The 1965 Mustang was a real break-through car for the Blue Oval boys.
‘It was the first fastback Pony, and it galloped away from the notchback at a Kentucky Derby winner’s pace.’
The notchback Mustang was a pioneer in the pony car field, but the fastback really made the design very special.
I can remember the introduction of the fastback ‘Stang from my elementary school days.
Many of my car designs during the large daydream segment of my elementary school days reflected the famous Mustang roof line. I would scribble out my fantasy cars on many pages of loose-leaf paper originally designed for academic pursuits.
The appeal of the Mustang fastback was always with me, although many other vehicles crowded my wish list as I got older and more worldly.
In 1999, I had an opportunity to purchase a 1965 Mustang after my cousin discovered the car about a block from my house. He has always been a huge Mustang guy, so he had the first right of refusal on the car.
He passed on the car, so I purchased the 1965 Mustang as an investment vehicle but, for eight years, I found every reason on earth not to sell it because it was so much fun. Eventually a young guy made me a Godfather offer for the car and it had a new home.
My Mustang was equipped with a heavily muscled-up 289 out of a 1964 Fairlane. It was very fast and it satisfied my need for speed-and then some. One of my magic moments was an incident where I was passed by a late model tuner car on a secondary highway.
The driver seemed smug in a cocky new-tech- four banger-beats-old –school muscle kind of way. He looked less cocky and very surprised when I blew by him at about 125 mph. As a rule, I rarely drive that way at this point in my life, but he earned a moment of humility. For me, it was simply a golden moment.
It is my firm belief that every car guy should own a 1965 Ford Mustang fastback at some point in their lives.
These cars are pure fun and they look great in every crowd-sort of like dating a supermodel.
Jim Sutherland @mystarcollectorcar.com
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COMMENTS
DENNIS:”I had a 65, 289, 4 speed Coupe back in the day. Just another one of many cars I never should have sold. I bought it out of a junk yard for almost nothing. Somebody had hit something like a bug truck with it. It was in very nice shape except for the fact that the area where the right headlight used to be had been shoved back about a foot. The bumper, grille and hood were almost undamaged. It was a “total” because the right shock/spring tower had also been shoved back a couple inches and 65 Mustangs were a dime a dozen in 1969. No big deal, I parked with the bumper up against a partially raised service station hoist and used a block and tackle and torch to straighten the shock tower well enough to be able to align the front end. Then I went to another junk yard and bought a light blue, matching, right front fender and that was it, I never even had to paint it. I traded it in on a brand new “Grabber Blue” 71 Pinto in late 1970″.
JOHN:”there is no substitute for raw power, school the punks…….roflmbo”
RYAN:”haha yeah… I hate those tuners… too bad the Mustang went through a bit of a tuner phase in the 80s and 90s”.
