[77stang2]

Hi,
I need advice I found a 77 Mustang 2 with 123,000 miles on it. Its a 4 cylinder automatic Ghia copper on white. The guy wants 300 I'm going to offer him like 200 for it. The car sat for at least 5 years from what he told me, it has a bad carb and needs a tune up bad I got it started and it runs decent considering how long it sat. It has rust in the passenger side lower door and the pinch welds are shot on the drivers side theres the usual little chips and stuff but the interior is like immaculate. Is it worth the money I know there not very collectible cars? I'm going away to college and am looking for something that will be good on gas and cheap to work on plus I know how to work on older cars. However my dad said his girl friend had one back in the 70s with 40,000 on it and it had a bad trans and wouldn't shift gears automatically and also ran terribly. Then he went on to say that they made the list of worst cars in the 70s. Are they really that bad or did they just get a bad rap? I don't mind doing maintenance and little stuff but I don't want to have to do like a massive amount of repairs every week. I read the early ones used a c3 trans and it used to go a lot like hers, but the later ones used the c4s. Basically I just want to know if its a trouble car or a lemon when new and am I getting ripped off?
Thanks
Anthony

[STANG II]

In my opinion if you are just buying a car for transportation while at college, forget about it. You will be spending time in class and studying and probably not have access to a garage and tools. Buy something you can use that you can find parts readily for that is late 80's early 90's if money is an issue.
I am in no way knocking the Mustang II, but they are more of a project car than a reliable mode of transportation especially if it sat for years as mine did. You have to like or love the style to make it worth dumping money and searching for parts in order to get it working right. Sounds like you would be better off getting a cheap Dodge Neon, Toyota or Nissan as a daily driver. As far as collectible??? any old car in good to excellent shape can demand high resale from the right person. Bought mine a few months ago for under $2000, threw another $1500 and my labor into it, this past weekend I was offered $6500 for it at a car show and turned it down because I really like the car and enjoy driving it to shows, but I do not use it as a daily driver.

[77stang2]

Im actually going away to Universal Technical Institute (UTI) in PA, and the give me access to a full service garage on weekends. So working on it doesnt scare me my daily driver was a 65 mustang with a 302 for the last 5 years so Im definatly familiar with havin to fix somethin new on the weekends. Im just curious about initial build quality after what my dad told me Im kind of afraid to buy it. I really like the body style and the idea of a 4cylinder that will give me hopefully 20-25mpg because I plan on coming home to NJ every other weekend to see my girlfriend and family. Im just afriad of going for a transmission like 2 weeks after buying the car or having it backfire unexplainedly all the time like my dads girlfriends did. I just dont get how a c4 could go bad behind a 90hp motor when it holds up ok with a 5.0. Im leaving 0n January 5th so I plan on driving it around a little before I go to hopefully work all the bugs out before I leave. Also is there any problem spots I should look for on the car? Common rot spots, leaks, things that are usually shot?

[STANG II]

Well that is a different story, you going to a Tech school. If you truely like what you see in the car and want to work on it, for $200-$300 you can't go wrong As far as initial quality build, there was none in the mid 70's (my opinion) h.p. was down amongst all the car companies, American quality was down but Japanese cars were comming up about the best quality on the road for the money was a VW Bug.

As far as the trans goes if it was taken care of it should last if not?, that is a risk you take when you buy a used car. Is there something specific that you know is wrong?
As far as I know these cars had no more quirks than anything else on the road, The Ford / Chevy / Dodge / Plymouth war was still on so that may be where the rumors of specific problems arose?
Again if this is what you want and the price is right go for it, but as with any 30 year old car expect problems and you will put time and money into it for sure.

[77stang2]

I didn't notice anything wrong with the car when I looked at it the only thing is I cant take it on a test drive it has a fuel line that is leaking badly and some vacuum leaks so the owner really doesn't want me taking it on a test drive it does go into drive and revers no problem and the fluid is nice and red. My father just had me paranoid from the stuff he told me about them. I'm probably going to just go see the guy tomorrow and make him an offer.
Thanks for your time
Anthony

[74stang2togo]

only thing that would worry me is that it's already got rust problems... rust is hard to fight in all of the Mustangs from '64-78 due to the design of the cars, the fox bodies and up are a little easier... On the other hand, even Texas-dwelling IIs have rust issues most of the time, my '74 Ghia I'm selling has two half-dollar sized holes in the quarters (one in each) and a couple small holes in each of the rear floorboards, and my '76 Ghia has a single hole on the inner fender right next to the passenger side exhaust manifold (but that's the ONLY rust on that car!!! )

If you're really worried about transmission reliability, swap a T5 or an old RAD4 into it and worry no more, the RAD4 and T5 got bad reps behind V8s, but in 2.3L cars they're awesome!

[jcaulder]

I'd advise checking the gas tank for rust. If you go the gas station with a rust filled tank, the force of the gas being filled will not the rust loose, and will spoil the gas. I found that out from experience after getting my 76 Coupe on the road after eight years or so of sitting.

[dhfb]

Not the right car for a partial project imho. This is not a car that parts are readily available for and if you break something important there is slim to no chnace to replace it fast. Get a fox... aftermarket support is crazy and the base car will cost you the same... get a 4 banger and focus on the body... when money frees hit the suspension and then drop in a carbed V8... probably worth a few more bucks when you are done too!! Fox's are takin crazy money right now.