Jerry Heasley September 8, 2017

As a Mopar enthusiast, Danny Ravas had never been interested in his friend Jeffrey’s 1969 Mach 1. Jeffrey had bought the car used in California when he was in the Marines, and he moved back home to Cleveland, New York, sometime during the ’80s.

“It was red, and nobody knew it was a rare Mustang,” Danny says.

When the body shop sanded through the red paint, it found orange was the original color.

The Mach 1 wasn’t a Cobra Jet but did come from the factory with shaker hood scoop, M-code 351 Cleveland, and a four-speed. That’s a hot and desirable Mustang, but far from one-of-one of one-of-two made. Around 1990, Jeffrey decided to restore his Mach 1, which is when the body shop discovered something unusual. “John Byrne is one of my best friends. He does all my cars,” Danny says.

John had sanded down the body to expose orange paint under the red repaint. What 1969 Mach 1 came from the factory with orange paint? “This car has no paint code,” John says. “Something’s up with it. It’s orange.” But Danny still never thought anything of it—until 2017. John had sold the Mach 1, still unrestored to Randy, one of Danny’s friends.

“My friend Randy had it for 10 years and did nothing with it,” Danny says. “I don’t even remember what triggered me to look up the color on the internet.” He was in for a shock when he finally did look up the special color.

Inside the trunk, they found untouched orange paint beneath the mat.

The San Jose assembly plant painted this Mach 1 Madagascar Orange as one of the “Rainbow of Colors Mustangs.” Those bright, special-order colors reminded Danny of Mopar’s High-Impact and Performance colors of Sassy Grass, Plum Crazy, and Hemi Orange from the same era. He figured he had found the one and only Mach 1 ever painted this color. The upstate New York carpenter was suddenly smitten with Mustang fever and tried his best to buy the Mach 1.

“I went to Randy offered $10,000 for the car, but, he had already promised it to Jim Clark,” Danny says. “He called up Jim and mentioned that somebody else wanted the car. That made Jimmy come over and get it that day.”

The original 351 came with the deal.

Danny missed the deal. However, a couple years later, a man interestingly named Doug Rainbow came by his shop to buy Mopar parts. “I asked him where he was from. He said Oneida, New York. I asked if he knew Jim Clark, by any chance, and he did. Just joking around, I told him that Jim had bought a car out from under me,”

“An orange Mustang?” Doug says.

“Yeah, how do you know?” Danny says.

“’Cause I own the car. I bought it from Jimmy Clark.” Doug says.

Doug was smitten with Danny’s 1970 ’Cuda and offered to make a trade. “I was about to do it, but got cold feet wondering how I would replace my ’Cuda.” Instead, Danny dealt parts, including a 340 Plymouth race motor, a whole bunch of Mopar parts, and $7,000 in cash for the Rainbow of Colors Madagascar Orange Mach 1 from Doug.

Danny equates the Rainbow of Colors Mustangs to the High Impact Mopar colors of the same era.