[mbriggs27]

Hey everyone! I am new to the Mustang community. I am looking to make my first purchase, and a 1964.5 Mustang has caught my eye. The current owner has had it for about 10 years and the only issue he ever had was that he had to rebuild the generator.

I am looking for a great starter car that I can drive a good bit (If I buy it I want to show it off). I am waiting to get the VIN so I can verify the information, but it is supposed to have the original 289 that was rebuilt a couple years ago. The owner wants 8,500...what are your thoughts for the vehicle???

Thanks so much!
Michael

 

[05RedHorse]

Before you even think about whether or not the price is fair, you need to look underneath and/or check out the floor pans. On early Mustangs it was not uncommon for water to come in the cowl opening in front of the windshield and rot out the floor pans. I had a '65 that had just that happen to it. Then, check out the torque boxes for rust also.

If you still want the car, the price should reflect the amount you will have to spend to fix any issues.

The exterior paint looks OK, the engine compartment looks a little dull / rusty. The power steering pump is rusted and the radiator sure isn't recently new or repainted.....

Go to EBay Motors for 1965 Mustangs & see what people are asking for similar cars. Hardtops were plentiful, fastbacks and convertibles less so.:winks

 

[mbriggs27]

Thanks for the info. I am going to see it in person tomorrow to check for rusty areas. With it being a unibody construction, rust is an utmost concern. I will also be looking for areas that have bondo.

I just figured it doesnt to get as much advice as I can with it being my first go around!

 

[05RedHorse]

try this for decoding the VIN and data plate ......

Classic Mustang Dataplate Decoder

Good luck !

 

[Snackmaster]

Welcome to AFM! I moved this to the Classic section to see what the guys and gals there think.

Thanks for joining!
:bigthumbsup

 

[mbriggs27]

Thank you very much for helping me to get it in the right place! Never too many opinions!

 

[Icerat]

Welcome to AFM! I agree, check underneath, hidden rust is a deal breaker. It looks like a great car and with no rust I would pay between 7k and 8k for it. I love 64.5 cars, I had one very similar with a 260 and I carried a spare generator in the trunk because it was the weak link, I could run a day on just the battery though with the radio off and during the day :shigrin

Good luck, I hope it's as good as it looks and you can be the new owner:bigthumbsup

 

[Veronica]

Hello. The car has some little issues that are visible in the pictures which could add up to a problem. It has the wrong power steering pump, it used to have A/C but doesn't any more, it has the hood lip molding which wasn't available on the 64 1/2s, it has a bolt missing from the hood latch bucket, etc.... These are things that, taken in conjunction with each other, could indicate that the car hit something very hard at some time in the past. I would look at it very closely, check and see if the radiator core support had been replaced, for example, to see if it had, in fact, smashed itself into something.

 

[67freebird]

Ive been looking at alot of these cars here in nebraska. Cant really say much about prices in tennessee so for what its worth to say it, I dont see that as a $8500 car. More like a 5500 to 6k. and thats if the floors are ok. And as Veronica said it seems to be missing a few things in the front that are generally associated with a swap out of parts.

 

[mbriggs27]

Hello. The car has some little issues that are visible in the pictures which could add up to a problem. It has the wrong power steering pump, it used to have A/C but doesn't any more, it has the hood lip molding which wasn't available on the 64 1/2s, it has a bolt missing from the hood latch bucket, etc.... These are things that, taken in conjunction with each other, could indicate that the car hit something very hard at some time in the past. I would look at it very closely, check and see if the radiator core support had been replaced, for example, to see if it had, in fact, smashed itself into something.

Thanks for all of the info Veronica. I actually viewed the car in person today, and there a couple of other issues that go along with what you say. The hood actually was misaligned. The gap on the passenger side is noticeably bigger than the other side. There was also a bolt missing from the bracket for the radiator.

I looked under the car in the usual rust places and it was pretty clean, although there were a couple small rust surface rust spots around the body. If I were to purchase the vehicle, the first thing I would want to do is strip the paint, knock out the surface rust, and do a high quality paint job. With all of those things, I just cant buy into it for 8500.

Hopefully, with a little time the price will work its way down, so if I do purchase I will have more money to do what I want with the car.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Veronica]

Hi again. The hood alignment isn't really indicative of anything for a few reasons. One is that, for some reason, some people just have trouble getting their hood lined up when they paint the car. :gringreen Another is that Ford didn't line them up very well either. I have stacks of original advertising on these cars, and one thing that you will never see is a photograph taken by Ford of a 65/66 Mustang that shows how the hood lines up. :nogrinner They are invariably either an artist's rendering or photographs taken from an angle that doesn't show the hood alignment.

 

[Kona Blue Pony]

It's really really hard to find a good car for a fair price. I looked for a looooong time for mine. I looked at cars worse than that (quite a few actually) and they were all asking between 7-10K for them. Most of these cars I looked at I dismissed within the first 2 minutes of looking at them. There are A LOT of these cars still around, but it seems few are done well.

My hood is actually aligned well. I did play with the door alignment after I got the car. The other thing that drives me nuts about the hoods AND trunks is that the majority of cars seem to have a hump in the middle of both that stick above the fenders/rear quarters, it's very slight but drives me nuts (Type A person...). I don't know if that comes with age/use (seems unlikely?) or if they came that way new.

Curious, did you make an offer at all? Was he willing to come down in price at all?

 

[mbriggs27]

It's really really hard to find a good car for a fair price. I looked for a looooong time for mine. I looked at cars worse than that (quite a few actually) and they were all asking between 7-10K for them. Most of these cars I looked at I dismissed within the first 2 minutes of looking at them. There are A LOT of these cars still around, but it seems few are done well.

My hood is actually aligned well. I did play with the door alignment after I got the car. The other thing that drives me nuts about the hoods AND trunks is that the majority of cars seem to have a hump in the middle of both that stick above the fenders/rear quarters, it's very slight but drives me nuts (Type A person...). I don't know if that comes with age/use (seems unlikely?) or if they came that way new.

Curious, did you make an offer at all? Was he willing to come down in price at all?

Hey! I did not make an offer yet. He was pretty firm, and he said 3 others were coming to view the car, so I said I would be back in touch. Considering that where I was comfortable with paying was far off from where he was, I want a couple others to view before I try to negotiate price. I know this runs the risk of the car being sold, but I have been seeing a good number of these appearing lately. If I did not have to do a paint job right away I would be a lot closer to where he is and would have offered.

 

[67freebird]

Heres a kink to one I went and looked at 1966 Ford Mustang
I know its a 66 but as a reference to a descent car and a well done resto.

 

[mbriggs27]

Heres a kink to one I went and looked at 1966 Ford Mustang
I know its a 66 but as a reference to a descent car and a well done resto.

Cars where I live must really go for a premium. I have found a lot of cars similar to the one you posted for the similar price. The cars in my area either have that price and need a good bit of work, or they have a good resto job with a hefty price. All I can do is keep looking.

I get excited when I find one, but it always tens out they are loaded with bondo.

 

[berryr]

Advice on Mustangs

I bought a '66 coupe that looked good on the outside and had some body work already started. I picked ut up for $2,500 (about the original cost back in '66). Well it's on the road, but it took lots and lots of $$$$ since there was hidden rust that I didn't see. Long story short, be really careful, older Mustangs trapped water nearly everywhere. Final cost of resto was $12,000. I love the car and will never recover the costs to restore, but you have to accept that fact and just love the hell out of them.