We’ve all owned cars we wish we’d never sold. One of mine was a 1966 Ford Mustang much like this one, except that it was dark green with a black interior. It, too, had a 200 cubic inch inline-6. Mine was not as nice as this one, but I managed to get $700 for it in 1976. At just 41,000 miles, this ’66 ‘Stang could be one of the nicest originals left, based on the seller’s presentation. Located in Happy Valley, Oregon, this Candy Apple Red pony car is available here on craigslist for $26,000.
If you worked on a Ford assembly line between 1964 and 1966, you may have racked up a ton of overtime. That’s because the company built more than 1.2 million copies of one of the success stories of the 1960s. Lee Iacocca probably earned a sizeable bonus as the Mustang surely added substantially to FOMOCO profits at the time (he would go on to save Chrysler later). While a sizeable number of ’66 Mustangs came with the 289 V8, the 200 CI unit in the seller’s car was the starting point for propulsion.
We don’t know how long the seller has been caretaker for this Mustang, but we’re told he or she never planned to sell it. But things and finances change, so the little car is on the market. The listing tells us the low-mileage machine is as it was built, except that power assist for the steering and brakes was added after-the-fact. The body, paint, and interior are all tidy, with the door panels reflecting a bit of stretching of the factory materials. Is the center console an afterthought?
New tires were added last year, and the wire wheel covers really set the car off (I had them on my Mustang until they got stolen). There’s a fifth one in the trunk that doesn’t have the Ford logo in the center, so could they be reproductions? If you’re looking for a solid first-gen Mustang, this should be one of the nicest ones left – even if it doesn’t have a V8. A nod goes to “Curvette” for yet another grand tip.
Ford started this base model car with a 6. Ended the 6 cyl versions in 2017, departing with the powerful 3.7L.
While the high performance models get the attention, Ford made a bazillion early Mustangs in this configuration. This one looks good. The whitewalls with the wire wheel covers set it off nicely. The red paint would assure it gets attention. Would make for a fine, low-stress cruiser. Join the local Mustang club and have some fun.
Saw a few of these sixes replaced with v8’s as they wore out. Going from the 6cyl automatic to a v8 manual was a large undertaking. To do it right required reworking the suspension from the 4 lugs to the 5 lug wheels. One of my friends bought a very nice clean one with this configuration but was white with a blue interior. He liked the looks but he put in all the work to transform it into a muscle car with 289 high performance and 3spd manual. The year was 1974 and he was about 16 at the time. I wonder how many others out there got this done to them.
Santa Approved!
Clean,decent price.Aftermarket console.Those wire hupcaps were a available option,I have the over the counter wire hupcaps on my 66′ sold at Ford dealerships 62-68 which are slightly different, I found a exact extra one for free on FB .There is a set for $ 240.00 on FB.
I had a red 66 convertible as my first collector car. I thought the base engine was a 170 and the 200 was an upgrade which I had. Only options on my car were automatic, console, am radio and wsw tires. I added wire wheel covers, C moulding and rocker panel moulding as well as an am fm radio. It drew attention as much as any car I owned and ALWAYS started right up, even after storage.
The 170 was no longer the base engine offered in 1966. In 1966, the 200 ci 6 was the base engine.
Of course you could upgrade to the 289 in 3 different flavors 2v, 4v or the 4v HIPO known as the K code.