From The Classifieds: Ford Mustang 1967 coupe

As the very first American pony car, Ford’s Mustang rates high among car industry success stories.

The snub-tailed, long-bonneted coupe was very much a product of the 1960s, in the days when American cars were big, brassy and, to many, something of a status symbol.

The Mustang came, though, at a time when Detroit was beginning to do some preliminary navel-gazing and had just initiated some down-sizing of its products in an effort to halt a seemingly unstoppable trend towards ever-bigger, ever more thirsty passenger cars.

Ford’s effort was the Falcon sedan of 1960 - which seemed small to the Americans but not necessarily everyone else - standing alongside the likes of Chrysler ‘s Valiant and General Motors’ nutty rear-engined Corvair to offer a bit of size-sense in the family-car market.

Thankfully for Ford, and to a lesser extent Chrysler, these new compact cars were successful in both the USA and other markets – including Australia – where they were sold. The Corvair was a brave concept that failed because GM engineers never really overcame intrinsic handling problems caused by the car’s pronounced rearward weight bias. The Porsche references were unmistakable – horizontally opposed six-cylinder configuration, complete with air cooling and independent swing-axle rear suspension – but the Corvair’s handling balance never came anywhere near that of, say, Porsche’s 911 - which was itself a challenging car to drive at the limit.

But the Ford Falcon was the hero of the day, giving birth to many variants, including sedans, wagons and two-door hardtop coupes – and, in a most fundamental sense, to the Mustang.

The first version came in 1964 and was initially the subject of conservative sales predictions – which turned out to be way off the mark as the anticipated annual volume of 100,000 was exceeded only three months after launch. Maybe in public recognition of its Mustang title, it was a wildly successful car.

To Australians, perhaps the most iconic Mustang was the revamped 1967 version that got a bolder, gape-mouthed front end as well as a revised look at the rear, and a new instrument panel.

A red, Boss 302 fastback version campaigned by Canadian race driver Allan Moffat as the Coca-Cola Mustang in the Australian Touring Car Championships helped cement the model in the minds of multitudes of race enthusiasts. Moffat never won an ATCC title in his Mustang, but five Mustangs in the hands of other drivers did, between 1965 and 1969.

This pristine 1967 fastback model from Alexandra Hills in Queensland is about as good as a Mustang gets, with national concourse wins to its credit resulting from a recent full restoration that embraced every aspect of the car, right down to the under-body. The photos give a pretty good indication how thorough the restoration has been.

Engine is Ford’s 289 V8, coupled to a top-loader four-speed manual gearbox and, yes, it does come with a roadworthy certificate.

At $69,000 this looks a pretty good investment for a Mustang fan – or maybe someone who has just discovered the breed.