24 cars blue sky: Junkyard Find: 1979 Ford Mustang “Indy 500 Pace Car Edition”

05 - 1979 Ford Mustang Indy 500 Pace Car Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin 1979 was the first year for the Fox Platform Mustang, and Ford celebrated by grabbing the rights to show off their new machine at the 1979 Indianapolis 500. You could buy a street version of the Indy 500 Mustang pace car, and many did. Many others, a few years later, bought the galloping-horses-and-tape-stripes decal kit for their non-Pace Car Edition Mustangs. I'm pretty sure that this car— which I found in a California self-service yard— belongs in the latter group… but not completely sure.

This car was so much better than the Pinto-based Mustang that preceded it (not to mention the bloated early-70s monstrosities that preceded that car) that Jackie Stewart had no problems finding nice things to say about it.
08 - 1979 Ford Mustang Indy 500 Pace Car Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin

08 - 1979 Ford Mustang Indy 500 Pace Car Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin

The true pace car '79s were all painted in "pewter," which this suspiciously primer-looking paint might have been, 34 years ago.
01 - 1979 Ford Mustang Indy 500 Pace Car Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin

01 - 1979 Ford Mustang Indy 500 Pace Car Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin

You can see a bit of the crazy op art upholstery that was used in all the 1979 Pace Car Editions.
06 - 1979 Ford Mustang Indy 500 Pace Car Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin

06 - 1979 Ford Mustang Indy 500 Pace Car Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin

Pace Car Edition '79 Mustangs came with a choice of the 302-cubic-inch V8 or the turbocharged 2300 "Pinto" engine. This here is the non-turbocharged Pinto engine. You decide— is this a garden-variety four-banger Fox Mustang, worth scrap value, or a genuine special edition pace car, worth twice scrap value?