Styling was European GT-influenced, with a long, wide hood, a broad grille design, and a wraparound 1969-1970 Shelby GT-style front bumper. The Mustang Milano concept car, which had been introduced in February of 1970 at the Chicago Auto Show, gave a preview of various styling elements that would appear on the 1971-1973 Mustangs. Among those features was the Sportsroof body style that had a nearly flat roofline sloping gently below the horizontal plane. Along with the Sportsroof, production Mustangs could also be purchased as a Convertible or a more formal hardtop coupe with a tunneled rear window and flying buttress.

The twin-cove dash interior design continued, along with deeply tunneled instruments, and a prominent center stack housing the climate controls and radio. As the marketplace had shifted away from higher horsepower ratings of the late 1960s, and towards luxury by the early 1970s, the Mustang was available with many optional items. Most Mustangs received tinted glass, air conditioning, power steering, power brakes, and automatic transmissions.

Slight modifications and updates were made for 1972 and 1973, including revised nameplate scripts, a new trim package (in 1972) that added an aggressive Mach 1-style appearance, and available color-keyed front bumpers.