Ford Mustang 289
Ford Mustang
Owned by Quentin Willson (@quentinwillson on Twitter) Time owned Six years Latest/total mileage 670/116,875 Latest costs £830 Previously Fitted and tuned rebuilt carburettor, new tyres and period-correct seatbelts (April 2018)
I’ve surprised myself at how many jobs I’ve ticked off on the Mustang. The stock drum brakes were particularly perilous given the V8’s liveliness, so changing to a set of front discs had always been high on my list of life-saving priorities. In the States, conversion kits are cheap at around $350 (£255) but by the time you’ve paid shipping and customs duty getting them here they cost more like $700 (£510). Luckily online I found a Mustang enthusiast in Bradford selling a new unused set for £250. The ever-helpful Craig at my local Kwik-fit had them fitted in an afternoon and 64 MUS now stops safely. If you care, the conversion kit is made by Stainless Steel Brake Systems in New York, looks just like the original Kelsey Hayes factory option and is a breeze to fit.
On a roll and with time on my hands, the same online auction site yielded a new reproduction original-spec brass three-core radiator for £200, a new water pump with bigger impeller for £30 and four KYB gas dampers for £80. I knew fitting these wouldn’t keep Craig busy for more than a morning so I also treated 64 MUS to a new set of period-correct but reinforced cooling hoses with the Ford logo, some 1964-dated tower hose clamps, a fan shroud plus a complete fluid service.
The gas dampers were a revelation and have transformed the ride enormously and the bigger rad and improved pump have lowered the V8’s temperature in traffic so the needle always stays rock steady at a quarter-gauge. Mechanically the car is pretty strong now but it still needs two new doors, door internals and hinges – all of which I’ve bought but haven’t got round to fitting and painting.
In the middle of this flurry of activity I spotted another early Mustang convertible for sale in Texas for £25k. Mine was built on the 7th June 1964 but this one was built on the 12th March, three days after production at the Dearborn factory started and a full month before the historic April 17th launch. A nice older restoration with very probably some early pre-production features, I dithered too long and it was snapped up. Convincing the family that we needed another Mustang didn’t go well, but I really should have put my foot down because survivors from the first batch of 200 Allen Park prototypes hand-built in late February 1964 can make £150k.
Still, it’s good to know that you can stumble across these seminal very early Mustangs for reasonable money. I have this strange premonition that one day I’ll buy an extremely early example and all this will have been just a rehearsal.