It seems like someone was watching the auction in Kissimmee that kicked off the season this week, saw the price of Mustang convertibles, and priced this one so that you could get it, put it in shape, and be exactly on the money—no more, no less. This 1966 Mustang convertible is an A-code (an upgrade over the base V8, a 289 CID C-code with its two-barrel carb) which gives it a bit of a bump in rarity, and it’s priced at $16K here on craigslist, where tipster TJ found it for us. It’s located in Tempe, AZ, a bit of a haul for you East-coasters, but worth it for the dry climate that’s kept the Mustang preserved and ready for a new owner.
You don’t even have to restore it; just get in and drive. Patina’s in these days. Well, maybe it’s a little more complicated than that. The interior (Deluxe, or in the parlance of the hobby, “Pony”) is wiped out and needs a re-do. Not an expensive proposition given that this car shined up and auctioned would bring close to $40K. The body also needs attention. Though it’d be nice to think that a weekend with a buffing wheel would make a difference, it looks rather like this is a cheap-repaint now well past its prime. Some sins just do not rub out.
The Underhood needs pro detailing, too, though if the engine compression numbers are accurate, the mill should go a while more. No word other than “Runs great” and “low miles” exist to put that in context, though the ad mentions a mileage total of 44,000. This is not documented, and for whatever reason, I’ve seen a lot of cars at 140,000-ish miles. It seems like that’s when nagging problems, not necessarily engine woes, put them to bed, most often for a long while. That may or may not be true of this one.
But nothing is unfixable, and the one thing you don’t want to tackle is rust. With that said, you’re buying the underside of this car way more than you are the top side. All that’s seen up top can be fixed. All that’s not seen underneath is what turns projects nasty. You don’t have to worry about that with this Mustang. Look at the floor pans and frame rails. These are a Northern-climates (road salt) body tech’s dream. They could be sanded or blasted and refinished in an afternoon, rather than over a winter. That leaves you all the time and cash to deal with things that are more known quantities than a rusty car with a handful of surprises. So figure ten grand for a decent respray, $3500 for the interior, $7500 for the engine, a couple of grand to clean up the engine bay, and you’re right about at value with a $16K asking price. Oh, you’ll need a new top, too. So you’ll be the cost of that over budget. That’s not too bad at all, considering you’ll be in possession of a freshly done car where you know every in and out.
BF: “This 1966 Mustang convertible is an A-code (an upgrade over the base V8, a 289 CID C-code with its two-barrel carb)”–that’s what was intended there. I’ll see if I can correct in the story. Thanks.
Take “standard” out of the sentence and it would be correct. The C-code 289 was not standard, the 200 six was. All the V8s were extra-cost options.
I love the luggage rack.
Its got a hitch!!!
Always fun to tune into the car auctions. Location has a lot to do with what comes down the pike. For example, the KC auction won’t feature the same vehicles as Kissimmee or Vegas. I watched a portion of the auction,I didn’t see any vehicles us “normies” might buy, million dollar this, MULTI milllion that, some guys family selling off his treasured Ferraris( aw, couldn’t take it with him) and these buyers, again, ALL OLD MEN, and these people, at $980,000, hand on chin wondering,,hmm,,, OH COME ON,,,like they don’t have another $20 grand, so silly, and totally scripted. Cobras, Lambos, Hemi this and that, but a nice STOCK Mustang ragtop for us regular folks? Nothing.
This car? Before the price makes us puke, remember, we don’t see the final price, and this person will be lucky to get ANYTHING for this car. It simply can’t cost as much as one that’s already restored and someone taking a loss, than to redo this one.
Again, I’m here to warn people, auction hype is clearly that, and if anyone even has a remote interest in this, I’d say, couple grand, tops, or it can sit and collect more dust and probably will.
And its gone
Troy, what did it sell for?
Sold sold sold!
Howard, I agree $16K was a tall asking price for the condition of the car, but a couple grand will hardly buy a decent survivor Mustang II these days. Any reasonable condition (i.e., all there, not rusted out) 1st generation Mustang will find a buyer over $5K, and a V8 convertible will get more. I would venture a guess that the buyer took an offer in the $10K to low teens. Prices do seem to be coming back down from the COVID crazy highs, but I believe the days of $2,000 running and driving classics that just need some maintenance and cosmetic work are history.
You think a couple grand tops will buy you a relatively easy restoration Mustang convertible? That would be nice but that sort of deal doesn’t exist in my world. You won’t know until you strip it but it looks really solid and having great floor pans is encouraging. I just finished one of these and had to replace floors, rockers, torque boxes and so on.