FORD

Mustang II

A total of 1,107,718 FORD Mustang II have been produced on earth in United States between 1974 and 1978. The Ford Mustang II is the most reviled Mustang and, commercially, one of the most successful. Introduced in September 1973 for the 1974 model year, it arrived within weeks of the OPEC oil embargo — timing that Lee Iacocca, by then president of Ford, had bet the car on. Iacocca had been one of the fathers of the original 1964 Mustang and watched with dismay as it swelled through the early 1970s into a 3,600 lb barge; the Ford Mustang II was his corrective, 490 lb lighter and almost 19 inches shorter than the 1973 car, built on a lengthened version of the subcompact Pinto platform with a unitary body, an isolated front subframe and rack-and-pinion steering. Base power came from a 2.3-litre four — the first four-cylinder Mustang ever — with a 2.8-litre Cologne V6 optional, and no V8 at all in 1974; the 302 V8 returned in 1975. Buyers, facing petrol queues, did not care: 385,993 Ford Mustang II were sold in the first year alone and more than 1.1 million across the 1974-1978 run, and the car was named Motor Trend Car of the Year in 1974. The enthusiast versions came later — the striped Cobra II of 1976 and the outrageous King Cobra of 1978, with its bonnet snake decal and 302 V8. The Ford Mustang II saved the nameplate through the darkest years of the American performance industry and handed it, intact, to the Fox-body of 1979. Its handling front suspension became the default hot-rod IFS swap in America, and for decades that was its only claim to respect. The market is now, finally, coming round: clean Cobra II and King Cobra cars are climbing fast. Upgrades & evolutions during the Ford Mustang II production: FORD - Mustang II Hardtop / 2+2 Hatchback (2.3 four, 2.8 V6) : 1974 - 1978 FORD - Mustang II Ghia (luxury trim) : 1974 - 1978 FORD - Mustang II with 302 V8 restored to the range : 1975 - 1978 FORD - Mustang II Cobra II : 1976 - 1978 FORD - Mustang II King Cobra (302 V8) : 1978 - 1978 Average quotation for the Ford Mustang II: cheapest US$4,000, average US$20,000, most expensive US$60,000 (listings and auction results, 2021-2026). ESTIMATED range. Ordinary Ghia and hatchback cars still change hands for US$5,000-15,000; documented Cobra II and King Cobra V8 cars are the ones climbing, with the best examples pushing past US$50,000. The site database carries US$27,817 as the average.