The first Mustang coupe Ford built heads to auction

FoxNews.com ^ | Nov 20, 2018 | Viknesh Vijayenthiran

[ETL]

An original Ford Mustang billed as the first hard-top example is coming up for auction. It will go under the hammer at Barrett-Jackson's annual sale in Scottsdale, Arizona running January 12-20, 2019.

This is a 1965 Mustang coupe bearing a VIN ending in 00002, meaning it comes after the 1965 Mustang convertible with VIN ending in 00001 currently sitting in The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

Both of these were pre-production examples. (Note, the famous 1964½ model year was only unofficially applied after sales started to differentiate the earliest '65 Mustangs from later versions that received some updates.)

There’s always been a bit of controversy surrounding the identity of the earliest Mustangs, as Ford never kept precise production records and the earliest cars weren’t built in sequential order. This means no one really knows for sure which Mustang was actually the first off the line when production started in the early months of 1964.

That said, it’s safe to say that this Caspian Blue example is the first Mustang coupe, given its early VIN and numerous features that only pre-production Mustangs came with, such as the straight shift lever and prototype sheetmetal stampings and welds. Ford has also acknowledged that this is the first Mustang coupe. ..."

While we may never know which Mustang was actually the first to be built, we can say with confidence which was the first sold to the public. That’s the 1964½ Mustang convertible bought by Gail Wise on April 15, 1964—two days before sales officially started.

[Kommodor]

I’ll take the red one, tyvm...

[VietVet876]

I used to have lots of fun on the freeways in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s. My roommate’s father in law had a 1970 Porsche 914-6, yellow with black vinyl top. Steel wheels, totally stock appearing. Except the motor was built to road racing specs with six Weber injectors, a roller crank and hot cams producing about 300 h.p. with a redline of 9,500. We used to take it out on the I-5 north of San Diego to exercise it. We would be cruising in the slow lane about 70 when invariably some Mustang, Camaro, or Datsun Z Car would pull up and the driver or passenger would make the universal “let’s race” sign. So my buddy would give the thumbs up and smoothly shift the Porsche from 5th to 3rd which was about 5,500 and when both cars took off, the other car would reach about 100 and then my roommate would shift into 4th and wind it out to 130-140 in a couple of seconds and the opponent would fall back into the right lane never to be seen again.

[shotgun]

I got into a race with a 280Z on I-10 just west of Phoenix in 1981. I was coming up on 100 mph in 4th, but the Z was pulling away. So I slammed it down into 2nd, tached up, back to 3rd, then 4th all in less time than it took to type this, and was GONE! That Z never had a chance...

[ETL]

"By 1979, with minor problems to the carburetor and 15 years of Chicago winters eating through the floor, the Mustang stopped running. It got pushed into the garage, a problem to be solved later.

“I kept telling myself I would fix it next week, next month, next year,” Tom says. 

Instead, the baby blue elephant remained in the garage. As their four kids grew and space became a precious commodity, Gail encouraged Tom to get rid of it. Instead, he built an addition to their two car garage and made it his retirement project in the early 2000s.

The rusted-out shell was restored, the interior was remade all to the original factory settings, and 20 months later, in late 2007, the Mustang appeared the same as it did when it left the factory. “I’m the type of guy that puts everything back the way it was,” says Tom, who has always been a car guy."

[KevinB]

Chick car.

[TexasGator]

“. I was coming up on 100 mph in 4th, but the Z was pulling away. So I slammed it down into 2nd,”

hmmmm.....

[shotgun]

Yeah, it really happened. Don’t ask me how it held together, but it did. Definitely took it to the red line.

[TexasGator]

“Yeah, it really happened. Don’t ask me how it held together, but it did. Definitely took it to the red line.”

Shifting down to 2nd at 100 mph would greatly exceed the red line and you would have no acceleration.

In fact, most likely you would have caused the rear wheels to brake resulting in a high speed crash!

[Hot Tabasco]

VIN ending in 00002, meaning it comes after the 1965 Mustang convertible with VIN ending in 00001

Huh, I wonder how he figured that out????

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yep. There’s a whole lot of kids that don’t appreciate precious things, usually when things are GIVEN to them.

I saved my $ all through Army Basic, saved up a whole $700, then went to my Grandpa to ask for a LOAN of $700 to buy my first car; a 1971 Baby Blue VW Bug. $1,400.00. (I was 19; 1979)

I was good about paying him back, and when I had paid him $200, he tore up the IOU and said, ‘I just wanted to see if you’d be good for the money, and you were.’

Excellent lesson. I had that car for 5 years, drove it from WI to CA, then traded up to a pick up truck so I could move myself back home after a few years. It was still a beater, but it was MINE, LOL!

It wasn’t until I was 50 years old that I bought myself a ‘new’ vehicle; and that was a 2008 in 2011! New to me. :) I learned a LOT about fixing cars, and amazingly, for the beaters I was driving, I was never in an accident and never stranded somewhere in the middle of the night.

Valuable lessons that kids aren’t learning these days.

[Disambiguator]

That looks like the “Home Alone” neighborhood.

[ought-six]

Beautiful.

[shotgun]

Sad but true. My stepson would always asks me how I know how to fix everything. I told him by watching my dad, or learning from other folks at what ever job I was working on, and by using my head to figure stuff out.

The kid is 20 now and can’t fix anything, let alone try. Every time I looked at him when we were working on something he was playing with the tools or the parts. He still can’t figure out how a tri-square works or how to use a 2 foot level. He will use the end of the level instead of placing the 2 foot flat side on the material regardless if it is vertical or horizontal.

[Boomer]

I’ve got the 281ci (4.6L) in my 99 GT. Has a nice growl with the stock pipes and mufflers but I just dropped it off at the shop to get a Catback exhaust installed to give it a more aggressive and deeper sound. Hope it isn’t too loud though. There are some generations I just didn’t care for; mostly in 70’s. I had a 70’ with a 351C that was sweet too. I miss that car. This 99’ will just have to be my car toy for now though. New exhaust: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76PR1NmMUgw&feature=youtu.be

Honestly though, if power was what I was looking for, I’d probably opt for a Camaro with an LS 350. Late model’s are putting out crazy horsepower. Fortunately I don’t feel the need for that level of go-fast so my little 99’ will do.

[FreeReign]

The rusted-out shell was restored, the interior was remade all to the original factory settings, and 20 months later, in late 2007, the Mustang appeared the same as it did when it left the factory.

It does look like it was a rusted-out shell.

New replacement parts for a '65 Mustang are easy to get.

At some point, it's just an all new car except for the vin number.

I prefer survivor cars with original parts.

[CommerceComet]

The original Mustangs have aged well - that is still eye candy.

[mabarker1]

Thank You for the Post.

Pony Ping!!!

[Chode]

yeah, right...

[Chode]

i loved the old T/A days when everybody produced a T/A spec engine so it was all apples to apples

now there’s no two engines the same displacement so there’s no true comparison

[shotgun]

Okay so you were in the passenger seat... I know what I did and what the car did. Your wrong on both accounts. You’ve never down shifted to increase RPM?