As the horsepower race was in full swing Ford rolled out the first Mustang Mach 1 in 1969. Although the Mustang Mach 1 was only available with a V-8 engine it is surprising to note that really the Mach 1 package was about interior options too. The 351 2v was the lowest horsepower of the engines that were available all the way up to the ground pounding 428 Cobra Jet with the Shaker hood scoop option.
The cars that weren’t lucky enough to get shaker got a non functional fiberglass hood scoop with built in turn signals. The center of the hood and cowl also were low gloss black. All the hoods also had racing type hood pins with cables that looped down to the grill, right? Well not exactly, while the hood pins were standard equipment they were one of the few “delete” options. In other words if you didn’t want them on a special order you could request they be not included. So, if your judging a Mach 1 to be fake by the lack of hood pins, better check the door tag!
The Interior of the Mach 1 had a special package that included high back bucket seats with “Comfortweave” material. It is of note that for many years the “Comfortweave” was not available even in reproduction seat covers. Only in the past few years has a manufacturer come out with a material that MCA will accept as original type. Also, the bane of many restoration shops was the rim blow steering wheel. Even now the steering wheel itself is not being reproduced.
However there are a few companies across the USA that do repair them. Most do a wonderful job but hold on to your wallets because it gets really expensive! The rim blow switch and the center pads are generally available although special order items most of the time. Another item that appeared in the Mach 1 Mustang in 1969 was the clock on the dash right in front of the passenger. Currently those dash panels are not available either but I’m glad to say that the clocks can be repaired/replaced at a reasonable cost. The interior trade mark of the Mach 1 Mustang was the very different carpeting.
The carpeting included rubber foot pads in every passenger position. The carpet many times had foot pads in a different color than the carpet. Like black with red or in some cases black with black. Even when you had the carpet that was black with black the knap of the was different too. It was thicker and more plush.
The 1969 Mustang Mach 1 also had the “handling package” as standard equipment. The styled steel wheels were chrome “12 Hole” GT wheels but the center caps didn’t have the trade mark GT symbol.