A lot of folks lament a certain car or two that they let go, but never should have sold. Not Bill Parrett. He is the owner of this 1969 Mustang hardtop, which has been in his stable since the early days of the Reagan administration. Spoiler alert: Bill’s not selling it any time soon.

Shelby-style rear spoiler and LED taillights do a great job of dressing up the otherwise simple lines of the 1969 Mustang hardtop. (Photo by Jim Campisano)

The 1969 Mustang hardtop was the third major redesign of Ford’s ponycar. It grew in length, width, and height. But it retained all the Mustang’s unique styling cues except one: There were now four headlights in the grille, not two.

Why a hardtop and not the more popular fastback?

I’ve had this car since 1981,” said Parrett. It was the only car I could afford at the time. I paid next to nothing for it, and over the years it’s morphed into what it is now.

In the beginning, it was his daily driver. Later on, it became a dedicated drag car. In those days, it had a 351 Cleveland for power and ran 12.0s in the quarter-mile. In another incarnation, it was a straight front axle gasser-style machine. Now it is one of his cruisers, or “a trophy queen,” as he put it.

From Plain Jane To Beauty Queen

When it rolled off the assembly line, it was a base hardtop with the new-for-’69 351 engine (now known as the Windsor) with a two barrel carb, 250-hp, and a four-speed gearbox. This Mustang is anything but “base” now. In its current iteration, it has a 466-cube 385-series big-block making an estimated 500 horsepower, and it’s backed by a Tremec TKO600 five-speed and a 3.50 Traction-Lok.

The .030-over 460 gets fuel from an 850-cfm Pro Systems carb atop an Edelbrock RPM Air Gap intake. Inside is an MPG Head Service camshaft with .575-inch lift.. Cylinder heads are Blue Thunder Cobra Jet cast-iron units. The exhaust is expelled through MPG headers and a homebuilt 3-inch exhaust system with Magnaflow mufflers.

The transmission came from the Summit Racing Equipment catalog and it has a McLeod dual-disc RST clutch and Hurst shifter. A Modern Driveline conversion kit was used for the swap and employs a hydraulic clutch pedal assembly.

The interior has been upgraded to Grande woodgrain door panels front and rear, and there’s no console between the seats. The gauge cluster is from Classic Instruments, but Bill had Classic tweak the gauges in a few areas so they are unique to his Stang. A Sony Xplod head unit and speakers ensure he can hear his music over the exhaust.

Upping The Handling Game

Suspension-wise, he added Eaton coil springs spec’d out for a 428 Cobra Jet hardtop. He added a half-inch lowering block in the rear, and used Global West front suspension parts in the front (including tubular upper control arms), which incorporate a modified Shelby drop. KYB shocks are used all around.

Wheels are Coys 18×9.5 (rear) and 18×7 (front) surrounded by General GMax tires measuring 275/40 and 225/50ZR18. After cruising to and from our photo location with Bill, we can tell you this stallion really rides and handles nicely — no bucking or harshness. He chose his parts wisely.

Whereas the Mustang fastback got a rear ducktail spoiler in 1969 and ’70, the trunk area of the hardtop (which most people now call the coupe) was rather simple. Bill addressed this by adding a Maier Racing spoiler, which is similar to the Shelby piece used on the fastbacks in ’69. He also added sidescoops from Tony D. Branda Shelby & Mustang Parts and LED taillights. A Boss 302-style front spoiler ties it all together. These additions truly transform the look of the car.

There’s a non-functional Boss 429-style scoop covering the monster mill. Why non-functional? Simple. With Florida’s unpredictable weather patterns and massive rain storms that come out of nowhere, he’d prefer not to have to worry about such things.

If he could change one thing about, he’d … do nothing. The current build began nine years ago — he took it down to the subframe and basically started from scratch.That means new doors, quarter-panels, floor pans, etc., “and a lot of time fixing stuff on it that my teenage self screwed up,” Bill admitted.

“I built what I would have built when I was a teenager. That’s why the manual brakes, manual steering, stick shift, and all that stuff,” said Bill. “So it’s pretty much a reliving of your youth, kind of deal with me.”

Bill did all the work on this car except spraying the Acapulco Blue base and clearcoat, which was laid down by his friend Al Helf, who had a spray booth at his house. At the moment, he’s finishing up another ‘69 Mustang hardtop for his wife. After that? He’s contemplating swapping to an automatic; if he does that, there could be a Godzilla transplant in the future.

Owner and builder Bill Parrett with the car he’s owned since 1981. (Photo by Jim Campisano)

We love what Bill’s done with his ‘69 Mustang hardtop. It retains the traditional good looks of the ’60-’70 models, but the right modifications really set it apart.