 1998 Crown Vic. Then....30 months later I actually bought the Mustang back again! Then traded it in 2003 for a 1979 Ranchero GT. Sigh....

I bought it from Ken for $6800. It only had 24k original miles on it. I had to do some repairs, simply because of the amount of sitting it had done. It even still had its original tires! I did not modify the car in any way. I went out of my way to find NOS parts for it.

The second time I bought it....from the guy who bought it from the dealership where I traded it in....I paid $6650 for it. He had done a new paint job on the car, which looked great. What had been unusual was that when I bought the car from Ken, the driver's door looked like the paint was older on it than the paint on the rest of the car. I just lived with it, at that time. The second time, it was nice to have the whole car with matching paint!

The guy I got it from that second time had not modified it in any way, either. I was very glad about that.

Over the years, I found a couple of interesting things about the car, while going all through it and checking everything.

It looked like the front seats had never been unmounted, since it came from the factory. However, they were installed on the wrong sides. The seatback release handles were both inboard, when they should have been outboard. In essence, your grandfather was driving the car from the passenger's seat for the entire time that he owned it!

Underneath the front end, it looked like the heads of two bumper bolts had been somehow sheered off at the factory. Everything was solid....it was basically a cosmetic issue, and not very obviously visible, at that. Rather than drill out the old ones, I simply sawed the heads off of two new bolts and glued the heads in place, just to keep up appearances!

Back in those days, Lois Eminger had all of the old Mustang invoices from Ford. I got the one for the Mustang in the mail from her. I also bought a Marti report for the car. (I think Kevin Marti has the invoices today, now that Lois has passed on.)

Let's see, what else....Oh, I had one of the local garages down here in Watkins Glen, NY bring the car down from Ken's home in Waterloo for me on a rollback. A week or two later, he drove all the way down here to my house just to bring me the front license plate bracket for the car. I had been using a modified one from a 69/70 Mustang up to that point. We had a really nice conversation. Ken was very kind and friendly.

I was very saddened to learn of his passing. I did post a photo of the car on the funeral home's memorial page for Ken, but I came upon the page quite late, so maybe you didn't see it.

The last time that I saw the car was when it was heading out to the new owner, on a rollback. It was still in pristine condition, and had not crossed the 30k mileage mark yet, in 2003! It had a set of BF Goodrich Radial T/A white letter tires that I bought for it, plus a set of reproduction Firestone Wide Oval Polyglas white letter tires that I wrapped in plastic and included in the back seat.

On the small factory console in front of the shifter, I had a special aluminum plate made that I attached with adhesive:
Tyman Ford Inc
Geneva NY
Because the car had never had a dealer-identifying badge on it anywhere. I thought that a small one was fitting, in acknowledgment of where it came from.

Try as I might, I can not remember the name of the buyer or where he was located. But....the fact that the car was in such great condition, I doubt that it was going to end up as a driver. I would think that it is still out there somewhere, being cared for to this day. I really hope so. I do very much regret letting it go the second time. I was taking care of my elderly father at the time and trading cars and detailing them was a way to keep my mind off the bad mood swings he was having from Diabetes.

Here are some things that you might like to see:

If there is ANYTHING else that I can do to help, just let me know.

Best Regards,

David B.

 

[ToroWhirlwind]

Here is a little bit more to add:

If you look closely at the image that Rebecca attached, you can notice that the car is missing its 'Mustang' script emblem on the driver's front fender. I noticed that right away when I bought the car the first time. I checked it very thoroughly. No evidence of holes for the emblem posts, no filler, nothing. I came to the conclusion that along with the reversed front seats and the sheered off bumper bolt heads, it was one more thing that was likely a result of being built a day behind schedule, as the Marti report indicates. Here is a pic after I installed the new emblem:

The driver's door being off-color from the rest of the car is quite evident in that photo. I am hoping that Rebecca will be able to shed some light on that.

I considered different options for what might be the best way to install the emblem. Then, I realized: white car. I took an indelible ink black marker and liberally coated the ends of the emblem posts. Lined it up where it would look right and gently pressed the posts against the fender. When I took it away, there were three perfect black marks to show where the holes needed to be drilled.

For folks reading this, I tracked down Rebecca's last name by way of her grandfather's obituary page, which is still up from 2019. I actually sent an email to her husband's workplace last night, so that should be received by tomorrow morning. I'm sure that in a short time we can establish communication.

I stayed up late last night thinking about where the car went. I remembered that the guy was a small-volume dealer in classics, but that's all I could come up with for now.

 

[ToroWhirlwind]

We made contact today!

Also, all I had was a poor photocopy of the Marti report, as posted above, because I let the original go with the car. So, I went into Paintshop and created a new one, attached here. I would have done a direct link, like the above images, but my image-hosting site is not working right now. I also emailed a copy to Rebecca.

 

[rebecca_wit]

David, I'm so thrilled with what you have been able to give me on my grandfather's old 1973 Mustang. My greatest difficulty in tracking down the Mustang has been the change in the VIN number system. I'm having a really hard time getting any lead at all beyond what you've shared with me. Does anyone have any other suggestions for how I could stay on the path to finding it one day? I know it's a long shot but I don't want to give up hope. Thanks so much, David!

 

[rebecca_wit]

Here is a little bit more to add:

If you look closely at the image that Rebecca attached, you can notice that the car is missing its 'Mustang' script emblem on the driver's front fender. I noticed that right away when I bought the car the first time. I checked it very thoroughly. No evidence of holes for the emblem posts, no filler, nothing. I came to the conclusion that along with the reversed front seats and the sheered off bumper bolt heads, it was one more thing that was likely a result of being built a day behind schedule, as the Marti report indicates. Here is a pic after I installed the new emblem:

The driver's door being off-color from the rest of the car is quite evident in that photo. I am hoping that Rebecca will be able to shed some light on that.

I considered different options for what might be the best way to install the emblem. Then, I realized: white car. I took an indelible ink black marker and liberally coated the ends of the emblem posts. Lined it up where it would look right and gently pressed the posts against the fender. When I took it away, there were three perfect black marks to show where the holes needed to be drilled.

For folks reading this, I tracked down Rebecca's last name by way of her grandfather's obituary page, which is still up from 2019. I actually sent an email to her husband's workplace last night, so that should be received by tomorrow morning. I'm sure that in a short time we can establish communication.

I stayed up late last night thinking about where the car went. I remembered that the guy was a small-volume dealer in classics, but that's all I could come up with for now.

I talked to my family members to see if anyone had any idea about why the driver door is a different color... no one knows but still waiting to hear back from my uncle about it!

 

[Noobz347]

Well...

That is three [snowball chance in hell] discoveries on

Congrats!

 

[ToroWhirlwind]

Rebecca, I'm very glad to have been able to share what I still have.

I remembered finding a complete NOS exhaust system for the car and having that installed. I also replaced the old rubber suspension bushings with the newer polyurethane versions. Then it would squeak going over railroad tracks and such, but it was much better overall.

I was on my way to a car show one day and went through an unavoidable patch of mud. A short way farther on there was a car wash, so I pulled in. I ended up getting slightly too close to an upright barrier and it squeezed the right rear wheel well trim ring. No other damage, but it was very frustrating. Happy ending there too, though....all of those trim pieces for all of the wheel wells were getting rather corroded from age. I found a complete set of NOS replacements. Once installed, there was no evidence of that minor mishap.

Then there was the time that the master cylinder failed, in the middle of downtown Corning, NY. That was a little bit hair-raising at first, but by pumping the brake pedal several times there was enough life left in it to come to a stop. I flipped the hazards on, shifted the auto tranny down into 1st gear, and headed for home. Just another adventure.

 

[rebecca_wit]

These stories about the car's adventures would bring a smile to my grandfather's face. Thanks for the memories, David.