Would a 1987 Ford Mustang be a good purchase for a 17 year old?

Question

It is in phenominal shape for its age and mileage... 83,000 miles. It has the 302 cc V8 engine which is supposed to be able to tolerate anything and last a very long time. I spoke with a mechanic who is selling it for someone else and he said everything big (clutch, transmission, struts, etc) are in good shape. It's a GT in a convertible version which is pretty rare. (He told me the price of these cars is going up and I may even resell for a good price). It is white.

The only negative side is that the white leather interior is in kind of rough shape. I would want to eventually fix this. (cost?) Also gas mileage could be a negative at around 16 city, 22 hwy, but I think it's worth it for such an awesome car. What kind of gas would i want to put in it? The asking price is $5500. I am a safe driver, looking for something that is powerful and a standard and this seems like a good car. I will not use it during the winter. It will be registered under my dads name to hopefully offset the insurance prices. What do you think?

Answer 1

That depends on the maturity of your 17 year old, and how closely you monitor him/her. There is a GPS device out there where you can track speed and location, if I were a parent with a 17 year old, that would be the route I would take. "If my parents had something to track me, I wouldn't have wrecked about 10 cars before I was 20."

Answer 2

The previous 2 responders don't read very well, otherwise they would have noticed that the 17 year old is asking this, not his/her dad.  Moving on, it's a decent buy.  The '87 Mustang GT is a decent performing car, and the 5.0 V8 is a rock solid engine, just keep it tuned well and it'll last.  I have a '95 GT and have over 160,000 miles on it, and the engine is still running strong.  Like mentioned, get it down to $5000, and it's a decent buy, go a bit lower and it's even better.  As far as them being rare as a convertible, not really, they made a good n umber of them in convertible form.  Don't expect a return on it unless you plan to keep it for quite sometime.  They are still a used car, and we might see them climb in value in the coming years, but no promises in the near future.  The leather will be a a bit costly to replace, but it can be done.  Check out Late Model Restoration or Year one for Mustang parts for your car.  The gas for it would be plain old 87 octane, don't need anything higher than that.

Answer 3

Dad, Mustangs have all ways been great cars, but for a 17 year old you have to be careful because it's very powerful and sometime the kids go a little crazy. other than that it's a good buy.  

Answer 4

talk them down to 5000 and its deff. worth it, he doesnt know what that car is worth.