This 1985 Ford Mustang 5.0 remains in nearly 100 percent stock condition and is claimed to have just over 20,000 original miles. The seller has reportedly owned it for years with plans to one day restore it, but after losing his storage and being forced to park it outside, he’s decided it’s time for it to find a new forever home. Personally, I’m gutted for the guy, as I can only imagine all too well what it’s like to have a car you’re dying to bring back to life before realizing your life just doesn’t allow for it right now. The Mustang has plenty of needs, especially of the cosmetic sort considering the faded paint and trim, along with all of the other requisite maintenance needs that crop up after years of disuse. Find it here on eBay with bids to $6,850 and no reserve.
The Mustang looks downright honest, with no silly modifications that would indicate it had previously been someone’s cheap toy. The seller promises the only change you’ll find is the muffler and X-pipe, which is pretty much impossible to avoid on a 5.0L Fox body. And of all the mods you can make to one of these, an upgraded exhaust system is perhaps the one that makes the most sense. The biggest flaw this low mileage GT has is its exterior, from what I can tell. Sure, it will need the usual assortment of mechanical refreshes stemming from deferred maintenance, but the faded paint and trim will be harder to bring back to life without replacing or repainting it first.
The interior looks like that of a low mileage car, with the Recaro-like seats showing healthy bolsters with no apparent rips or tears. The seller confirms the dash isn’t cracked, and the stock steering wheel is another reminder that this Mustang hasn’t been overly-personalized. The stock floormats remain in place as well. The seller notes that the rear tonneau cover is missing, but hopefully that can be sourced from a Fox body message board or junkyard search. The Mustang is a T-top car, which makes it pretty much the epitome of a desirable 80s specimen: GT, five-speed, T-tops, and a four-eye: what more do you need?
The 5.0L hasn’t run in some time, as the seller confirms it was in storage for well over ten years before he lost his covered parking arrangement. The details are right with this one, including the almost impossible-to-find fog light covers still being with the car. While it looks tired here, I’m guessing this can be rectified with a weekend of detailing. The current bid price isn’t unreasonable for a GT with some needs, but I’d feel safe going even a little higher if you can otherwise verify the low mileage claims. If so, you’ve got a bit of a goldmine on your hands in terms of future value, provided the miles stay low and condition remains stock.
Looks like that was a really rough 20K miles.
Looks more like 120K miles.
Hard to know what to make of this one. That exterior trim and paint looks awfully tired for only 20k miles as does the engine bay. Could be that the car was out in the sun its whole life but then the interior would be in worse shape.
Muffler and x-pipe replacement may point to moisture exposure underneath if it truly has 20k. mere 5 photos makes it hard to draw further conclusions.
So I dunno. I’d want to see it in person before turning over more than a couple grand.
I think it’s more uncommon to see a the stock exhaust still on these than the other way around. Not because they rotted off from moisture but for the performance and the 5.0 sound . I would guess this has Flowmasters, a popular choice. Mild was 3 chamber cat back. Next level was the 2 chamber, also known as “American Thunder”. Then swap out the center cat pipe for a straight X or H pipe for a little more. They had an unmistakable sound with flowmasters on them…
Mileage is real. Looks like it went for auction back in 2014 with 17k on it. http://classiccardb.com/ford/47745-1985-mustang-17000-original-mile-gt-t-top-foxbody-17k-miles-clean-title-.html
It really had 117K in 2014. Good observation.
The only part on this car that has 20,000 miles is the speedometer cluster.
Wrong. It is, actually, a 20K mile car.
Having owned an 84 GT that was garaged its whole life, I can say with confidence that this car is gonna need a ton of time and cash to make mint.
If it were being bought as a nostalgic daily driver, it’s already being bid up past it’s value.
Questionable regarding mileage as has been mentioned by others. Wonder if anyone has pulled the CarFax to see if that provides confirmation, one way or another. To have this Mustang repainted “properly” and all the trim work replaced, undercarriage cleaned with surface rust addressed, and other items is going to run you at least $15,000. Thus, if you put the time, effort and cash into it, provided you get it for $8k or less, your in a done Mustang for about $23-25k, which is likely what it is worth.
For whatever reason, the Four Eyed Mustangs (’79-86), which I like the most, do not bring the money of the later Fox bodies.
In the end, this car needs everything, will be full of incorrect repop parts. Just buy a real low mile car that was taken care of, not a 120k car claiming to be a low mile car. You will be better off.
The picture of the brake pedal pad shows about 50,000 miles of wear which would be about right for a car that had 150,000 miles on it with one replacement of the pedal pad. Only way to know for sure is to take off the pad and look at the mfging date. It is one of the REAL tell-tale signs of how many real miles are on the car. The car has obviously seen a whole lot of sun based upon the paint and deterioration of the bumper and has seen a lot of salt air or high humidity based upon the rust of the air conditioning tubing at the compressor. Personally I’d pass this one, but someone really likes it, eBay bidding is at $9100 at 9:00am 11/1
The 17k mile car needed a new aftermarket distributor cap, and had to cut the battery cable end to install a 2$ parts store clamp?
Hard pass
Cracks me up when someone entertains the concept of restoration when considering a mid-eighties mustang w a t-top….I’m more inclined to make it crazy-fast and trash-it so that, in the future, a car like this will become a rare gem from the past sadly unobtainable but for the very rich
Massachusetts car…the “Salt State.”
A car that’s been sitting for 10 years needs a LOT of work to make it road worthy, whole brake system needs to be gone through and fuel system just for starters….all the suspension rubber will need replacing and much more…..wouldn’t be worth 9K to me, I wouldn’t pay more than 6K
Always thought FoMoCo went backwards in design from the sporty looking 3 spoke 84 Mustang steering wheel to that ugly 2 spoke of 85.
The 1985-1986 cruise control steering wheel is a hideous pile of crap borrowed from the base LTD.
I just bought one (waggy tho) and cant find any int/ext trim (windshield chrome, headlght bezels, dash, etc). Lemmie no whadja see out there~
only thing I dont like is the whale tail.
Like to put the nose on my LTD/Marquis waggy (“not crown vic”, 3.8).
7K$ “past value” ?
Value is what it brings
(ie “worth”).
‘sales” is what it gets.
Often different amounts.
My thought is “Its abt right” (depending on geo location, auction? net sale?, etc). See my comment above “These R coming into…”