Show Car Sunday returns with the first edition of the Mach-1

THE FIRST MACH-1

On a brutally hot Oregon afternoon I passed by the house of an obvious Mustang enthusiast. In addition to the ride I'm featuring today you can see that black fastback in the rear. There were at least a couple others as well from various vintages. This beauty was show-car perfect though. Behold!

This is a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach-1 in Candy Apple Red. This is the first year for the popular Mach-1 edition which was mostly an exterior dress-up package. The only performance upgrades were a competition suspension and Goodyear Polyglas tires. There were no 6 cylinder engines available with the Mach-1 which is not really an upgrade in itself but more of a performance bare-minimum.

Whatever! This thing looks hungry and determined.

The Mustang was so incredibly popular that there were 6 factory performance packages available in '69: GT, Boss 302, Boss 429, Shelby GT350, Shelby GT500, and the Mach-1. The Shelbys these days are worth crazy money - well into the 6 figures territory today. After '69 the regular GT was dropped as the Mach-1 dwarfed it in sales.

This was the only body style for the Mach-1 in '69. Called the Sportsroof in Ford literature it was basically the fastback. Louvers were available and look great on these rides.

The  mach 1  name would continue to be spelled out in lower case letters through 1978 when it was discontinued. The name did return on certain high performance 2003 and 2004 Mustangs before vanishing for good.
This car really is in near-perfect condition; just look at the lower body and paint.

This is my favorite year for Mustang. The first generation is a bit delicate to be called a muscle car in my opinion, and the generation after this is huge and somewhat bloated (though I do love them too). This era has an air of power and athleticism. You could order just about any engine including a fire breathing 428 V8 that would battle just about anything off the line.

Here we have a classic car fetish of mine on full display: white interior! That seat style with the red stripe near the top is correct for the Mach-1. The faux wooden door panel is correct period!
*Notice the shoulder seat belt dangling from the ceiling. These were options at this point that were held up on clips along the headliner until a passenger elected to use them.

This hood scoop and flat black hood are both features of the Mach-1. The scoop is just for looks as there isn't even a hole through the hood underneath it. The 351 badge on the side indicates that this is equipped with the 5.8 Liter V8 motor. 

Those hood pins with tie downs are also Mach-1 items.
To me this is the perfect Mustang. Parts are so common as to be universally available. If originality isn't your thing you can take a 6 cylinder Mustang from this year and build a faux Mach-1 from scratch with a catalog and a large credit card limit. This one looked like it was 100% legit.