Some cars are bought as appliances and some are bought as dreams. This 1965 Ford Mustang convertible, currently up for grabs on Hagerty Marketplace, was firmly the latter. According to the seller, it was ordered new in late 1964 by his father, a Pan Am pilot who decided the brand-new pony car was a worthy trade for his aging 1949 Chevrolet.
For decades it stayed in the family. The seller recalls how he and his brother would occasionally fire it up and sneak it down the neighborhood stretch of road, careful never to break the 35-mph limit. Eventually, though, the Mustang went quiet. The tires browned and cracked, mice moved into the engine bay, and the car settled into a long sleep until it was pulled from the garage in 2014.
What followed was a resto-mod that turned the mild-mannered six-cylinder cruiser into a proper driver. A 289ci V8 with an Edelbrock carburetor went in where the original 200ci inline-six once lived, backed by a Borg-Warner T10 four-speed manual with a Hurst shifter. Power steering, front disc brakes with a Wilwood master cylinder, a five-lug conversion, and 15-inch U.S. Mags rounded out the upgrades, along with a rebuilt rear axle, refreshed suspension, and a sorted cooling system.
The cosmetic story is just as detailed. In early 2025, the car was taken down to bare metal and refinished in a shade matched to its original Prairie Bronze. With the factory color no longer available, the body shop cleverly matched a windshield post that had been hidden under chrome since 1964, ultimately landing on a 1984 Chrysler Gold Metallic (K16) that is still obtainable should it ever need a touch-up. The seller estimates roughly $50,000 sunk into the project over the years.
Offered with a clean California title, restoration documentation, the owner's manual, and a heartfelt backstory, this convertible is being sold out of Portola Valley, California. As of this writing the high bid sits at $20,000 with several days left on the clock. For a first-generation Mustang convertible with genuine one-family history and a sensible suite of upgrades, that looks like a lot of car for the money.
See it here on Hagerty Marketplace.