Hello people,
I have aquirred a 1965 coupe, it has had a on frame restoration and they seem to have did a fairly nice job. There are a few spots that needs addressing such as a few areas of overspray and such. I have not found any rust areas so they seem to have done well.
It has a 289C 2v automatic all stock and all original, painted springtime yellow with a white vinyl top (restored as well). Intrerior has the black pony interior package along with working factory air.
I have tuned it up and runs pretty good , I do still have a miss and choke is not functioning on carb so it takes awhile for her to warm up .
My question is (and I know this is subjective) should I keep her original or start doing modifications such as hedders, new intake manifold. change the 2 barrell out to a 4 barrell, chrome out the engine , monte carlo bar, things of this nature.
I don't have any history on the car what so ever other than the person I aquirred it from had purchased it from another who did the restoration (wow, that sounds confusing).
the engine shows 40+ years of use but again runs well
I would research the VIN and body/int. numbers and see how original it is first (did it come factory with A/C, vinyl top, PS, PB, yellow/black pony, etc.) and see how far off or exact it is to when it rolled off the line. If it has only the items as original I'd stay original and take it to car shows as such, there are many people who love to see and remember the original they owned.
If it has had a lot of customization done, different paint, interior, etc. cont. with your personal tastes.
I am keeping all the original parts for my '67 coupe that i change out so the next owner will have all the original parts if they want to put them back. However I can't resist a 4bbl. vs. 2 bbl., etc. I just gotta go faster...
Jon
Hello.: As long as you don't drill any holes, cut any sheet metal or wires and keep all of the original stuff, it really doesn't have any effect on the value, since someone can always go back to original from there if they want to. Bolt-on stuff doesn't really matter much, other than the time it takes to unbolt it. Although, based on your description, that sounds like a pretty nice car that you're starting with. My tendency would be to leave it alone once I got it running right, but that's just me.
I am a sucker for a resto mod. nothing beats a rodded out car...not too much though. as long as you dont poke too many holes in it, do as much as you please.
wgathright
It all depends on you.
First of all the car is just a peice of sheet metal with some nuts and bolts thrown in.
It's your car, Keep it stock and it's most likely worth more money. That being said, it's your car. Make it your car. The heck with all those that say keep it original. Put a 460 in it with a dropped chrome staight axle. What ever makes you want to drive it on Friday night is what you should do. Heck , paint it Yellow with some purple flames, and some 20s. Someone else can worry about putting it back to stock.
Drive it.
Pull the original 289, pickle it for storage, drop a 'slightly leaned on' 302 in it, looks the same, runs good. Some day someone wants to buy, sell with the 302 and the 289.
Andrewmp6,
Not only did you say what I was going to say, but you said it in EXACTLY the same words I would have used!!!! You are indeed, a brilliant man!!! LOL!!!
jay67fast
Its the true what if you have the car for 10 years or more and its worth more factory specs then how you got it wouldn't you put it back and sell it.Lets face it these cars are only going to go up in value My uncle bought a 69 camaro in 98 for 8 grand hes done some little things to keep it nice he sold it couple months ago for 35 grand.
keep original or dress it up, 1965 Mustang Coupe 
: As long as you don't drill any holes, cut any sheet metal or wires and keep all of the original stuff, it really doesn't have any effect on the value, since someone can always go back to original from there if they want to. Bolt-on stuff doesn't really matter much, other than the time it takes to unbolt it. Although, based on your description, that sounds like a pretty nice car that you're starting with. My tendency would be to leave it alone once I got it running right, but that's just me.
