Posted on 05/15/2020 3:11:12 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Know of a cool barn find or have one of your own? Tell us the story and send photos to hotrod@hotrod.com
Yes, this is fundamentally a feature about a rare barn find 1966 Mustang fastback, but as the headline suggests, there's a whole lot more to its story. If you just came to see the car itself and want to know exactly how good of a barn find it really is, we'll get the specs out of the way first: It's a factory A-Code 1966 Mustang fastback with the 289 ci V-8, four-speed top loader transmission, limited-slip rearend, and, if the pictures are to be believed, it was originally painted a rare burgundy with white racing stripes. Oh, and the current owner, Steve Hachenberger of Hamilton, Montana, picked it up for $8,000.
Now that the hard facts are out of the way, it's time for the fun part of the show, the 1966 Mustang fastback's story. We'll start way back at the beginning. According to Steve, the A-Code Mustang was purchased new for $2,750 back in 1966 at Center City Ford, a dealer in San Diego, California, that went out of business in the early 1990s. Does that dealer name ring a bell?
Yup, Center City Ford was the dealer whose owner was indicted in a murder plot and charged with hiring two hit men from Mexico to kill an ex-salesman. Yeah, that really happened and we found the original Los Angeles Times story reporting on the event from back in May of 1991. Apparently, the owner of Center City Ford had been ripping off a substantial chunk of commission from his salesmen on every new car sale. One of them, a longtime family friend, ended up suing in the mid-1980s and the owner was looking at close to 3 million in reparations. So, what did he do? Allegedly, he went south of the border and hired two hit men from Mexico to end the life of his old employee and supposed friend. Someone should make a movie about this.
A bit of a tangent there, but it was just way too interesting not to mention. Back to the barn find 1966 Mustang fastback. After driving the car for a while, the original owner made a deal with his brother and sold him the car. There was some issue between the two of them regarding payments on the Mustang, so the original owner demanded the car back.
He finally got the '66 Mustang back, but it didn't run now, even with only 41,050 miles on the odometer. After attempting to find the issue, the original owner took the Mustang and stored it somewhere out in the Mojave Desert where it remained until 2005. Then, the Mustang changed hands once more to another gentleman in the San Diego area who, shortly after acquiring the car, moved to Hamilton, Montana. The new owner obviously had high hopes of getting the 1966 A-Code Mustang back on the road because he installed a brand-new set of wheels and tires on the car. But, again, he had no luck in getting it running.
This is where Steve comes into the story. In 2019 Steve got a call from the wife of the owner who, he learned, had just passed away. "The price," Steve told us, "$8,000." Looking out for the woman's best interests, Steve said, "I asked the owner if she was aware of what these things were going for right now. She replied, 'I don't care I just want the car out of here, and I know you will take good care of it. '"
When Steve took possession of the 1966 fastback Mustang it still only had 41,050 miles on it because no one had been successful in getting it running. "I replaced the fuel tank, carb, battery, and fluids; still it wouldn't start," said Steve. But then he found out why, telling us, "The reason goes way back to when the car was recovered from the brother that returned the car. It seems that out of anger he cut the fuel line to the fuel pump and taped up both ends." That was it! A spite-filled sabotage job that would have taken two minutes to enact halted this A-Code fastback at 41,050 miles for well over three decades.
Just a couple days after finally getting the Mustang running, Steve was halted again. This time it turned out the number one cylinder rusted and developed a leak because it sat for too long with water in the engine and no antifreeze. He found a '68 Mustang 289 block as a replacement and was able to reuse the old cam and heads. And now, just a year later, Steve has the barn find 1966 fastback Mustang looking good and driving once again, finally ready to move the odometer past 41,050 miles for the first time in over three decades.
A friend of mine has a red one like that.
Not as prim and polished.
Roadworthy last I heard.
When my Uncle Junior went off to Vietnam, he put a red 69 Boss Mustang up on blocks in Great Granddads barn.
I don’t know what ever became of that car.
Does any part of this sound familiar?
“When Steve took possession of the 1966 fastback Mustang it still only had 41,050 miles on it because no one had been successful in getting it running. “I replaced the fuel tank, carb, battery, and fluids; still it wouldn’t start,” said Steve. But then he found out why, telling us, “The reason goes way back to when the car was recovered from the brother that returned the car. It seems that out of anger he cut the fuel line to the fuel pump and taped up both ends.” That was it! A spite-filled sabotage job that would have taken two minutes to enact halted this A-Code fastback at 41,050 miles for well over three decades. “
Fishy
Troubleshooting checklist:
1. Is gas getting to carb
2. Is there a spark
I remember the first one which appeared in my home town. It was a white six cylinder 3 on the floor. It seems like it was $2350 but I could be wrong.
It was purchased by the owner of the local hamburger hangout.
I know a barn that’s hiding a 65 Mustang. My brother in law has it in his mom’s barn. He hasn’t even looked at it for 25 years.
My son lives there and took the cover off a while ago. Said it needs a pretty full restoration.
I know where a 1956 F-250 with a 292 V8 is located. Last time I saw it, it was up to 5,000 miles. It is a work truck owned by a very large Summer retreat.
It had been used to carry fire equipment for most of it’s life but was a welding truck last I knew.
The most surprising thing to me was the original tires were still on it. Looked almost new. It was always kept in a large garage/storage building.
“It seems that out of anger he cut the fuel line to the fuel pump and taped up both ends.” That was it! A spite-filled sabotage job that would have taken two minutes to enact halted this A-Code fastback at 41,050 miles for well over three decades. “
There must have been so pretty dumb people working on that car if they could not figure that one out for so long. Any one with any diagnostic ability would have figured that out very quickly.
Gas?
Spark?
Vroom,,,
.
Yup I used to
Work around cars.
It’s becoming a
Lost Art,Sadly.
I hope he kept the original engine block. The bad cylinder can easily be re-sleeved, and then the car is 100% matching numbers
So the guy down the street put a ping pong ball into the gas tank. No problem, until you were low on gas. The ball would cut off the fuel line, the engine would die, the ball then freed up and the car would start.
The owner of the car noticed the issue, but could never resolve it, though we saw that he was working on it a lot. Finally put the car up for sale and my neighbor got it at a decent price. He did have to pull the fuel tank to fix the problem though.
I agree - it doesn’t take an expert mechanic to understand that you have a fuel delivery problem if you can’t see/smell gas when the engine is cranked. My brother overhauled the engine in his Ford tractor which, when he was finished, would not start. Remembering one of my old mistakes, I checked and he had failed to install the small insulated washed under the points in the distributor. After installing the washer, the engine started immediately.
I’ve forgotten most of what I sort of knew and sometimes did.
Granted I was never a top of the line auto mechanic and I am good in some areas but lacking in others.
The latest case is the 65 Willys worn out steering box. I sent it off to be rebuilt. It looks like more of an art form and given the quality of aftermarket parts, I don’t know if I’d trust the box.
I’m glad there is a rebuilder crowd in AZ. The box goes out tomorrow.
The only thing holding it together originally was the column being bolted down.
It about fell apart when I got it on the vise.
The first few clips will give you an idea.
https://www.shutterstock.com/video/search?contributor=Tyson+Neil&sort=newest
We went and knocked on the door to inquire about the trucks...
"I don't want to talk about it."
We guessed it was a son that did not come back from 'Nam.
15 years later the the property was bulldozed, along with the 2 trucks.
A Church is there now.
Put a Steering box
On a ‘61 vw, back
When I was in Scottsdale!
Built Baja Bugs galore.
Loved ‘em.
Mostly I’m a wire guy
on Vehicles,
Mechanics love/hate me.
My Vehicles ain’t saying.
I had 2 of those in ‘76, both black. Both stolen. One right off of Ft Bragg in ‘79. I paid $1200 for each off a used car lot.
1968 Ford put 302’s in instead of 289’s. A 302 into a 66 would require motor mounts and much more. Really a silly thing to do.
The 289 was(is) a much groovier deal.
Weird article.
Yes I’ve had quite a few over the last 60 years.
It happened a lot.
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