BF Exclusive: 1965 Ford Mustang Coupe

One of the most significant battles that enthusiasts face when searching for a First Generation Mustang project car is locating one that is affordable and isn’t dissolving as rust devours the Ford steel. This 1965 Mustang Coupe has arrived on our desks like a breath of fresh air. It has some relatively minor rust to address, but the seller includes the parts to make them a distant memory. He has also performed some mechanical refurbishment, and with a V8 under the hood, this car ticks all of the right boxes for potential buyers. If you find this too tempting to resist, you will find the Mustang located in Cedar Park, Texas, and listed for sale here on Barn Finds Classifieds. All you need to do is hand the owner $5,000, and you could take home this Mustang and a significant collection of parts to help you down the restoration pathway.

There’s a bit to unpack with this Mustang, but most of the news appears positive. The owner says that the car’s original color was Honey Gold, but I believe that the Trim Tag indicates that it wore Prairie Bronze when it rolled off the line. If that’s the case, there’s a possibility that what we see is its original paint. The panels are in pretty respectable condition. There’s the occasional spot of Bondo, but that’s more than acceptable in a restoration of this type to address minor panel imperfections. The owner has fitted new hood hinges, and there are some important additional parts included. There’s a new front bumper, a pair of good secondhand hoods, and an equal number of trunk lids. All of this leads us to the ever-present question of rust, and the owner is candid on this point. He admits that the passenger side floors are bad, and the buyer will need to do some cutting and welding. However, he has purchased the parts for this, and he includes them in the sale. There are also other parts included, so this car could prove to be a goldmine for its buyer. The original owner ordered the Mustang with tinted glass, and this looks to be in good order.

Regular readers will be aware of my preference towards originality with classic cars, but I am prepared to make exceptions in the right circumstances. That means that for me, the taillight and fuel cap modifications on this Mustang rate as one of my exterior highlights. The owner’s son “Frenched” the filler using three pieces of steel that he fabricated and welded into place. He also filled the original taillight recesses to install sequential lights from a ’64/’65 Thunderbird. The workmanship looks excellent, and the owner admits that it was one of the last fabrication jobs his son performed before he sadly passed away after a battle with cancer. To me, that is ample justification for retaining this work. It would act as a fitting tribute to an enthusiast that the classic car world lost way too soon.

Lifting this Mustang’s hood reveals more reasons why this car represents an excellent buy. The engine bay is occupied by a C-Code 289ci V8 that would have produced 200hp in its prime. That power needs to get to the pavement, and it does so via the rear wheels and a three-speed automatic transmission. If someone pointed this ‘Stang at a ¼ mile, it should despatch the distance in 16.5 seconds. Once again, there’s plenty to consider with this car and quite a few tasks that the owner has already completed. Apart from fitting stainless steel fuel lines, the owner added a new engine wiring harness and rebuilt the brakes with new lines, a master cylinder, and other components. He also treated the transmission to a rebuild, and he says that he drove the car to its current location. It seems that it wouldn’t take a lot of work to return the vehicle to a mechanically roadworthy state.

The Mustang’s interior has seen better days, but this represents an area where the buyer could stamp their mark on the car. The original Palomino vinyl looks trashed, but once again, the seller provides a starting point for the buyer. He includes some Pony trim pieces in the sale, and if the buyer followed that path to its logical conclusion, this interior could really “pop.” Depending on which components are included, this could be an inexpensive part of the project because parts are easy to find and extremely affordable. For purists, one spot of good news is that the factory AM radio remains intact. Nobody has seen fit to pull this and hack the dash to death, fitting an aftermarket stereo. I have seen this on many occasions, so an unmolested dash is a bonus in a case like this.

This 1965 Mustang is a car that leaves me personally torn. For potential buyers, it represents an affordable project car that is dripping with potential. If it were being offered alone, I would consider it an excellent buy. The additional parts push that to the next level and increase the temptation. For that, I envy the buyer. However, the fact that it is a father/son project abandoned under the most tragic circumstances makes it bitter/sweet. I hope that someone takes this restoration and sees it through to a stunning conclusion. For me, that would stand as a fitting tribute to a life taken too soon. Do we have any readers prepared to step up to the plate on this one? I sure hope so.