Barn Find 1966 Mustang Convertible
Frequent finder and Barn Finds reader Marc G. sent in this intriguing find from the unusual sounding town of Bee Cave, Texas. It’s listed for sale here on craigslist for a price of $2,500. That might be a bit ambitious, but as we all know pricing on craigslist is always negotiable.
The car actually looks pretty solid in the few pictures we have. The seller doesn’t go into any details about the find apart from that they believe it’s a 1966 convertible and that it has no title. We’ll explore what it is and what it isn’t later on in this post. At first I thought the brown was surface rust, but I’ve since decided it’s a layer of primer applied over the metallic blue paint that was on the car. It looks like there is some minor rust in the rear quarter panel from this shot, but as with most vintage Mustangs, until you check underneath, there’s no telling what rust is really there. However, if the corrosion really is that minor, this car should certainly find it’s way back onto the road.
The car appears to be fitted with a Ford inline six-cylinder engine, probably the one it came with. Let’s explore that further, because the seller has been kind enough to include a picture of the VIN plate.
This is one of the many reasons I love the internet! Given the information above, by going to a site like this one, we can find out exactly how this car left the factory — and even which factory it was produced in! And if you want to go further, you can pay for a Marti report — but here’s what we now know: The convertible was produced in San Jose, California, on May 19, 1966. It was originally painted Tahoe Turquoise and was fitted with an Aqua standard interior. The original engine was a 200 cubic inch, 120 horsepower inline six connected to a three-speed manual transmission and a 3.20:1 “Equa-Lock” differential. It also went to the Denver district sales office. How about that! Would you like your garage to be the next place this restorable convertible goes?
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Comments
If that was local I would snap that up. Can’t find Mustang convertibles that aren’t rusted in half for that price very often.
Unless it has been wrecked bad at one time or full of bondo I think it is great bones to start with at a reasonable price.
my grandma had one of these but it had some weird options like a tilt away steering wheel and a 3 speed with convertible. and it was green on green with white convertible top.
There won’t be a Marti Report on this one since it’s a ’66. Only ’67-later for Marti’s.
Thanks, Todd, I didn’t know that!
Looks like it might be a Sprint 200. Chrome air cleaner, brake cyl cap, and oil cap were chromed. Would need a good donor car for seats, deck lid, etc. but looks like much of it is there. Go for it since it’s a convert
Where are you seeing chrome??
What chrome???
I’ve just asked the offeror a lot of rust and title detail, I will keep this thread up to date.
He never answered my email, so I will assume those bones had osteoporosis.
Clearly didn’t want to answer questions in writing, about rust and title.
PASS!
WOW! What a steal!
John – should be a sprint indeed, as it also doesn’t have the cove stainless – Sprints didn’t have them.
The three speed manual is underbuilt even for that six cylinder. Had one rebuilt once and the only guarantee the guy would give me was that “you’ll be back!”. It was easy to R&R though. Light enough that I could just rest it on my chest under the car. If I was going to stay with a straight 6, I think from ’73 on up, the 6’s and small block 8’s shared the same bolt pattern for the bellhousing. I’d get one of those and put a T-5 on it. There’s some parts out there to hot it up, but they tend to be a lot more expensive than 8 parts.
Owned a body shop for 12 years. I don’t know why people use primer, thinking it will protect the body. Primer is porous and will let moisture seep through. I see evidence of bodywork on the quarter panel, rust on the floor pan, and the headlight bezel could mean fender damage/replacement. No deck lid? And no title? No sale.
Ad is deleted so looks gone already.
Agree that it looked like good bones for a rebuild.
Is he going go pay me that to tow it to a wreckers ?
Of course you would need to inspect the underbelly well,but if its never seen salt and the rust belt I’d be tempted. Friend of mine bought a 67 convert from California,paid big for it and transported from cali to New Yawk state. it was a California car but was originally from the east coast rust belt.complete rust bucket including the fresh air plenum.
Good luck to the new owner!!
Dang…to many arm chair quarterbacks….oh – that should be – too many keyboard builders….oh…gone already ?
Bought one only slightly better than this for $2500 with 120,000 miles in 1984, drove it till the original transmission and a used transmission gave up at 150,000. Put in a junk yard 302 and close rato top loader, disk brake front and rear, added original 15×7 torq thrusts, drove it another 50,000 then sold to a guy for $6,000 who shipped it to Norway to restore…he said it would sell for $25,000 to $35,000. Still wish I had it back.
The car looks in a restorable condition dependent on route one wants to take of original or retro mod etc.
The good news is with so many made that getting after market parts is affordable and easy to obtain. Whom ever buys needs to check door alignments to see if sag and frame rails etc. The early six bangers had four bolt wheels and not sure in 66 etc. The v8 approach would swap rear end and add disc to five lugs anyway!
I have restored much worse cars like the one currently owned . Let’s just say me and my welder installed quarters,rails, torque boxes and floors etc. I rebuilt engine and drive train and interior prior outsourcing paint. Then adding Shelby tail lights, side scoup and Shelby trunk for fun .
These mustangs were built with cheap thin metal and earning the nickname “rustang”!
I got a red 66 mustang convertible new top 139k automatic 6cyl manual steering and brakes new seats and carpet good body clear title 15k and its yours
@Larry – Please consider listing it here on the site: https://barnfinds.com/sell/ Thanks!
Original sixes aren’t worth restoring anyway. at least not in this shape and you’ll need a title. and no one wants a T code v8