Your Turn: Thrashed 1965 Mustang Fastback

You’re not getting a title for this 1965 Mustang Fastback, which will be sold on a bill of sale. In fact, what you’re really buying with this car is a VIN. Why do I say that? Because the current owner indicates that he bought the car to rebody it with a Dynacorn bodyshell. Now, for whatever reason (funds diverted to another project is what’s stated), he’s given up, and it’s someone else’s turn. You can jump into the bidding here on eBay, currently past six grand. (Can that be real?) Then head to Goshen, NY, to claim your heap.

“The vehicle needs work.” Was the clue the trashed body, the Bondo-style rust repair, the eaten-up rear fenders, the completely thrashed interior, the cracked windshield, or something else? One crucial component to note is that the VIN shows a C-code (289-CID) engine as original equipment. The seller believes that is the engine currently in place, but he notes that it does not turn. Wait! With a little Marvel Mystery Oil, you’ll be driving it home. Or maybe not. In any case, one is left wondering how bad things are when all the accessory brackets in the under-hood area are rusty. Did someone leave this thing in the rain with the hood up? For decades? Oh, I see–there is no hood. Makes sense now.

The Mustang is said to have all the hard-to-find parts, though looking at the condition of the bits and pieces that go in this deal, I’m not sure having them is much different than having to go find serviceable versions of them. Anyway, parts or no parts, what you don’t know is the state of the rust that may have—probably has—eaten this Fastback up, save one photo looking in the driver’s door where the jamb itself seems eaten alive by the old tin worm. There are no pictures of the floors or the integral frame rails. Then again, the guy did say he was planning to rebody (my word, not his) this car. That’s a good idea in some states. Why not start over with a pristine body shell at an MSRP of $17,500? But don’t try it in states where transporting a VIN from car to car is considered fraud.

If you do figure out a legal way to restore this car, whether by the method just named or the good old blast-then-weld method, you have a decent starting point in terms of what the car once was. The options are there—namely an automatic and a console. The color is right—silver blue with a blue vinyl interior. But the actual physical thing that you haul home might just crumble into dust before you arrive at your garage. If so, you’d at least be able to resell the back seat, which is the most un-destroyed part offered in this package.