71 Mustang Question

[Bill Harris]

A lot of people are unaware that the '71 Mach I package could be ordered with or without the "hockey stick" stripes, which a lot of people refer to as "Mach I" stripes.

A Mach I ordered without the stripes had a different treatment on the sides. A non-striped car had the lower rocker panel black-out, but the transition point from the blackout to the body color had a stainless steel trim that ran the full length of the car. When the hockey stick stripes were ordered, the stainless trim was deleted and there was an additional narrow black tape stripe at the transition between the rocker blackout and the body color.

I have seen a lot of cars that were originally non-stripe that had the hockey stick added later. They are easy to spot since the stainless trim is almost always still there since if you remove it you have a bunch of holes in the door and quarter panels.

My car was originally a 4 speed, 4.11:1 drag-pack 429SCJ (which always had ram-air), without the hockey stick stripes, hence it has the stainless trim. In fact, the ONLY option on my car other than the drag pack was an AM radio. Even the tachometer was an option, and my car doesn't have that either. No power steering, no power brakes. Must have been an interesting car to drive on the street!

BTW, there are a LOT of 71/72 Mustangs out there, Mach 1 and otherwise, with front and rear spoilers. The rear spoiler was available on any fastback car: Mach 1, Boss 351 or regular "sportsroof". But the front spoiler was ONLY available on the Boss.