When looking at old cars, the options that the original buyer specified from the factory tell a ton of stuff about how the car was intended to be used and what kind of buyer the person was. In the case of this 1969 Mustang, the buyer was definitely a drag racer who intended to get out to the local strips in the Indiana area where the car was sold and beat up on all the Chevrolets he could find. With the R-code 428 Super Cobra Jet engine, the 3.91 Traction-Lok rear axle, Drag Pack, competition suspension, and the mighty C-6 transmission this thing was armed to the teeth with the most robust parts that Ford could throw at it.
The things we really love about the car are the purposeful look that Acapulco Blue paint has, the factory steel wheels and hubcaps, that neat little scoop that tells they world they have decided to mess with the wrong Mustang, and an interior that is all business. Remember, when the owner of this car got his mitts on it, it that much more than a year after the Mustang Cobra Jets showed up at the 1968 NHRA Winternationals and cleaned house, causing drag racers to look at the Ford brand for their street horsepower, and spurring on sales of high performance Fords across the boards. Was the buyer of this car inspired by the triumph in Pomona? Were they Ford loyalists before that happened and just had to get in on the party? Those are questions that the option sheet cannot answer but all of the other stuff we’re surmising is as plain as day as told by the options.
A Marti Report is included with the car and this is one of 3,300 cars optioned with the good engine and the other stuff that it has in 1969. That doesn’t make it ultra-rare but we’re thinking a good amount of the other cars were eventually wrecked, blown up, or driven until the passengers rotted through the floor. The full restoration done on the car looks beautiful. Lots of OEM components were left with the car when the work was started and what was not there was replaced with the stuff that should have been there it appears.
If we bought a car like this, we’d have to drive it. It is one thing to admire the cool looks but that R-code 428 and the 3.91 gears it is churning certainly were meant to be used in anger and that’s exactly what we’d do. Those poor Goodyear Polyglass tires wouldn’t stand a chance!
Check out this 1969 R-Code 428 Mustang that’s as nice as the day it was built –
Lovely car – but it looks like an old granny wearing impossibly high heels!
That suspension needs slamming into the weeds to achieve perfection .
This 428 Cobrajet has SS/FA written all over it.
The color on the car is stunning! It’s looks OK with the steelies but Magnum 500 look much better.
Chrome Magnum 500 wheels were not an option on the Mustang or Mach 1. Only on the Boss 302 and came standard on the Boss 429.
Most 69 CJ’s were Mach 1’s; this was a plain Sportsroof. The sleepy look just makes it.
I understand the original buyer was named Grippo.
He should have went with the 4.30 gear if he was a real Drag Racer.
Almost the way i’d have wanted one (if I wasn’t a kid back then). I’d choose a 4 speed and the 4.30 Detroit Locker.
Height, yeah, another pet peeve, it’s like all cars are restored by off road shops or something. Sometimes it is just new springs not settled but these never sat THAT high when new.