Ouch, Ouch, and another Ouch is how I would describe this 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback. Even the seller states, “This car is a serious project. Nothing here is going to “Buff Out” so if that’s what you want, keep looking. This is not the car for you”. OK, fair enough, but let’s take a close look anyway. This pony car is located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and is available here on eBay for a current bid of  $3,550, five bids tendered as of this writing.

A ’65 Mustang is always a nice find as this was the first year for the fastback body style. Technically, Mustangs built in the ’64 model year were titled as ’65s but are colloquially known as ‘64.5s – and of that vintage, there was no fastback offered. This example has a June 1965 build date so it was produced late in the ’65 model year. Popularity abounded, this Mustang is one of 559K assembled in model year ’65, and that’s on top of 120K+ early ’65s produced in the ’64 model year.

While the fastback body style conveys a performance image, that is not the bearing of this car as it is powered by a 120 HP, 200 CI, the inline six-cylinder engine driving through a three-speed manual transmission – not exactly the stuff of excitement. It’s probably a moot point as the seller states, “The engine is not stuck, but I haven’t tried to fire it. I figure the new owner will decide whether to rebuild what is here or do a Shelby clone car. Original six-cylinder cars (especially fastbacks) are getting scarce, but that’s the new owner’s call”. The seller is to be commended for his full disclosure – not only in terms of this car’s mechanicals but in reference to all of its bits, it is a very informative listing!

What you see is what you get and there are challenges aplenty with this Mustang. Rust is the enemy and instead of trying to paraphrase the seller, I’ll include his words as follows, “The worst of it is behind the B pillar to the taillight panel. The springs are breaking through the trunk floors, and the rear frame rails need to be replaced, along with the trunk floors, inner and out wheel housings, plus sections of the interior floor (probably a whole replacement is best here, rather than trying to piece together separate parts). 1965 models didn’t come with any torque boxes but they should be added for structural support. There is some rust in the rear window channel”. The good news is that he does have quite a few replacement parts including a complete set of “good quality” used bolt-on sheet metal parts and the doors, hood, and decklid are still in usable shape.

The interior is now the exterior as it has all been removed but the seller claims, “The interior is also complete with a fold-down rear seat and all the fiberglass pieces unique to a fastback. The only interior piece missing is a passenger seat, easily obtainable at your local swap meet. All the fastback unique brackets are still in the car”.  That said, there is a massive amount of work necessary to repair the floors and structure. There is a partial image of the dash and instrument panel but there are no gauges or switchgear present so it’s a safe assumption that those parts, and all of the wiring, will have to be sourced.

The seller states that six-cylinder fastbacks are getting scarce and that may be the case but that doesn’t necessarily translate into value and this stripped example is not a particularly strong starting point. And then there is the decision to make, restore as original, modify for performance, restomod, or… Nevertheless, if one were looking for a first-gen Mustang project, this is probably not the optimal example. So, would you be willing to take on this challenge?