Hey, my first car was a Mustang II...dangit.
I owned 5-6 of them
first one was a 78 King Cobra (black/orange) Great little car with sometheing like 140HP but it was the "first 5.0 badged mustang" ever.
subsequent ones were the Black and Gold 76 Cobra II's... again with paltry 302's, but a simple "heads and cam" swap really woke em up!
Granted, they weren't Cobra's really nor really mustangs, but...
They weren't BAD cars overall...Especially considering the "car industry" at the time...
The 74 Mustang II (my least favorite of the bunch) WAS ACTUALLY Motor Trends Car of the year!.
They had a "kinda cool 74 notch back with platinum silver exterior and matching interior" that looked like something "Barbarella" would have worn *haha*
With that said....
when I got that first mustang II I didn't even know how to change a TIRE.
That little car with all it's quirks and problems taught me ALOT about cars and mechanics overall.
By the time my "mustang II career" ended I was building my own 5.0 motors from the ground up..
and pulling and replacing transmissions in a matter of hours.
ALSO... you guys that say the Mark 8's are so great!
There is one thing that the Mark 8 and the Mustang II have in common.
TREMNDOUS COWL SHAKE when the car is driven "at or near it's limit".
When I first started driving my Mark 8, I noticed this familiar trait right off the bat.
There was something "oddly familar" about the way this car handled.
It was like "re-uniting" with an old friend.
I will also say that the Mustang II and the Mark 8 are very "forgiving cars" when it comes to steering inputs, it's as if the car is actually giving you a moment to "consider".. and will protest in a manner that suggests that the car actually says to you "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DO THAT"?
on the opposite end of the spectrum was my little 84 SVO,
The Mustang SVO was a totally different animal when it came to "being forgiving".
If the driver made an "error" that would take the car off the road, the car PROMPTLY RESPONDED WITH DRIVING RIGHT OFF THE ROAD!
I loved my mustang II's, they taught me alot.. and had I gotten a "dependable chevy" or something like that for my first car, I would probably be one of those people that are often found "at the mercy of some stealership".
Sorry for bring back up this old thread, I just found it.
HAHA