Muscle Car of the Week—The 1964 Mustang Convertible

As experts in classic car restoration in Los Angeles, you can take our word for this—the '64 Mustang Convertible is one of the most sought after restoration projects around. This week, we're taking an in-depth look at the specs on this baby. We bet that by the time you're done reading this short post, you'll understand what all the hype is about.

The Mustang was the brain child of two executives working at Ford during the early 1960s: the renowned Lee Iacocca and Donald Frey. They wanted to offer Americans a sporty yet affordable car to compete with the huge inflow of European models in the market—and it's safe to say that they exceeded everyone's expectations. The original price tag on the Mustang was $2,320, and on the very first day that it was available, Ford sold 22,000 of them. By the end of '64, they sold over 400,000 Mustangs! (Not all were convertibles, but you get the picture) As a result of this demand, they manufactured a ton of cars, which means that they shouldn't be too hard to find if you want to take one on as an car restoration project.

The 1964 Mustang was the original muscle car. While it's not quite as powerful as some of our other auto restoration choices, it was definitely no slouch. It came standard with a 170 cubic inch six cylinder engine that produced 120 horsepower, but you could upgrade to a 289 cubic inch V-8, or, for even higher performance, a 289 cubic inch 4-bbl V8 with their "Cruise-O-Matic" automatic transmission and 271 horsepower.

Parts for these pony cars are readily available at almost every junkyard in the country, and the good news is that after you restore one, you can get up to $40,000 for it!

Click through to learn more about the classic car restoration in Los Angeles.

image: mustangsandfords.com