Ok, I promised my wife a 65 coupe for her 30th and WE got it. Im origionally a classic vette man. But, after being proposed with a deal to purchase the 65 coupe from a friend it grew on me and im not sure now taht i bought it if i am going to let her have it or not. I may just keep it for myself and get her another one. I'm kinda curious as to some of the items i should be checking for as far as keeping it original and making sure its in, and stays in great condition. Im the 3rd owner, first owner bought ti and it sat in his private collection for years in California, he then sold it to a friend of his who used it as a daily driver for the last 6 years. It now has 76k miles on it. origional interior with minimal to no wear on the dash console and instruments. Headliner is sagging a bit and the black interior is cherry except for wear on the corner of the drivers side. Origional wheels are on it. I got all enw weather stripping, head liner, emblems, breather cover and a few extra bits with the car. But basically i was wondering if there are any specific places i should be checking as to known problems with this year model. Also kinda curious, would a 6k tag i paid be about right?
__________________
________________________________________________ The more Im around some people the more I like my dog! Claybone
the body is actually in amazing shape, according the friend i bought it from there was never any body work done to it besides the paint job and im inclined to beleive him. So im glad taht one person could ease my mind as to the price. My main concern is..What are some of the items i should check for known problems with this model? I was told taht i should check the floor pan and under the dash for leaks and rust. Everything seems to be in roder there. But are there any other places to check? such as known weak frame locations? faulty wiring? manufacture over screw ( where the factory screws through un intentioned locations?
__________________
________________________________________________ The more Im around some people the more I like my dog! Claybone
the body is actually in amazing shape, according the friend i bought it from there was never any body work done to it besides the paint job and im inclined to beleive him. So im glad taht one person could ease my mind as to the price. My main concern is..What are some of the items i should check for known problems with this model? I was told taht i should check the floor pan and under the dash for leaks and rust. Everything seems to be in roder there. But are there any other places to check? such as known weak frame locations? faulty wiring? manufacture over screw ( where the factory screws through un intentioned locations?
Hello. If by "old 'vette" you mean 50s and 60s corvettes, then you are going to love this car. It's going to handle much better and ride so much better. Those old corvettes are stunningly beautiful cars, but, after riding 50 miles in one, you feel like you have been beaten with a cane or something. 65/66 mustangs don't have any of those little design 'glitches' like a corvette. A lot of that is because they were much cheaper and, consequently, much simpler cars than the vette, and because Ford just plain did not play that game back then. Ford was all about bullet-proof reliability. That's why you see soooooo many old mustangs that still have original wire harnesses, sending units, latch mechanisms, etc.... The problems you will most likely encounter will be of two varieties. One, where the dreaded Previous Owner has decided to 'upgrade' something, or, two, where something just gives out because it has allready provided reliable service for more than 20X the original warranty period. If it was me, I would go through the car and check out all of the brake and suspension components first. I would replace those three rubber brake hoses just because they are not even a little bit expensive and if one of them busts you don't have any brakes. When checking the suspension stuff, and this sounds like a joke but it isn't, if something feels about right for what you would expect on a corvette, that component is about to bust, if it hasn't already. A 65 mustang with a busted lower control arm still handles tighter than a 65 corvette with everything perfect. And yes, I have done a side-by-side comparison of a 65 mustang w/ busted LCA and 65 vette w/ everything ok. The mustangs aren't nearly as nicely appointed or as nicely finished off as the vettes were. Some of the things that Ford did from the factory you will only see on corvettes that have been in horrible crashes, like the way the doors hang in the jamb, or the way the bumpers sit cockeyed, etc.... Bullet-proof reliability that is affordable by anyone with a job. That's what Ford was selling. These cars don't have any chronic problems by design. The only chronic problems that they have are that they were built with ferrous metals, so, after decades, they have gotten rusty, and the problem of being affordable means that they sold a whole bunch of them, so a lot more of them were bought by idiots. I think that you will really enjoy this car.
Your wife may be used to cars that stop when the break peddle is pushed, and get 30 mpg and have a good AC unit. The 65 is not going to do those things. The technology of today’s cars far out ways the 65 mustang. The 65 rattled and made noise, and wind came threw the windows and so on. but at any beginning of anything, the first is always replaced by far better. Just remember a 65 is not a 08. and enjoy.
My first car was a 65 trust me youll love it fun to drive main area of concern would be the front and rear frame rails & torque boxes but sounds like you got a pretty good deal and im sure everything is fine Oh and don't worry about nazi he's not the brightest bulb in the box.
Oh and don't worry about nazi he's not the brightest bulb in the box.
Hi again. If you boys can't play nice, then you're just going to have to go play in your rooms by yourselves. Just because he writes really small doesn't mean that he thinks small.
Took the care to work today. its the first time its been put on the road by me. It was running a bit rough when the guy droped it off and assured me it was the carb neded cleaning, he even gave me a rebuild kit with the car. got to work early and checked the engine, omg, i was really supprised the car had even started. The 1,3,4 plugs had no gap at all and were all gummed up. the 2. 5 and 6 plugs were so gummed up you could barely see the gap. replace the plugs with platinum split tips and put new plug wires on it. I then spreayed the carb with some cleaner and retuned it. runs like a champ now. Well, I work at a dealership so i had it put on the lift and did a thorough check and even had our service tech's look at it. Cant find a spec of rust on the bottom side, looked under the dash, found very little surface rust at all, which was suprising for its age. But since the car has been garage kept since 65 in california except for the last 2 years its lived in texas, and even then it was garage kept. Also, i was looking at the plate inside the door ( i read somewhere on this site its pretty improtant for the value) i cant tell if its origional or not, its been painted over. i can still see the 2 rows of raised digits on it cleraly however. is there a way ic an tell if it is the origional? As far as the brakes are concerned, I appreciate the tip on that. i planned on replacing all the underhood lines with a more dressy braided steel line tomorrow. i guess ill go ahead and change out the break lines as well. they seemed to be in fair to middlin condition. but better safe than sorry.
Oh yea, when i say old vette i mean 50 and 60. As sharp as they look original they just were not built for comfort the way i picture a vette to be, you know, a luxury sports car. I dont too much care for their interior or ride. My next project for myself will be to find a 63 split window shell and mod it out for the more modern vette interior. Dont worry, not doing that to the Mustang. After i got the Mustang running right i put it on the highway........Lord, it felt soo good looking out the windshield at that big front end and watching it float on down the road. when i got home this evening i told my wife that its now MY car. She then remidind me how much i disliked being single, so yeah, its still hers. lol
__________________
________________________________________________ The more Im around some people the more I like my dog! Claybone
Hi again. The original door tags are easily distinguished from the reproductions. The repop tags are much nicer. Here are a couple of pictures of original tags. You'll notice in the upper right hand corner, where the axle and trans codes are, the code for axle isn't underneath the word axle at all. It looks almost like a two digit number for the transmission code, but it isn't. They are both single digit codes. I put that second picture in there to kind of give you something to compare yours to.
It has never ceased to amaze me how screwed up one of these cars can be and still keep chugging down the road. I'm assuming that your car has a straight six. If yes, then what you paid for it was about right. Pretty good, actually, for the condition it sounds like it's in. On the 65 models there were two different 6cyls available. If the fifth digit of your vin is the letter 'U', your car came with the solid lifter, five bearing, 170C.I.D. motor. If the fifth digit is the letter 'T' your came with the hydraulic lifter, seven bearing 200 C.I.D. motor. The 170 is a pretty rattley ( is that a word) sounding motor. Both of them will get something like 20-22 mpg. And yes, I suspect that you might want to go ahead and start looking around for another car for yourself.
Im gonna go with it being the original plate since its as you said, the last 2 digits look like a double digit number. It came with the 200 in it. and thats what is in it. the vind decoder i used last night scared me cause i wasnt aware that the vin is actually the warranty number so i input the numbers backwards last night before i figured out that maybe the last 2 numbers were really single numbers. first time it pulled up as being a 66. I almost picked up the phone and started cussing. 2nd try after some investigating came up with the right answers for me. only 2 questions i still have at the moment are about my tansmision and head liner. says it came with a 4 speed cruise but im only counting 3 gears as im driving. Is that the way it should be or where should i be feeling the gear changes? also as to the head liner. It has a small rip in it but i got a new headliner witht aht that the guy never put in. About how much do you think somoene would charge to replace that, if i understand right you have to take out the glass to replace that. i dont like removing the glass from vehicles myself.
Oh yeah, guy take it easy, if your gonna retaliate against each otehr please start your own thread. Im here to lean about cars, not peoples tempers. thanks
__________________
________________________________________________ The more Im around some people the more I like my dog! Claybone
Hi again. If the transmission code on that tag is 6, that's a 3-speed automatic. Ford designated that transmission as 'C4' If the code is a 1 that would be a 3-speed manual. There was a Dagenham-built 4 speed unit that was used on the 6 cyl cars, but those were almost exclusivly used for cars exported to europe and are extremely rare over here. They were also particularly flimsy, so few have survived. As far as the headliner goes, to do it right you do have to remove the front and back glass. If it was me, I would think long and hard about deciding just how objectionable that tear really is. Your car almost certainly has the original front and back glass and those things have a way of getting very comfortable right where they are after having sat there for forty+ years. Also, it is soooo easy to damage that moulding around the glass. The repop moulding just doesn't look as nice as real good original. There are many potential hazards besides just the obvious one of cracking the glass. Your car should have the moulding clips that are held on with screws, instead of the little posts, like the slightly later cars. When you put the moulding back on you'll be want to replace the clips with new ones so the moulding sits right and doesn't rattle around slightly when you go down the road. That means removing and reinstalling the screws, which is always potentially problematic on 40+ year old sheet metal in an area that frequently grabs water and hangs onto it for a while. If you do decide to replace the headliner, don't try to do it on the cheap. Go to the most reputable place around that works on old mustangs, not the place that does late model collision repair. If you have the guys at the dealership you work at do it, you need to have the work done by someone that you can fire on the spot if they mess anything up.
Ok, it is the C4, so i stand corrected and im glad because of it. Wasn't looking forward to a transmision rebuild as of yet. As far as the headliner goes...I wont let someone touch my car that if i think there is a slight chance they will give me crappy work, so since i cant do it myself i will certainly be taking it to specialists. I can prolly get by with stitching the rip for a while, and it might even be a long term fix depending on how gaudy it looks. The interior specialists will be coming by the dealership today. so im gonna have them take a look at it. So far i have found this site to be full of helpfull information and a valuable tool for the touch up process of the car. Thanks again to everyone for all these helpfull tips.
__________________
________________________________________________ The more Im around some people the more I like my dog! Claybone
Our First Mustang 
If by "old 'vette" you mean 50s and 60s corvettes, then you are going to love this car. It's going to handle much better and ride so much better.
Those old corvettes are stunningly beautiful cars, but, after riding 50 miles in one, you feel like you have been beaten with a cane or something. 65/66 mustangs don't have any of those little design 'glitches' like a corvette. A lot of that is because they were much cheaper and, consequently, much simpler cars than the vette, and because Ford just plain did not play that game back then. Ford was all about bullet-proof reliability. That's why you see soooooo many old mustangs that still have original wire harnesses, sending units, latch mechanisms, etc.... The problems you will most likely encounter will be of two varieties. One, where the dreaded Previous Owner has decided to 'upgrade' something, or, two, where something just gives out because it has allready provided reliable service for more than 20X the original warranty period. If it was me, I would go through the car and check out all of the brake and suspension components first. I would replace those three rubber brake hoses just because they are not even a little bit expensive and if one of them busts you don't have any brakes. When checking the suspension stuff, and this sounds like a joke but it isn't, if something feels about right for what you would expect on a corvette, that component is about to bust, if it hasn't already. A 65 mustang with a busted lower control arm still handles tighter than a 65 corvette with everything perfect. And yes, I have done a side-by-side comparison of a 65 mustang w/ busted LCA and 65 vette w/ everything ok.
) sounding motor. Both of them will get something like 20-22 mpg. And yes, I suspect that you might want to go ahead and start looking around for another car for yourself.
