One of the great things about the find of a popular classic like an early Mustang is the plethora of information available about the cars. More about that later. For now, feast your eyes on this beauty…uh…diamond in the rough that is available here on eBay. And with an opening bid of only $1,500 and no reserve it’s a pretty good bet this pony will find a new owner. It’s located in Springfield, Tennessee (for your towing/travel planning).
I’m guessing the pictures of the car on a Ryder (or ex-Ryder) trailer are immediate post-find. We’re told the car has 61,103 miles (may well be 161k) and is a literal barn find. It’s described as “having the normal rust for a car of this age” but no detail is given. With so much of the value of an early Mustang determined by the battle against rust, I’d need some more pictures or an in-person inspection before bidding.
I wonder if the side swipe happened during storage/extrication, or if it’s from a long-ago traffic incident?
We can tell from this plate and one of the many VIN decoders for early Mustangs online that this car was made in Dearborn, Michigan and that it was equipped with the 200 cubic inch six-cylinder engine. We also know that it was the 606,811th car assembled in 1965. Surprisingly, it was painted Phoenician Yellow (I thought this was white or beige in the photos, and it still may be) and had a standard black vinyl interior. The car was produced January 20, 1965.
The car was equipped with an Allstate (Sears) aftermarket air conditioner. I found some period ads in newspapers where dealers would add this system, presumably to sell slow-moving cars. As you can see, very little of the soft interior components will be able to be saved if you want the car to look very nice. At least restoration parts are readily available.
With only a single barrel carburetor for the engine, this won’t be a street burner. The air conditioning (once repaired) would make it a pleasant driver nonetheless. I realize most of you are after V8s, four-speeds (this one has a three-speed), disc brakes and GT packages, but consider this plainer example — at a lower cost — and let us know what you think!
Looks like it has a reverse lock out on the shifter to me (means it has a 4 spd)
Yup. Another 6 cylinder with a Dagenham. You can swap these out for a top loader by using a ’67 up bellhousing (or one from an older Econoline that used the top loader 3 speed). It requires a custom drive shaft and probably some V8 clutch linkage parts. The 260 Falcons were the only other cars to use this transmission in the US.
This car makes the original. very clean running driving 65 Mustang with a 6 banger, a 4 speed and A/C for $13,000.00 look a lot better. The bidding is already over two grand! This thing is about $20,000.00 away from being a $10,000.00 car.
Well not knowing the extent of rust plus dents, interior work, needs tires, seller doesn’t say if motor even turns by hand / shifts / stops. 2K car as is.
Well it’s about time. Have spent many years on BF- this is the first car listed that’s located in my town. Don’t need it, but might be bidding anyway.
Edit: After looking at the body damage- it’s overpriced already
Very nice!
I would give it a mechanical rebuild, new floors (if needed), an interior kit, and drive it. I love the way it looks, wouldn’t touch the bodywork or paint. The world just has way too many restored Mustangs. Wish it wasn’t so damn far away.
This’ll be one of those cars that start, runs, goes and stops with all fluids changed – or be one of those cars that’ll keep surprising you with component failure after failure before you even wash it …..hardly worth it these days unless you get it for nothing – which isn’t happening
I would want to know why the right rear side tie down chain goes inside the trunk instead of under the rear valance to the frame rail like the left side. Or is the right frame rail now inside the trunk due to the rust?
Hi, so, I bought a 65 from a family friend’s father. He was there to help his parents buy the car brand new and they ordered it in March of 65 receiving it in May. It’s a sort of unique car no, not a GT, not a Fastback and not a 271 horse for Speed but pretty much has everything else including this breaks the interior automatic and Factory AC it also received a 289 four barrel. I paid dearly for it, to me, $4,500 last year. But, it is completely rust-free and having all the records and it has been parked since 1981 in the same garage. It is Springtime yellow with a factory vinyl top
if I could afford it, I would take it, worth the investment just to play, you could not lose
2550 is about the max on this thing as it sits. I could be wrong but I thought the motors on a 65 were red like that air cleaner. Looks as if it might have been swapped during it’s life. I would recommend finding original fenders and doors for it to fix it. The repro parts never really line up well at the hood line unless your a body wizard. If you were a wizard though you would just fix whats on it. Yeah your gonna though a lot of $ at it if ya wanna make it nice.
It’s a 200 cid 4 speed for sure with that style shifter. When I converted my ’66 many decades ago to a toploader 4 speed with Hurst shifter and linkage I was able to us a 67 or 68 truck bellhousing, clutch, pressure plate and shift fork. Stock equalizer bar and maybe a longer adjustable rod. Used an automatic trans V-8 driveshaft from a ’66 and changed the axle flange to that of a later 70’s Pinto to accomadate the larger universal joint. With the wide ratio 4 speed it ran great and I could run it very hard. Stock trans was noisy, grindy, bindy and just felt like it was gonna break although it has about 200k on it when I bought it in ’78.