Thread: 1965 mustang coupe questions

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Hey guys, just got off the phone with my father-in-law. He's been looking to get a classic car to tinker on. He's not a mechanic, but he is good with his hands and enjoys doing things himself. Tomorrow he wants me to go with him to check a mustang he's looking to buy.

On the surface sounds like a good deal, he's seen it already, local mustang restoration place is selling it for a client. my this is what Greg, my father-in-law told me.

Car runs, has the 289 with auto, transmission has been rebuilt. instrument panel is taken out but is with car, idiot kid who owns it tried paint stripper, so paint is all orange peeled (no big deal). trunk filler panel and rear valance need replacing. Needs carb rebuilt. wrong hubcaps but newer tires. interior in good shape. needs brakes. $2k.

My questions are this:

1. with this info, does it sound like a good deal?
2. he's willing to put another 5k into it, if it needs, to get it all ready as a driver, with paint. Even if it needed an engine rebuild, is that enough?
3. with or without needing a rebuild, what would it take to get that engine putting out horsepower on par with the k-codes? cam, heads,intake carb? I know what's available now is much better than in 65', is a whole rebuild needed?

My first car was a 65 fastback 289. I would have loved some extra power. (hell, a lot extra, but for the father-in-law the 270-290 range would be great).

Thanks for the input guys.

Red

From the description $ 2K sounds good. Mustangs of this era have some unique rust out spots......I'm not familiar with all of them but the area under the air intake grille in front of the windshield is one. Some Mustang guys will probably be able to clue you in on other potential trouble spots to check out.

Nice thing about these is that EVERY part is available brand new from various suppliers. You literally could build a brand new car if you had to.

You will also want to decode the vin tag to see if it was originally a v8 car, that affects value some and it will also tell you the equipment it came with originally.

As for the HP thing, technology has come so far since 65 that even a mild build today will net more HP than we dreamed of back then.

Don

With rust in the trunk, have him check the area around the leaf spring mounts in the rear, and the spring towers in the front. All the parts can be replaced, but it might be more work then he would want to take on! $2k isn't a bad price for a coupe, heck anymore the title and vin plate for an early Horse brings $1K!!!!!



PS--I think your Uncle needs to adopt me, he's keeping you waaaaaay too busy, Red!!!!!!!

it isn't rust from what he said, I guess the panels were messed up and the kid that had it had done some spot welding or something that wasn't good. he said 'beat up" so I'm guessing not rust. but I'll check those spots. thanks guys, this is the kind of information that I need.

Does this mean I can get adopted??????

A 65 is a desirable year. 289 is a nice engine, easy to work on, and as Don said you can buy every concievable part brand new. How's he at body work, like changing out the bad rear panel? If he can tackle that and avoid a body shop, then it would be a good deal. In this area beaters go for 4-5k. Problem is it always costs more than we want to spend. So the big question is does he love the car? That will help him decide if it's a good choice. One thing about the old stangs is the front end floats at higher speeds, so some suspension mods might be in order if he wants to hot rod it. My first car was a 68, and I did the suspension work, and my engine rebuild. Pretty simple straight foward cars, with a cool nostalgia!

If it's half way decent 2K is a steal in this area. I've saw '65/'66 thrashed 6 banger cars that were going for that price. Even if it's not an original V-8 car it's easy to convert it to 5 lug and update it to disc brakes. And they're simple and easy to work on.

Fresburg can always use another Mustang running the streets.

Thanks guys. I told him to jump on it but will still meet him to check it out. Likely I'll give him a hand time to time on some of the stuff, such as welding. Plus he doesn't have the same sort of tools I do so may be borrowing.

One thing I hate is my driveway has about a 30 degree slope, which means we can never work on anything in my driveway. Things you don't think about when buying a house (or at least I didn't think about last time, next time shop is No. 1 priority!!! )

I know what you mean about the slope, ours was on one too. My ex-wifes car took off backwards one time while up on a floorjack while we were changing the oil. Luckily we got it stopped before it hit the neighbors house across the street, but I ran right out of my shoes trying to catch it. When my shoes came off I stopped but my Son Don started yelling "KEEP RUNNING!"

Mom never knew about that little goof up.

Don

we were working on the bed of the truck one time, it was on sawhorses, I was at one end welding, sitting on a chair with my legs under the end of the bed, Rick was at the other end, got up and tried to use the bed to help himself. horses tipped over and it came down, resting on my lap.

another time I was reattaching the bumper to his pickup, i was on a creeper and slipped, grabbed the bumper to keep from sliding under the truck, it fell on top of me too. damn driveway

I talked him out of it guys. Man, the back end of that thing was mangled. and it had some serious thick bondo work in spots. plus an engine that looked tired, was missing power steering setup, just a BIG project.

then went to a car lot across the street, they have a 1965, pony package with 289 4 barrel (I used the online mustang decoder to find it all out) that is in good shape. need interior replaced and new paint, but that isn't a big deal, body was solid and appeared very good, engine was clean and dry and it ran well. They're only ASKING 8K. you know on a car lot, especially one that doesn't specialize in old stuff, you can get them down. and he said it's been there for months now. I recommended he try to get that one for say 6, put another 2k in paint and interior.

oh, and on that one, couldn't see any rust, and the trunk looked brand frickin' new. probably original interior and maybe just an older repaint, as the paint is cracked and chipped in a few places.

makes me miss my mustang.

Red

Sounds like a much better option, plus when it runs you tend to use it more often, and have more incentive to spruce it up!
And I know what you mean Red I miss my 68 too!

Unless it's had some serious work done to it like a rebuilt engine, tranny, front end, brakes and wiring 6K is way to much. Keep shopping craigslist. There's some good deals out there right now.

You might have to travel a bit like to Sacto or the Bay Area, but the deals are out there.

Here's one in Clovis:
http://fresno.craigslist.org/cto/1539385542.html

Sacto:
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/1543333922.html
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/1543315248.html
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/1543311390.html
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/1540618633.html
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/1540269468.html

I told him to check the ones on craigslist. this one the engine looked really good, it had dual exhaust and flowmasters, but needed another two feet of pipe to get it to the rear, had wheels and tires, but I don't know anything else on it. I thought that one in Clovis looked pretty good.

PERSONALLY, I would only buy a 65 or 66 fastback, for nostalgia, but otherwise for my money I'd get something not as common. but hey, each their own and all that and it's better for him that everything be available off the shelf.

Red

Red keep looking the Craiglist is more in line and when you walk up with cash owner will negotiate fast to make a sell. When you get up over 4K they better be running and had some major work all ready .

Neighbor just bought a 65 cpe I6 car with a V8 swap done but still needs suspension . He gave $1500.00 and the body is clean on this car only minor floor board on drivers side . Couple minor dents and a little plastic but worth this .

Patch panels are really cheap as with the repop full panels for this model . In the 3 years of production of this body they made about 1.5 million of them .