When Craig graduated from college in 1988, the Mustang had 129,700 unrestored miles. Although Craig wanted to drive the Mustang, he knew doing so on a regular basis would adversely affect the car’s original condition. He decided to keep driving to a minimum. In the years to follow, Craig worked on refining his family heirloom. There were all kinds of pesky details to sweat out, especially if he was going to show the car in Mustang Club of America judged competition. In 2009, after a long period of storage and just 200 miles in 17 years, Craig rolled the Mustang out with plans to debut it at a show. That’s when we caught up with him in Bellevue, Washington.
When Craig rolled the Mustang out for the first time at the MCA Grand National, it was clear he’d spent a lot of time getting it ready. He’d unearthed a new-old-stock exhaust system date coded just one month prior to the car’s assembly at Milpitas, California (San Jose). He also found a set of N.O.S. Firestone Wide Oval F70x14 white sidewall tires. Because he couldn’t find a tire store willing to mount the old tires, Craig had to buy a tire-changing tool and mount them himself. He then located a set of N.O.S. shock absorbers.
As Bellevue neared, Craig crawled underneath to detail the chassis. As he wiped away years of crud and filth, he was amazed at the fresh red oxide primer and Lime Gold overspray originally applied by Ford.
Craig’s Mustang is a garden-variety ’67 hardtop, a school teacher’s ride with a C-code 289-2V, C4 Select-Shift, 2.79:1 gears, and white sidewall tires. What makes the car unique to some degree is the Sport Sprint package, a sales promotion launched in the spring of 1967 to spur showroom traffic. With a 1968 ideas at 1967 prices approach, the ’67 Sport Sprint was a bread-and-butter hardtop with either the 200ci six or 289-2V. It came with special equipment at no extra cost--GT hood with recessed turn signal indicators, white sidewall tires, full wheel covers, bright rocker moldings, chrome air cleaner lid with Sport Sprint decal, and vinyl-covered shift lever with the automatic.
The Sport Sprint was a nice dress-up package that didn’t cost Ford much but sold Mustangs. It certainly sold a thrifty Los Angeles couple who wanted a little something more from life.