1965 MUSTANG
CONVERTIBLE
This was my 65 Mustang Convertible the day we lugged it to our home in O'Fallon, IL. We acquired the car in Liberty, MO in 2001 from my wife's dad. He had acquired the car in 1983 from a local parts store that was going out of business. The parts store had stripped the car to the bone and started randomly sand blasting sections of the car. Pops had new rear quarters welded on and primed for storage. It was one of those projects he meant to find time for, but never did. I acquired the car at a fair price, and with the help of a friend, we brought the car back on two trailers; one for the car and as many large parts we could stuff in there, and another with about 20 apple boxes full of original parts.
Below you'll see how I restored the car.
I spent the next 1 1/2 years restoring old parts to a newer appearance, acquiring bits that were missing, and reassembling the car just as my father-in-law had intended. The car came off the line as a manual 3-speed behind a 200 CID in-line 6. At the end of assembly, I painted the car myself in our garage, building a paint booth out of painter's plastic, PVC pipe and a couple rolls of duct tape.
Here's what the car looked like when I finally had it put together. It was restored to original condition, as noted by the numbers on the car.
In 2005, I took a leap and upgraded to a home built V-8, replacing the auto 3-speed with a manual 5-speed. And if you make it go, you have to be able to make it stop. With the help of internet resources and a genius of a mechanic friend, I used front spindles and disc brakes pirated from a 78 Ford Granada. For the rear setup, I used the rear end and discs out of a 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The carb is branded as an Edelbrock, but is actually a Mopar copy. Let's just say, there isn't much original as the car now sits.
- Lance Martin, DMD
