Junkyard Find: 1982 Ford Mustang GL Hatchback
We haven't seen a Fox Mustang— in fact, any Mustang— in this series since 2021, and that's just too long for the generation of Mustang that only dropped below 100,000 total sales for two of its 15 model years. Here's a vividly striped '82 at a car graveyard on a street named Dismantle Court near Sacramento.
Don't get too excited about grabbing parts off this Mustang, though, because I shot these photos in the fall of 2022 and so this car must have been crushed years ago.
The build tag says it was built in Dearborn (like all 1982 Mustangs), fitted with a 2.3-liter "Pinto" engine bolted to a four-speed manual transmission, painted Medium Vanilla, given low-back bucket seats and sold via the Seattle sales office.
Yes, a good old four-on-the-floor manual, which didn't become base Mustang equipment until the 1974 model year. A five-speed manual was available for 1982, but it cost $124 extra ($420 in 2025 dollars).
This car was a gas-sipping commuter that looked cool despite packing just 86 horses under the hood. Its MSRP was $7,439, or about $25,171 after inflation.
The sequence of 1982 Mustang trim levels went (in ascending prestige order) L, GL, GLX, GT. The car was available in notchback, hatchback and convertible form. I believe every trim level got this not-convincing-anybody faux-wood dash face.
I couldn't get the hood open, so here's a photo of the same kind of carbureted 2.3 engine from a 1981 Mustang.
The hood itself appears to have been in the process of getting a repaint at the time of this car's final trip behind a Planet Auto tow truck.
You know a car's final chapter wasn't a happy one when you find a signed title inside it at the junkyard.
Ford sold 130,418 Mustangs for the 1982 model year. 2024 was the worst Mustang sales year ever (not counting the Mach-E), with just 44,003 buyers signing on the line which is dotted.
Yes, you can afford America's best-selling sports car!
Look out, world, here comes Ford! You had to buy the GT if you wanted everyone in your neighborhood to break out into spontaneous song and dance.
1982 Ford Mustang GL in California wrecking yard.
1982 Ford Mustang GL in California wrecking yard.
1982 Ford Mustang GL in California wrecking yard.
1982 Ford Mustang GL in California wrecking yard.
1982 Ford Mustang GL in California wrecking yard.
1982 Ford Mustang GL in California wrecking yard.
1982 Ford Mustang GL in California wrecking yard.
1982 Ford Mustang GL in California wrecking yard.
1982 Ford Mustang GL in California wrecking yard.
1982 Ford Mustang GL in California wrecking yard.
1982 Ford Mustang GL in California wrecking yard.
1982 Ford Mustang GL in California wrecking yard.
1982 Ford Mustang GL in California wrecking yard.
[Images: The Author]
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Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Hagerty and The Truth About Cars.
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Mustang nadir.
It would be fun to buy a newer ecoboost mustang and do it all up like its a modern "GL". Hub caps, GL badges, automatic, light beige paint, dark brown pin stripe, rear window louvres (maybe).