Here’s a bit of a beater 1965 Mustang coupe available on ebay for a price that won’t kill you and which might be a good starter classic. Note that this is now re-listed, starting at a super-low number. What you’ll have to put into it will likely put you upside down if you have to pay others to restore this car, but if you can do the paint and mechanical work yourself, you might just end up with a car where you’re invested under the market. Is that worth a trip to Garland, Texas either to check it out or pick it up?
It’s got a C-code engine, a trusty 289. And aside from that, about all you’re going to get from this ad is hot air. The seller mentions about four or five times that the car is worth restoring. Is that so? It’s got a perished paint job. The interior is a mismatch of red (the steering wheel) and black (the upholstery), and beat up at that. There’s no shot in the trunk which would reveal the state of the frame rails. Are you feeling lucky? Maybe you can make the math add up and turn a profit on this car. Or perhaps you should drive it a while. Just don’t open the hood at a cruise night. Before all of that, I’d want to know about the usual places that rust in a Mustang. Aside from the trunk area, that’s the base of the fenders and the leading edge of the doors, where drain holes get plugged.
The engine bay has been subject to a high-school boy’s hopping up project circa 1980, and has grown crusty beside that. That might mean a set of valve covers and a breather cover, but that’s swap meet stuff. The real question surrounds the car’s mechanical fitness, unless you’re also able to do a home rebuild of the engine. If so, this might make sense as a kid’s first car. (You can sell it when the son/daughter loses interest.) Most of the rubber parts have been renewed, from the gas tank forward to the fuel pump. That means that the Mustang has sat around, and that likely means further expenditures for soft parts like brake hoses and cooling-system refreshing. But so what? Just know that your local NAPA is going to start to feel like a second home over the next few months.
So buy and restore or buy and flip. Barn Finders are going to see this car again, I predict. Will it be a “survivor” (wrongly labelled) with a resale red paintjob, or will it be about like it is right now, with yet another owner passing it along and hoping not to get hurt too bad in the process?
Unfortunately link doesn’t lead to an ebay auction.
In the meantime it looks like it has potential depending on how the unknowns stack up, in other words what going on underneath. Cleaning it up to make a decent runner would be an easy enough task if the metal is ok.
I don’t like to look at any of these bfs as investments as much as I like to think of how they can be daily drivers. Because in my opinion why else would a motorhead have a vehicle, but to use it!
ended today and they already relisted it with a starting bid of 500 LOL
Well if you just wanted basic transportation . Some thing you could fix with one adjustable wrench, this is it.
I remember this car, remember the picture in from of the hedge. I think I said before, it is a Frankenstang. That isn’t a 289 in it, I am fairly certain it is a 302. The seats have been switched, they didn’t do colour combo mixes like that. It has a 1966 fuel cap and somebody broke the crossbars off the grille emblem. The front bumper is bent, and it has plenty of dents and dings to keep a body man busy for a while. The left door has rot, and half of the fender emblem is missing on the right. The exhaust is incomplete.
The dash has been hacked and the interior needs a lot of work, too. This car is not worth more than $6500.00, even that is a stretch
I did miss the small area of rot in the driver door; I guess because I didn’t see any elsewhere. No shots of the trunk but the underside appears to be okay. This one needs an inspection. Looks good compared to rust belt cars but, nevertheless. I do think the $6,500 is about right if it runs okay.
What do you want, to drive up to the factory and pick it up new? I thought this was a little work and make it your own.
Is this Barn Finds or the Concourse d’ Elegance website?
No, it’s not perfect. No, you can’t drop it off at a high end restoration shop, and pick up a show car- then sell it for a profit. But you might be able to buy it, clean it up, do some repairs, and have a neat driver. Hmm.