Images: eBay

When Ford introduced the Mustang Grandé in 1969, it was another move that got the competition playing catch-up. Now that the Mustang matured, some of its mature buyers wanted luxury with their Pony. The next year, the Barracuda followed with the Gran Coupe, the new Dodge Challenger had the SE, and the Firebird had the Esprit.

However, the Mustang Grandé was available with Ford’s hi-po motors excepting the Bosses, so a few Grandés were built with Cobra Jet power. In the case of this 1971 Grandé on eBay, it’s one of two built.

Ford replaced the 428 Cobra Jet with the 429 Cobra Jet in 1971. It was rated at 370 horsepower, but if you ordered the Drag Pack (which included, among other things, an external oil cooler and either 3.91 or 4.11 gears), it was rated at 375 horsepower.

Most of them found their way into Mach I fastbacks, but very few found themselves in hardtop coupes. According to Kevin Marti’s “Mustang…by the Numbers,” we know that 15 J-code Cobra Jet Ram Air hardtops were built with the four-speed. But if you glance at the Marti Report for this eBay car, only two were Grandés.

The Cobra Jet was also available without Ram Air, which is known as the C-code. Only 11 4-speed hardtops were built, but I haven’t seen a Marti Report to see how many of the 11 were Grandés.

This car was ordered by an Idaho cattleman who replaced the open 3.50 gears with 2.75s because he did a lot of highway driving to California. At some point, he mothballed the car, which was damaged when the roof to the shed collapsed due to a heavy snow.

Looking at the Marti Report some more, you can see this Grandé is one of 1,398 painted in Dark Green metallic, of which only 160 were built with Ginger cloth and vinyl interior. Only 121 Grandés were ordered for the Salt Lake City district, and only 128 were ordered with the performance-oriented Magnum 500 wheels. This car also was originally ordered with a white vinyl roof (standard on the Grandé) and other options that were typical for Mustangs back then, such as an AM radio, the Protection Group (bodyside molding and bumper guards), and the Convenience Group (numerous lights and buzzers). But being a Grandé, it already was well-equipped with cloth and vinyl seating plus fancy door trim, map light, rocker molding, pedal trim, and more.

After 1971, big block Mustangs would be a thing of the past. If you want a special Mustang that stands out from the usual Mach Is at shows, this is about as good as it gets.