This early Mustang sure cleaned up nicely! It’s a true ‘64.5 with the 260 V8, which is said to be running well! It’s clearly had a respray, but no word is give as to how recently it was painted. The previous owner did all the work to get this pony back and the road and hopefully they are available to answer any questions! As the seller puts it, this one has been “freshed up”, so hopefully that means it’s ready to be enjoyed. Find this Mustang here on eBay in Dallas, Texas with bidding starting at $1,964.50
The 260 isn’t as desirable as the 289, but you don’t find many early Mustangs with the slightly larger power plant. The 260 is a good little V8 though and will still get the job done! I have plenty of questions about this engine, such as why it’s wearing 289 filter cover and what all has been done to it.
It’s clearly an older restoration, but no word as to why it ended up being parked shortly after being completed. I really would want to speak with the previous owner to find out the full story and what it took to get it back on the road. It looks like a nice little pony and could be a fun and affordable project!
Not only does air cleaner have 289 on it, so do the fenders! Something isn’t right with the 260 claim and the evidence. I don’t know how to tell by looking at the engine, but this doesn’t smell right. Looks like a recent repaint. If someone is going to spend the time and money to do the repaint, would it have been much harder to fix the Mustang on the glove box door?
The valve covers do not look right to me either. You can see the word FORD inside the oval. As I recall the mid 60s small block covers were either bald, nothing stamped into them, or they had the POWERED BY FORD logo stamped into them. The FORD inside the oval would be much later, probably into the 1980s or newer.
I am also wondering about the placement of the horns. I do not recall seeing them mounted on top of the strut rod brackets before. I have always seen them mounted on the front of the radiator support.
I am not an early Mustang expert, not even close, so I could be wrong on these ideas. I’ll let the true experts chime in to say if I am right or wrong.
This may sound weird but the horns were placed as shown for early 1964.5 models. Just saw them on the 1964.5 Mustang that is in Hagerty’s Showroom. Until then I assumed all early Mustang horns were on the radiator support.
Thanks for the info Red. That is interesting that the horns were placed down there on the strut brackets.
Okay, I had to go back and relook at the auction. I know that there are a number of differences to look for to determine a true 64.5 from a 65 but I do not remember most of them. Hopefully someone will post the differences. I do remember that one of the things to look for is on the front fender extension/headlight bucket piece. I know that the 64.5 is different from the 65-66 ones, I just do not remember exactly how.
Another thing to look for is that the 64.5 cars had a generator, not an alternator. This car appears to have an alternator. Of course that could have been changed at any point in the past.
The VIN makes this about the 74,000th car produced. It has a build date of June. That may also be a determining factor in being a true 64.5 or just another 65 Mustang. I do not know what the cutoff date is between 64.5 and 65.
Something else that I noticed, although it has nothing to do with being a 64.5, is that according to the door data plate this car was a 4 speed as it has a code 6 for the transmission. So the question is was the automatic swapped into this car? Or was the tag misstamped at the factory? Along with that it appears that the pad on the brake pedal says POWER BRAKES, yet I only see a single master cylinder. Maybe that is how the early cars worked, I do not really know. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will help us out here.
Rear springs need replaced or rearched its saggy in the butt. Nice old Mustang though.
And then there are all those holes rusted in the floor patched with fiberglass as well as structural issues due to rust. Notice also the ill fitting trunk and doors, especially the driver’s side door. There is likelly lots of hidden rust. What do you think it will cost to fix the rust? It hasn’t reached reserve yet. It will be interesting to see what reserve is if it even reaches reserve. This Mustang looks like a well polished t… I would run away, run away! You see lots of nice 1965 Mustang coups on eBay, sold listings, that sold for between $6000 and $15,000.
I agree, David, this has nice gift wrapping, be prepared to drain the bank account to keep this ‘stang on the road
260 has black block with blue valve covers and blue air cleaner
OK driver quality to look at. If the engine is a 289 I don’t think that would detract from the value since it improves the car over the 260, and it’s an auto, and they made a lot of these coupes anyway.
The big unknown is the amount of rust. The underside looks a lot better than so many of the swiss cheese cars that we see. It could just be driven if there is no structural damage, which from the underside it doesn’t look like there is.
An experienced body man could probably look at the opening panels and tell whether they just need adjusting or whether there is something more serious. As it is the car looks no worse than a lot of survivors, and way better than some. Given the slow bidding—2 bidders to only about $2600 after 2 days—it might be buyable at a decent offer if it doesn’t meet the reserve, which I’m guessing it won’t.
What I see here is a hodge podge of Mustang parts used to get this car in shape as a driver. First let’s go with the 64 1/2 stuff. The car should be running a “Generator” not an alternator. Gauge cluster also says Generator instead of Alternator.Leading front edge of hood,where the extension rolls gently towards top of headlamp bezel. That two or three inch edge should have a flat tab,not rolled completely under. Rubber bump stops on radiator support should look like top of mushrooms. The magnum 500’s aren’t original for that year. Remember all V-8’s got 5 lug wheels,6cyl got 4 lug wheel’s. Rivets holding data plate to door are too large,door might have been replaced. Engine color’s are wrong,brake pedal rubber is wrong. I’m sorry but all I see here is a nice daily driver. No frill’s,just a nice point A to point B commuter car.
Love the starting bid!
I have been told by a very reliable source that there is no 64!/2 mustangs. They are all titled as 65’s. Lee Iacoca just wanted to release the cars early. It was marketing! The name of the gentleman who told me is Gale Halderman, if you don’t know the name, you might look it up!
You are correct that legally there is no such thing as a 1964 1/2 Mustang, they were all titled as 1965 models. However in the Mustang world we use the term 64 1/2 to identify the first part of the production run.
A real quick look at the heater blower switch will tell a 64.5 from a 65/66. The 64.5 switch off position was in the middle and only a two speed motor, whereas in the 65’s and 66’s the off mode was to the left and a three speed motor.
The 3-speed heater blower switch didn’t start ’til ’66. There are so many things not right with the claims about this car, I’d have to hire a secretary to list them. It has diffidently been pieced together. The eng. is diffidently NOT a 260. The horn is mounted near the right spot, but not the correct early one. I think the VIN# depicts it as the 174,212 Mustang produced. There are so many discrepancies, but it is 51 yrs. old, and it is not uncommon for a Mustang to not wear it’s original anything. The price(reserve not met yet) does seem high for a pieced together ‘Stang with issues.
The car is misrepresented by, in my opinion, an untrustworthy dealer or a dealer that really doesn’t know cars…
http://www.mustangdecoder.com/cgi-bin/decoder.pl
Hate the window tint. Hate the crappy masking job on the door plate – color change and not a good one apparently. Would like the white with red int much better. Hate the radio and speaker setup. Suspicious of the 289 markings yet 260 claim. Like OU812 said, it looks to be a hodge podge of Mustang parts. I feel certain the Mustang folks will probably steer clear of it. That leaves the rest of us. A customizer could make a nice modern hot rod of it. Someone like me could make a driver out of it. I could like the car. Just would have to get in for a really spectacular price and assume everything the dealer claims is BS. That way you only get good surprises, and I’m sure there are many hidden in this car?
It needs some door stripes to go with the wheels and appearance, imo. If I had it, I would concentrate on improving it as I could and at least preserving what is there and enjoying it as much as possible. At least you wouldn’t feel too bad about puting some miles on it. With the windows down and the tunes a blaring.
In addition to the aforementioned issues, someone was in too big of a hurry to even mask off the door weatherstrips and bumpers. That’s gonna look real nice after a few months as it falls off the rubber. I don’t see a good piece of chrome on it, the horse is falling off the glove box, stamped graining on the inside of the doors is non-existant and the doors should be black inside, on and on…
This is a mediocre car with a quick and dirty paint job to flip. I’d bet money that there’s rust under there waiting to haunt someone down the road.
Run away!