Rides from the Readers: 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1

Hagerty readers and Hagerty Drivers Club members share their cherished collector and enthusiast vehicles with us via our contact email, tips@hagerty.com. We’re showcasing some of our favorite stories among these submissions. To have your car featured, send complete photography and your story of ownership to the above email address.

Today’s featured vehicle is a 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1. Nine years after the original Mustang broke cover, 1973 marked the final year for the first generation of Ford’s pony car. The model year brought along still more increases in size and weight due to federal safety regulations: specifically, four inches and 50 pounds thanks to a 5-mph bumper up front and a 2.5-mph one out back. 1973 also was the last model year Ford offered a Mustang convertible, until the drop-top returned for 1983.

This particular Mach 1 belongs to Jean Domenech, a reader and Mustang aficionado from France. He’s currently in the middle of restoring this example, which he bought from a friend who had owned it since the mid-1980s. The Mach 1 was exported to France where, in 1985, Domenech first came across it, though it wouldn’t be his for several years yet. (The photos above show the car around that time; below are more recent and in-progress snapshots.)

There hasn’t been a better time to hunker down in a garage and wrench on a painstaking restoration—props to you, Jean, and be sure to share photos of the resurrected Mach 1 in the Hagerty Community!