Test driving a '65 Mustang in 1985

[cfz2882]

white and blue fastback,289 2v 4 spd. Teenager evaluating first car choices Car ran pretty decent with that distinctive small block Ford sound with the little skip in the exhaust note.Base v8 with 2 barrel and power robbing rigid fan, no ball of fire but stickshift and only about 3000 lbs, got around decent enough and would squeal out good Car had Falcon style linear speedo instead of delux round speedo, and stock AM radio. liked the car,but they were asking $2500....These early mustangs were morbidly unsafe in accidents,but have fond memory of the test drive. Got a '74 nova instead-$500.

 

[wayupnorth]

I had a '66 Mustang convertible with the same 289 V8, 4 speed. By the time I got the car, it had 120K on it and had been rode hard and put away wet. It could not pass the Maine Inspection due to the amount of rust. Sold it for $75 and next owner put alot of work and money trying to restore it.

 

[phillymatt53]

Back in the 70's I had a 1968 Mustang 289 w/auto trans.
It was red, red interior, with a powered white convertable top.
Boy oh boy, that car was a fun thing to drive. - party time!
It had it's issues of course, rusted floor spots, which I patched up with sheet metal and pop rivets.
The damn thing liked to overheat, and the heater core was clogged.
But nevertheless, I ran it for about a year or so, then got a 67 Chevelle w/307 small block.

 

[circlew]

Friends of the family in Dearborn, MI got one of the first Mustangs in 1964. It was a bronze color convertible. The husband was very high up in the Ford Motor Co., and got it for his wife Elizabeth. By the late 1980s, it was getting in kind of rough shape. The husband had the car totally refurbished, which included him contacting some of the original parts manufacturers, and having certain items made. He told my parents he spent nearly 10 times the original price of the car.

My high school art teacher Doris M. had a 1966 Mustang in dark green. She had it for several years before getting a Torino.

 

[cfz2882]

Those very early Mustangs still used a generator instead of alternator of '65 models

 

[jmm63]

ALWAYS has been and ALWWAYS will be one of my dream cars. 65- 73 Mustang convertible, don't care. i was just in Detroit last week and saw some of the Woodward Dream Cruise, could not believe how many wonderful cars I saw.

 

[jmm63]

ALWAYS has been and ALWWAYS will be one of my dream cars. 65- 73 Mustang convertible, don't care. i was just in Detroit last week and saw some of the Woodward Dream Cruise, could not believe how many wonderful cars I saw.

Here's a link to pics from the Detroit Free Press

https://www.freep.com/picture-galle...oodward-dream-cruise-best-photos/85683945007/

 

[phillymatt53]

ALWAYS has been and ALWWAYS will be one of my dream cars. 65- 73 Mustang convertible, don't care. i was just in Detroit last week and saw some of the Woodward Dream Cruise, could not believe how many wonderful cars I saw.

Just keep in mind......
Performance, and Reliability are the fundamental things to strongly consider with anything.
However, consumers strongly tend to focus on the superficial aspects of products.
It's human nature.

 

[cfz2882]

A friend has a '73 convertible he is fixing up-floorpan has fatigue cracks from the body flexing-must be a few miles on it. 71-3 longer and much heavier than 64.5-66 version-do not know if those early ones flex as much.The subject '73 convert has a simple little 302 2v/ 3spd stick for reliable cool daily cruising

 

[phillymatt53]

Here's a link to pics from the Detroit Free Press

https://www.freep.com/picture-galle...oodward-dream-cruise-best-photos/85683945007/

Classic cars!
I always adored the styling of them!
The "cookie-cutter" boring and common styling of today bores the hell out of me.

When I was 13, 14, my father used to take me out with our family car to learn how to drive.
It was a 1956 Pontiac Chieftain.
He would take me to a local cemetary to practice my skills.
I asked him why he took me there, I wanted to go on a real street.
His answer was: "The cemetary has winding roads and is good for learning how to steer and maneuver, besides, if you hit something, don't worry, they're all dead anyhow".

 

[phillymatt53]

And my First Car.... a Midnight Bronze Metallic 1972 Chevy Nova 307 - customized by me.

 

[vacerator]

My grandma's first car was a 1955 Pontiac Chieftan.

 

[phillymatt53]

My grandma's first car was a 1955 Pontiac Chieftan.

Funny you mention that.
My father had a 55 Chieftain too - sky blue and white, then the pictured 56 model in maroon and white.

 

[cfz2882]

Cool Nova in reply 11 my Nova was a green 4 dr sedan-2 barrel 350,th350,2.56 rear gears had AC and era correct underdash Kraco 8-track to supplement the AM radio. Had manual drum brakes,but i think power disc was optional. These '68-74 and '75-79 Novas were great cars in most regards.

 

[phillymatt53]

Cool Nova in reply 11 my Nova was a green 4 dr sedan-2 barrel 350,th350,2.56 rear gears had AC and era correct underdash Kraco 8-track to supplement the AM radio. Had manual drum brakes,but i think power disc was optional. These '68-74 and '75-79 Novas were great cars in most regards.

My 72 Nova was a bit "souped up" by me.
Jensen 6x9 speakers in the rear deck.
In the dash I installed one of the first "in dash" am/fm cassette players
Wire wheel hubcaps (pictured) taken from a Caprice.
Pin striped (pictured) side detail - later on I did the hood and trunk lid with those wide white racing stripes.
And a big Holly big bore 2V carb.
The last thing I had done was custom dual exhausts with chrome tips out under the rear bumper, and performance mufflers.
She sounded like a Ford Thunderbird on takeoff.

 

[qsd-dan]

my Nova was a green 4 dr sedan-2 barrel 350,th350,2.56 rear gears

You were probably getting at least 20 MPG on the highway with 2.56 gears at 55 MPH.

 

[maytag85]

I almost got a chance to get a 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 with the 289 (may be a little undersized for a larger vehicle), unfortunately the seller flaked and never got to work out a deal and buy it, had air conditioning too.

 

[phillymatt53]

I almost got a chance to get a 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 with the 289 (may be a little undersized for a larger vehicle), unfortunately the seller flaked and never got to work out a deal and buy it, had air conditioning too.

When I finally got my license in the 1970s, I took my driving test in my father's 1966 Ford LTD, with a 289 engine.
That boat handled like a mushy bouncy tank.

 

[rp2813]

I got a '65 Mustang notchback in the spring of 1978. I think I paid $1,100 for it. Alpine white with ice blue interior, C4 automatic, 289, no power steering, power brakes, or AC. The favorite of all cars I've owned. It felt like it drove itself, particularly going uphill. Driving the steep streets of San Francisco was effortless.

I sold my dark green '64 Galaxie 4-door sedan to help recover the cost of the Mustang. That car had the 289 with a generator, C4 automatic, stripped down except for the AM radio, single speed wipers, beige bench seats, hub caps instead of wheel covers, and ran like a sewing machine. It only had 53K miles on it when I bought it in 1972 for $995 from a Buick dealer on a 12-month installment plan. Way more car than I needed, but in the summer of 1974 it did take four of us all the way to Mazatlan, just below the Tropic of Cancer, during a major heat wave, which only got worse the further south we drove through the Mojave and Sonoran deserts until we finally hit the coast. Still, the temperature gauge remained steady at about 1/4 of its range, typical of Ford engines from that period even at speeds approaching 90 MPH on hot, nearly deserted Mexican highways.

The Mustang seemed to be lighter than air with twice the power compared to the much heavier Galaxie. What a great car it was, and it too ventured into Mexico but only as far as Guaymas. A friend and I decided on a whim to drive down there for lobster dinner from Santa Barbara where we were staying for part of the month of August in 1978. Just one of the fun memories the Mustang helped to create. I sold it in 1985 when I knew it wouldn't pass a smog test anymore. I had been given my uncle/godfather's '68 Cougar (coppertone with off-white vinyl top and matching leather interior, nicely appointed, including the tilt-away steering wheel and had low miles), so it was time to let the Mustang go. I saw it on the freeway some years later. I recognized the license plate the the twin blue and gold stripes down the side. I saw it yet again more years later, but it had finally received a repaint in the same shade of white and the stripes were gone. Crazy in a metro area of over 1,500,000. It's probably still out there somewhere.