Rare 1972 Ford Mustang Convertible Hits the Market in Idaho

Ford’s Mustang had come a long way from its 1965 origins by the early 1970s. The 1971–73 generation had ballooned in size and heft, packing on roughly 800 pounds over the original pony car in just a handful of years. That bloat would eventually be addressed by the downsized Mustang II in 1974, but before the diet arrived, Ford was still churning out these big-bodied cruisers — including a relative rarity: the convertible. For 1972, only about 6,000 drop-tops left the factory, a tiny fraction of overall output.

That scarcity helps explain the appeal of the example now listed on craigslist out of Kuna, Idaho, carrying an asking price of $24,000. The car presents well, with clean bodywork, paint, stripes, a tidy top, and an interior that photographs nicely across the handful of available images. Under the hood sits a 351-cubic-inch Cleveland V8 breathing through a two-barrel carburetor, mated to an automatic transmission. Ford had begun detuning engines around this period, but the 351 still delivered reasonable motivation for a car of this size. The seller lists mileage only as a placeholder of “1111,” and no service needs are mentioned, suggesting the car is a turnkey driver with fresh tires.

The timing of the Mustang’s ups and downs is worth noting. Sales had slid for a fifth straight year in 1971, falling to roughly 150,000 units, then slipped another 25,000 the following year. The 1973 model year brought a modest rebound of about 10,000 cars. Then came the OPEC oil embargo, and Ford’s decision to launch the compact Mustang II suddenly looked prescient — that car’s sales climbed toward the volumes the mid-1960s originals had enjoyed.

This particular convertible may have seen at least a partial restoration, judging by how well the body, paint, and interior have held up. With fewer than 5% of total production built as ragtops, survivors in this condition aren’t easy to come by. One commenter noted that the engine bay shows fresh paint, possibly indicating a rebuild, meaning the listed mileage could reflect distance traveled since that work rather than the car’s total. Others pointed out that these convertibles were never meant to carve canyons — chassis flex limits how much power you can safely add — but as relaxed cruisers built for drive-ins and burger stands, they still hold a certain nostalgic charm. For a buyer wanting a largely unspoiled example of a genuinely uncommon Mustang variant, the Idaho car could be worth a closer inspection.