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Coca-Cola Mustang Mystery

coca-cola-1966-mustang

When Jim S sent in the link to this 1966 Mustang, we saw the condition of the car and almost clicked back immediately. The mention of Coca-Cola in the auction title caught our eye though so we continued to read. The seller doesn’t provide much information in their description, but there are some photos of a door tag with the name “Coca-Cola Bottling Co.” engraved on it. That seemed interesting so we did some digging and came up with a little history. Find the car here on eBay in Westfield, Indiana with bidding starting at $1,200 with no reserve. Thanks for the tip Jim!

coke-door-tag

The seller of this Mustang thinks that the car may have been used for a promotion by Coke, but we were unable to verify that theory. We did find an old eBay listing for another Mustang with the same door tags that sold for $960 back in 2009 though. After inspecting the photos more, we realized that it was the same car! The seller at the time thought they had something special enough to actually call Coke to see if anyone knew anything about the car. Supposedly someone on the other end of the line claimed that Coca-Cola had purchased a fleet of 1966 Mustangs to use as company vehicles. No other details were provided though.

coke-mustang-rear

This specific car was a base model with a six-cylinder and an automatic, but its interesting past makes it intriguing to us. Unfortunately a previous owner started a restoration and never finished the job. There’s some rust that needs addressed and the front fenders have gone missing. It does appear to be crammed full of spare parts though. We would love to see this one returned to its original Coca-Cola red with a white logo hand-painted on the door. But first we would want to track down more information about what these cars were used for and if any others are known to still exist today. So, have any of you ever heard of or seen another Coca-Cola Mustang?

Comments

  1. Avatar John D

    Looks like a way to keep track of maintenance on a fleet vehicle. Rare? Sure. Important? Not unless Coke is in your blood . ..

    Like 1
  2. Avatar Briscoe

    Wonder if it’s the Real Thing?

    Like 3
  3. Avatar stanley stalvey

    A modern graphic using a cola bottle scene would be pretty cool.. You know, a custom paint job..

    Like 0
  4. Avatar DT

    Coca-cola collectables always fetch good money, A restorer could do very well off of this.

    Like 0
  5. Avatar mike

    really?? wonder what my coco-cola badged mountain type bike might be worth.by the way my mother won it from a display at the local grocery store…

    Like 0
  6. Avatar danbike

    I have reached out to someone at Coke corporate to see if there is any more information.

    Like 1
    • Avatar Jesse Staff

      Thanks danbike, please keep us updated on what you find out!

      Like 0
      • Avatar danbike

        I have now been put in contact with the Corporate Historian at Coca-Cola. I’ll post when I learn anything.

        Like 1
  7. Avatar Dirty Dingus McGee

    Tag reads Coca Cola Bottling Company, which were separate entity’s from the Coca Cola Corporation. There were many of them around the country( I guess there are more these days), so perhaps there are some others in different parts of the country. I doubt they would have made metal tags with the maintenance intervals for only a couple of vehicles.

    Speculation on my part so it would be cool to find out the whole story on it.

    Like 0
  8. Avatar danbike

    Just heard back from the Coca-Cola Historian. They are reaching out to a historian at FMC for as much as they can find out. Will post when i get an answer.

    Like 0
  9. Avatar Mark E

    If you wanted to finish it correctly and make money, it would be best to turn up pics or drawings of how it was originally painted. I mean was it red with swooshy white coke stripes or merely a stock Ford color red with “Coca Cola Bottling Co.” stenciled on the door?

    Like 0
    • Avatar Barry

      I was a kid when I saw an original coke mustang. Is was an off color red it looked like the coke color. She won it when she bought a small bottle coke. It was under the cap the person that owned the store won one as well. If I remember correctly it was a 1964 1/2.

      Like 0
  10. Avatar rusty

    Sounds like a lot of fizz to me.

    A fleet car by any other name would take the Pepsi test.

    I heard there is a bridge for sale that once had a coke sign on it. Mind you everything seemed to have had a coke sign on it.

    Like 0
  11. Avatar skloon

    Somebody probably riveted a tag from a coke machine over a rust hole, end of story

    Like 0
    • Avatar rusty

      hee hee…

      Like 0
  12. Avatar fred

    A good theory except for things on the tag that don’t apply to a Coke machine like “Change Oil”, “Change trans”, and “Miles”. It’s exactly the tag a Coca Cola fleet car, or vehicle of any kind, would have though.

    Like 0
  13. Avatar Tom

    I know exactly where this car is and I live only a few minutes away. If anyone is interested I can stop by this weekend.

    Like 0
  14. Avatar Roar Sorensen

    There is a photo and a short mention of Coca Cola Mustangs in the Ford Mustang Buyer’s & Restoration Guide 19641/2-2007. Apparently they had a special badge on the front fenders. Find it here (page 28): http://books.google.no/books?id=l_1ngoGACCUC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=Coca+Cola+Mustang&source=bl&ots=Ss2N-qcqLN&sig=B0tLsvXFMAf6U1285zsl4Sciw1c&hl=no&sa=X&ei=BcXhU5qDIIPuyQOOxIGACA&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=Coca%20Cola%20Mustang&f=false

    Like 0
  15. Avatar John

    Looks like a donor for the NW Rally car to me. Maybe Coke will pick up a sponsorship and you’re off to becoming world famous rallyists. Or at least you could have a set of spare 4 bolt wheels.

    Like 0
  16. Avatar Tom Greenacres

    I’m guessing a fleet car for sales in youth markets. Don’t see how that or any other connection with a Coke bottler adds to value.

    Like 0
  17. Avatar Charles Goin

    Tom, you apparently don’t know Coke collectors.. add that and combine a Coke collector with a Mustang collector.. and they would go nuts over it.

    Like 0
  18. Avatar geomechs Member

    I’ve never heard of a Coca Cola Mustang but back in ’77 there were a bunch of Coke ‘Denim Machines’ built of Ford Econoline vans raffled off. Every once in a while when down in the Flathead Valley in MT I run across one that I’m sure has been in the region since ’77.

    Like 0
  19. Avatar jim s

    ended with no bids!

    Like 0
  20. Avatar Adrian Mac Kinnon

    I have a six foot by 2 foot double sided, what appears to be some type of hard Styrofoam with hard surfacing. There is a red @1965 Ford Mustang convertible on both sides, with Coca Cola on the doors and at the bottom of the sign, was the coke copyright information.
    It appears to have been at one time, advertising for coke, but I don’t know much more than that. I too read the stories about Coke and Ford. This signage is not proof of the cars, but there was definitely a close corporate relationship in the 60s.

    Like 1

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