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I don't want a Mustang...especially one of those "ugly" fastbacks!

Ponyman66

Yak, yak, yak
I'm sure crazier things have been said before, and I'm sure I'VE said crazier things. I just don't recall what they could have been! That's how I actually started my love affair with Pony cars....by hating them!

When my brother and I were very young my parents bought a brand spanking new '65 convertible, which they kept for two years. In 1967 they traded it in on a new '67 convertible. Unfortunately my parents decided that the Mustang was getting too small for a family with two growing boys. Sadly the '67 was traded on a station wagon. No more Mustangs would ever bear my parents name on the title.

Fast forward to my teenage years when my father was working as an insurance adjuster, but painting cars on the side. He did a lot of them for several used car dealers in the area. One of the dealers had a nice garage and my dad was painting one of the dealer's cars in it. While dropping in one night he took me over to a stall with a Vintage Burgundy "C" code '65 fastback. He told me had painted it for the guy a month earlier. He also asked if I was interested in it? That's when I uttered the fateful phrase! Feel free to kick me now.. I know I frequently do! Needless to say, that car never came home.

Several months later my brother got a '68 coupe which he began rebuilding, I ended up with a '68 Olds Cutlass. Since my car only needed painting, which it got, I helped my brother..when we could stand working around each other. The bug slowly started to catch up with me. After a year or so gas prices started to climb and being a teenager, I couldn't afford to keep feeding that quadrajet. My dad found me a '72 Toyota Corolla (with a 1600cc 2TC baby hemi!). It was fun, but still didn't fill the bill. That car stayed around for another year and I graduated. The day finally came when I located a '65 fastback with a 200-6cyl and paper 3 speed. It was pretty rusty and painted up to look like a GT350....why? I don't have a clue!! It was cheap ($800!), and transported me around for another two years. The Mustang need had been filled, but not totally satisfied. In the mean time I purchased several other cars, including a '65 "A" code coupe, a '64 1/2 "F" code coupe (of which I was the 2nd owner!), and a '66 "C" code coupe. I sold the '66 but kept all the others, awaiting the day when they could be "restored". Even though I no longer have ANY of those cars, I'd love to have them back now!

I joined the military and went overseas for almost 2 years. Upon returning to the States I went to NC for technical school. I also had a huge wad of cash. My dad did all the bodywork and repainted my trusty '65 fastback, returning it to it's original Poppy Red. Since school was only 8 hours from home I'd routinely drive in for the weekends. While visiting one weekend I found my father in his own shop repainting an original owner '66 coupe. We began talking about it and he told me the owner told him about another car for sale. It seems the owner's brother had a '66 fastback for sale. The guy described it as having stripes, special wheels, a 4 speed and a fast motor. Now, if you're thinking like I was only one word pops into mind.... SHELBY! I told my dad I was interested and wanted to look at the car. Arrangements were made for one of my weekends home. I sure was anxious for the following week to go by!

We ended up driving to the upper part of the state, right near the SC/NC line. When we got to the guy's house he met us and walked us over to a detached garage. He told me he had TWO Mustangs, a convertible and the "mystery" fastback. He also stated that he had to sell one of them, he didn't care which, and the asking price would be the same for either. He then raised one garage door. It happened to be the door to the stall that the fastback was pulled into. When I saw the rear of the car my heart sank...but only a little! No, it wasn't a Shelby. What I was looking at though was a'66 GT gas cap and exhaust trumpets! He then pointed to the other stall where the convertible was parked. It was nice, freshly painted but still needed color sanding and buffed. As an add "treat" it was all original AND was a bench seat car! I wasn't interested though. ME! The same guy who 5 or 6 years earlier had said he didn't want a Mustang, especially those ugly fastbacks, was now drooling over one!

We checked the car out thoroughly and found only a few small rust spots. The car had been painted in a dark blue/gray metallic color that came from god knows where. It also had all the badges and stripes taken off (yeah, I know, I was TOLD it had stripes!). The foglight set up was also missing and was replaced by a standard '66 front. All the wiring and foglight switch were still there though. Since it was a Metuchen car, it also had the buck tag still under the hood...and that all important PIO stamp in it! A check of the door tag revealed it was also originally equipped with an equaloc rear! WooHooo! An original 4 speed, equaloc equipped, GT fastback! No, it wasn't a "K" code (hey, how lucky can you get?!), and the "special" wheels were actually 14"Magnum 500's, but I wanted that car! We negotiated a bit on the price and when I left the car would be mine if I could raise $2300. Yep, you read it correct! The following week I got a signature loan from the base bank and headed home that weekend with a fist full of Mustang buyin' money! My parents drove me up and we sealed the deal. It even came with a brand new ACC carpet set. You know, back in the day when ACC actually made QUALITY carpet sets!

I drove the car until I finished tech school, after which I took a month of leave before having to report to my next duty station. While at home my dad and I repainted the car back to it's original Silver Blue. We also reinstalled all the missing badges and GT stripes. Unfortunately I wasn't able to locate a foglight set up. The day after the car was finished I packed up and headed to Texas. The car never gave me a single problem the whole trip. It was also the longest single drive I would ever have in that car.

A month after arriving at my next duty station my wife to be followed. We were married several weeks later and we'd frequently ride around Corpus Christi in the car. We'd frequently get folks honking, waving and giving a thumbs up. The wife HATED it! After our first year there she got a federal job on base where I was at. On a rare occasion she'd drive my GT to work. One day she called me at my job from her's to tell me a guy had followed her into her parking lot and offered to buy my car. I told her "NOT ON YOUR LIFE!". She said she told him I probably wouldn't sell it, BUT (yeah,seems like there's always a big but!), I had ANOTHER fastback I'd sell. Yes, that I WOULD sell, not maybe or possibly! Arrrrrgggghhhh! Well to keep her happy I had the guy call and talk with me. Seemed him and his teenage son had liked Camaros for awhile, but then got into Mustangs. He also told me his son had been driving a '66 coupe, but it got totaled in an accident. After talking a while longer I realized his son worked just up the street from where I lived at the grocery store. I'd also seen the car on numerous occasions. He made me an offer I couldn't refuse and I had my trusty '65 fastback transported down from SC. Little did I realize that this was to begin a trend on the wife's part of "pre-brokering" deals on all my remaining Mustangs (of which I had added a few more to the stable), with the exception of one....my GT! It was also the end of my old trusty '65 fastback. After buying it the guy and his son swapped all the v8 stuff from the totaled coupe into the fastback. Several months after that the kid totaled my old fastback. Wish they woulda stuck with liking Camaros!!

Through the many years all of my Mustangs were sold off, again, except the GT. I told the wife, "I've had the GT longer than you've been around. You'll go BEFORE it goes!". And so it was, the GT has stayed with me... fortunately, so has the wife! Even after 26 years the GT still sits in my garage. It was taken off the road many years ago to begin a full resto. Moves, kids, finances all worked against it so it's been a veeeerrrrryyyy slow restoration. I truly believe that in the past few years the wife started feeling somewhat guilty about all of my other cars being sold off. As such she bought me a '66 coupe project car. Brian (Havok1), even helped me pick it up. I am now in a better position to work on the GT, but it has again been sidelined...so I can finish the coupe as a driver resto mod. The GT still remains, patiently awaiting the day it once again gets my full attention. The one car that finally scratched my itch and filled the bill, the car I said I'd never want, the one car I've owned longer than any other car I've ever had! One of those "ugly Mustang fastbacks"! :thu


p.s Shortly after purchasing the GT I was tinkering with it one weekend. Lo and behold, wrapped around the instrument wiring was a copy of a build sheet! I also located markings on the radiator support. Between the two I was further able to document the car being a true factory GT, and had been originally equipped with dual red line tires! Some one had wanted a performance car....just a little too cheap to tick off that "K" code option though!!
 
Thanks for the nice comments. I've got one pic handy. It was taken right before I got in the car to leave for Texas. The Magnum 500's were still on the car at the time. Right now the car is a stripped shell.

2969873500070710241S600x600Q85.jpg
 
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