Picture this; it’s the mid-eighties and someone is very keen to get rid of a classic car. It may be a stolen vehicle, or they’re in desperate need of the insurance money. They want to hide the vehicle, somewhere that no one will look. What do they do?
Well, one option is to sink it in a river. This may well be what happened to this 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1 in Portland, Oregon. Or, it could just have been a freak accident, we'll probably never know.
Updated February 2023: 1973 Mustang Mach 1s were the last of the early-gen pony cars, and are now your last shot at an affordable classic Mustang, considering the relative availability and that many people don't find them as desirable as earlier 'Stangs. We've gone back to this story to reflect how valuable a rescue this could've been.
Why Was This 1973 Mustang Abandoned?
Most old classic cars are discovered in barns and garages, where they’ve typically been gathering dust for far too long. This 1973 Mustang has a different story. Submerged in the Tualatin River for the best part of four decades, its finally getting rescued. While it's not as desirable as earlier Mach 1 Mustangs, it's still a piece of Ford history.
It all started with an anonymous tip-off. Allegedly from an old get-away-driver, informing the guys at ‘Adventures With Purpose’ that multiple vehicles were in the river, located close to a boat ramp. So they checked it out, and found not just one, but six cars.
It was during the team's last visit, while recovering a Mazda RX7, that they stumbled on the submerged Mustang. Now they’re back to try and rescue it, and it’s a pretty big task.
Rescuing The Last Of The Late-Early Mustangs
A team of scuba divers first assess the Mustang, which is approximately four meters down, and try to prep it for removal. When watching the video footage, we get to see just how bad the visibility is.
One of the divers surfaces with an update “Every window on the car is intact. There could be someone, or some bodies inside, we don't know” he says, before plunging back in.
The water is deathly cold. The guys have to wear heavy-duty dry suits to cope with the water's sub-zero temperature. The old Ford is laying upside down, and if they try to winch it out, and place too much force on the car, it could just fall apart. So they have to carry out the work carefully.
They decide to use inflatable lift bags before winching. Each of the orange bags can lift 1,500 lbs of weight. The team attach two to the sunken muscle car. The floating bags raise the front end of the car off the riverbed, but the back remains in the mud.
After attaching some chains to the car they start winching it, using a small truck located on the ramp. Then the worst happens, they unfortunately tear the Mustang’s V8 engine clean out of the chassis.
With the help of a second truck, they try to winch it in again. This time the Mustang gets caught up in some rocks, and fails to budge. “I honestly don’t think it’s gonna work” says one of the team scratching his head. They attach two more float bags to the rear of the Mustang, which successfully lifts it slightly off the riverbed.
The next day, armed with even more float bags and a tow truck, they give it another try. As they winch it in, the Mustang finally starts moving. Then, for the first time in 40 years, we suddenly see the classic Ford break the surface of the water.
This Classic Mustang Is Beyond Saving
When they haul the old car up on to the river bank, we get a closer look at it. It's in pretty bad shape. The Ford's front-end is heavily damaged, and it's covered in rust.
The Mustang is extremely heavy, as it's packed full of mud. To reduce its weight the team have to start digging. They have to smash the windows in to gain entry, and then shovel out the gray silty mud. “Its official, there are no skeleton remains in here” shouts one of the crew.
At this point the old muscle car looks like it might still be salvageable, but sadly that possibility is completely ruled out when they start winching it onto the trailer. We hear a bunch of loud cracks and snaps, as the Mustang's rotting bodywork just crumbles. It’s a grim sight to watch.
One thing that niggled us was; how did the Mustang end up upside down? Well, luckily one of the local volunteers provides an answer. Way back, there used to be a bridge over this section of the river, so the old stang my well have had a shove. In which case it's very likely that it would half-somersault on entry in the river.
After two days hard work, they finally managed to pull out the Mustang. Regardless of the fact that it's now just a mangled wreck, they cleared the river. Work like this plays a crucial part in helping to save the environment, and we applaud everyone involved. In case you have a sudden hankering for a '73 Mach 1 after this story, expect to fork out about $30,000 for one that's in considerably better condition than this sorry pony car.