Modern Art Monday – 1972 Ford Mustang Grande

'72 Mustang. Sleeping for the winter.

Every time I walk past this Mustang Hardtop parked downtown, I’m reminded of jeans ads featuring bored youth leaning on similar ones. You have to remember, until I board a plane my perception of the United States consists of the images adverts and commercials feed me; thus there must be skinny people in their twenties sitting on muscle cars on the free open prairie within a stone’s throw of each other, with nothing to do but sulk.

The Mustang pictured here sits on the parking space day to day, in summer BF Goodrich tires. I don’t remember it ever being driven around, but snow is faithfully cleared off it. I think I’ve seen it covered for a while, but now the tarp has come off and revealed the attractive coke bottle hips completely.

The way the frost has formed on the Mustang is beautiful. It’s sort of encrusted in frozenness, and the flakes emphasize its detailing. Chrome is mostly flawless.

The plates are from the more northern Oulu region. They could have been on the car since new, but it’s also possible it’s been brought used from the States. The car’s been “Finlandized” at import, as the marker lights have been painted body colour.

Mustangs here are most often restored show cars or ratty running cars, this clean original example must be a rarity – and ones that have been in the country longer than 20-30 years are definitely rare.

I am not a huge fan of vinyl roofs, but they get a pass when they are this clean. I don’t suspect there’s much rust underneath it.

The flying buttresses of the swooping C-pillars are also a nice touch.

My understanding is that under the snow-covered hood sits a 95-horsepower 4.1-litre/250cid Thriftpower six. For summer Sunday driving around the region, especially in a maroon Mustang it must be completely fine.

Of course, you should go quickly enough so the mud flaps wouldn’t gather moss on them.

Despite the fact that rust doesn’t really advance on a car when the temperature is something like -20°C, it’s a shame the Mustang has to spend its days and nights outside. There’s no visible rust on the car, and it looks a shining example except for some shoddy polishing work on the lower regions. But if the owner is as old as I imagine him or her to be, that’s acceptable.