Used Car of the Day: 1965 Ford Mustang

by Tim Healey

Published: June 6th, 2023

Today's UCOTD is a 1965 Ford Mustang fastback that appears to need some work.

This car has a 289 cubic-inch motor and needs to be restored. The motor cranks but it's not clear if the car runs. And there is rust.

It's an eBay auction linked to our forums, so the price might vary. Check it out here and here.

[Images: Seller]

Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.

#UCOTD #Ford #UsedCaroftheDay #FordMustang

Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

More by Tim Healey

Comments

Join the conversation

4 of 23 comments

Tassos on Jun 07, 2023

I know some would want to own a collectible Mustang. (sure as hell not me. This crappy 'secretary's car' (that was exactly its intended buying demo) was as sophisticated (transl. : CRUDE) as the FLintstone's mobile. Solid Real Axle? Are you effing kidding me?

There is a huge number of these around, so they are neither expensive nor valuable.

WHen it came out, it was $2,000 or so new. A colleague bought a recent one with the stupid Ecoboost which also promised good fuel economy. He drives a hard bargain and spends time shopping and I remember he paid $37k ( the fool only bought domestic crap, but luckily he is good with his hands and can fix lots of stuff on them).

He told me that the alleged fuel economy is obtained only if you drive it like a VERY old lady. WHich defeats the purpose, of course, you might as well buy a used Toyota Yaris (not even a Corolla).

1 Reply
- Lou_BC on Jun 07, 2023
  
  I don't see Americans paying this sort of cash for Merc's of the same vintage.
  If one uses an inflation calculator that 2k would be 19,261.14. That's very close to the reserve price for this car.
  
  Like
- Jeff S on Jun 07, 2023
  
  Lou_BC--A Mercedes has to be very old before most of them are worth anything. Some of the mid 80s Mercedes are becoming collector cars. Anything made by Mercedes in the last 20 years will likely never be collector cars because they are not built to last. The worst buy for someone without money is to buy a used Mercedes the maintenance alone is enough to make many go broke. The early Mustangs will likely increase in value and hold their value. The worst Mustangs for holding their value in the past have been the Mustang II but even nice examples of those are starting to increase in value. True the Mustang originally was a sporty car based on the Falcon platform with many Falcon components and the original price made them affordable to many secretaries especially with the straight 6 but the image of the secretary's car has long passed and to put that stigma on most of today's Mustangs is outdated but then some on this site are outdated. An almost 20 year old diesel Mercedes doesn't evoke a sporty image for most of us. When I was growing up my dream car was not a diesel Mercedes but more like a Mustang, Shelby Mustang, Camaro, Challenger, GTO, 442, Chevelle SS, Impala SS with a 409, XKE, Grand Prix, and Charger with a big block engine. Most pre-teen and teen boys in the 60s dreamed of those cars and none of the dreamed of a diesel Mercedes. A gull wing Mercedes would be the only Mercedes a boy of that era would dream of but they are truly a beautiful car and a work of art.
  
  Like
BEPLA on Jun 07, 2023

I think it's cool the way it is.

If I had the money, time and space - I'd buy it, clean it up, and just do enough to get it running properly.

Then take it to Cars and Coffee and park it next to all the newer Mustangs.

Like Reply
- Jeff S on Jun 08, 2023
  
  I think this Mustang running even without restoration would draw a lot of attention at Cars and Coffee or any car show. Most of the Mustangs of this vintage you see at shows are the notch backs or convertibles you rarely see a fastback.
  
  Like

Recent Comments

Redapple2 I gave up on Honda. My 09 Accord Vs my 03. The 09s- V 6 had a slight shudder when deactivating cylinders. And the 09 did not have the 03 's electro luminescent gages. And the 09 had the most uncomfortable seats. My brother bought his 3rd and last Honda CRV. Brutal seats after 25 minutes. NOW, We are forever Toyota, Lexus, Subaru people now despite HAVING ACCESS TO gm EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT. Despite having access to the gm employee discount. Man, that is a massive statement. Wow that s bad - Under no circumstances will I have that govna crap.
Redapple2 Front tag obscured. Rear tag - clear and sharp. Huh?
Redapple2 I can state what NOT to buy. HK. High theft. Insurance. Unrefined NVH. Rapidly degrading interiors. HK? No way !
Luke42 Serious answer:Now that I DD an EV, buying an EV to replace my wife’s Honda Civic is in the queue. My wife likes her Honda, she likes Apple CarPlay, and she can’t stand Elon Musk - so Tesla starts the competition with two demerit-points and Honda starts the competition with one merit-point.The Honda Prologue looked like a great candidate until Honda announced that the partnership with GM was a one-off thing and that their future EVs would be designed in-house.Now I’m more inclined toward the Blazer EV, the vehicle on which the Prologue is based. The Blazer EV and the Ultium platform won’t be orphaned by GM any time soon. But then I have to convince my wife she would like it better than her Honda Civic, and that’s a heavy lift because she doesn’t have any reason to be dissatisfied with her current car (I take care of all of the ICE-hassles for her).Since my wife’s Honda Civic is holding up well, since she likes the car, and since I take care of most of the drawbacks of drawbacks of ICE ownership for her, there’s no urgency to replace this vehicle.Honestly, if a paid-off Honda Civic is my wife’s automotive hill to die on, that’s a pretty good place to be - even though I personally have to continue dealing the hassles and expenses of ICE ownership on her behalf.My plan is simply to wait-and-see what Honda does next. Maybe they’ll introduce the perfect EV for her one day, and I’ll just go buy it.
2ACL I have a soft spot for high-performance, shark-nosed Lancers (I considered the less-potent Ralliart during the period in which I eventually selected my first TL SH-AWD), but it's can be challenging to find a specimen that doesn't exhibit signs of abuse, and while most of the components are sufficiently universal in their function to service without manufacturer support, the SST isn't one of them. The shops that specialize in it are familiar with the failure as described by the seller and thus might be able to fix this one at a substantial savings to replacement. There's only a handful of them in the nation, however. A salvaged unit is another option, but the usual risks are magnified by similar logistical challenges to trying to save the original.I hope this is a case of the seller overvaluing the Evo market rather than still owing or having put the mods on credit. Because the best offer won't be anywhere near the current listing.