Rare Opportunity: 1965 Ford Mustang A-Code GT

“Oh, good. There are still some cars out there to be found that aren’t total rust-bucket basket cases.” That might be what runs through your mind spying this 1965 Mustang coupe, for sale in Los Angeles. And how could it be anywhere else, judging by the apartment building it was photographed up against. This is a rare opportunity, and it’s up for bid here on eBay. At the moment, with a week to go in the auction, the numbers aren’t to the seller’s satisfaction, as the reserve remains unmet at an offer just over $4K. Don’t think too long, however, as this California “black plate” car will surely be snapped up once the serious money shows up.

This is a real opportunity. The car is, the ad claims, an A-code GT. That means relative rarity, relative because any car that sold as well as the first-year Mustang is going to have a lot of even the lesser-produced models having been made. Just in round numbers, the figures are approximately 560,000 1965s built and about 100,000 A-codes. GTs were rarer still, but hard to prove. This car certainly has the signs that it could have been a real GT. These include, but are not limited to, front disc brakes and lettering on the brake pedal, a heavy-duty suspension, a four-barrel carb, exhaust trumpets, side chrome delete (replaced with the GT stripe and spelled-out “MUSTANG” lettering), and fog lights. Arguments have gone back and forth over the years as to whether there’s any one indicator that a car is truly a GT, and one such sign is whether the fog light switch is stamped into the dash (authentic) or drilled in (added later). There are also what are sometimes called “dealer GTs,” which were cars accessorized as GTs in the dealer’s parking lot (metaphorically speaking). Without paperwork, it’s hard to tell, but I’d bet yes rather than no on this car if it were my money. An added bonus here is that the AC components for the under-dash system appear to be intact.

That doesn’t mean this is the “little old lady from Pasadena’s” car that you can just fire up and drive. You’ll have to attack the sheet metal, which appears untouched on the underside but has a mishmash of rust and sun-exposure damage on the top. The images of the damaged areas are taken from too far away to really get an accurate read on, but count on taking this car right back down to bare metal and building up from there. The seller can send additional images of areas you would like to inspect, which should give you a pretty good idea of what needs doing.

You can see for yourself that the interior is thrashed, but you can ship anything you need next day from any number of vendors. So if you end up doing that and farming out bodywork and paint as well as mechanicals, how much will you have invested? Maybe, hopefully, less than the value of this car once it’s done? If you can do one phase of the work yourself, you might come out ahead here. But this is not about profit-taking. This is about the chance to dive into a project with a clear outcome, not a potential pit of rusty body panels and a floor that has more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese. Plus, when you’re done, you’ll have a really nice car that distinguishes itself as an A-code GT black plate, which is what Mustang hunters are crazy for.