1966 Ford Mustang 289 Coupe

This 1966 first generation Ford Mustang has a 4.7 litre V8 ‘289’ engine, an auto ‘box and a reassuring low mileage (52,000 miles).

We think it’s a good ‘un.

The vendor (who drove the car from Cheltenham to our HQ in Abingdon and said it drove perfectly) bought the car in 2015 from a chap who had imported it from sunny, salt-free California some time earlier.

The vendor’s father-in-law had the car for a year or so and used his skills and experience as a military engineer to do any necessary fettling, tweaking and refurbishing. Hence the scarcity of bills and invoices.

Judging from the excellent condition of the car today, it’s safe to assume that he knew what he was doing.

The vendor used it as the wedding car for his own nuptials. Apart from that, he’s used it for a few trips to his local pub and reckons he’s probably done no more than 500 miles in the car since buying it.

We have driven this splendid car and can report that it goes like an angry steam train, that it handles, starts and stops perfectly well, and that it makes a noise that causes people to leap into hedges, run for cover or look to the heavens for evidence of an approaching storm, a squadron of Chinook helicopters or perhaps an exploding supernova.

It is a thunderously Wagnerian in both tone and volume.

The merest blip of the throttle in this 289 ‘stang tears the air apart with a sonic assault that sounds much like someone gargling ball-bearings while submerged in a vat of treacle.

We say ‘someone’.

We mean Brian Blessed.

This is a handsome car and it presents very well. The chrome work, trim and badging are all mostly fine, although there are a few spots of foxing and the odd dull bit here and there.

The wheels, too, are in good nick and have held up well over the years with only a few tiny spots of corrosion. We think they would clean up pretty well if shown the right products and a moist chamois. The matching tyres have plenty of life left in them.

The vibrant red paintwork is very fetching and, from a range of about 5 metres, looks excellent.

Get closer and you’ll see a couple of flat areas and one or two patches of rough application. These flaws, though, are all pretty minor and, to anyone who’s not deliberately looking for them, would be hard to spot.

There is some micro blistering on the bonnet and on the n/s C pillar.

There’s also a small bubble on the white stripe at the bottom of the driver’s door.

The interior is really good and it’s a thoroughly satisfying place to be. It is gloriously and authentically of its era, not least because of the perforated steering wheel spokes that look for all the world like Elvis’s sunglasses.

The upholstery is in top condition and the seats are comfortable and supportive – words rarely used to describe the seats in cars that are 55 years old.

The overall aesthetic is very much a black and chrome thing. It’s a purposefully macho, no-nonsense, simple, tough interior.

It’s like an automotive version of Lee Marvin.

The carpets, door cards and roof lining are all good, as are the dials, steering wheel and auto-box shifter.

The surround to the instrument panel could do with a bit of spit and polish.

As far as we can tell, all knobs, levers, switches, toggles and button do what they’re supposed to do. The temperature gauge, though, is currently refusing to do its duty.

The driver’s side rear window drops down very slightly and the mechanism feels as if it might be skipping a few teeth on a cog somewhere.

The inside of the engine bay is a treat to behold, with its giant air filter and splendid 4.7 litre ‘289’ V8. The vendor believes that all is as it was when the car came over from the States. Everything appears to be present, correct and in its right and proper place.

The undersides of the car are pretty clean too, with only a superficial bloom of rust dust visible – thanks, no doubt, to decades spent under Californian skies, where people rub salt around the rims of margarita glasses rather than chucking it all over the roads.

The gearbox was completely stripped and rebuilt by the previous owner in 2015.

The current owner has changed the oil and fitted new brake pads as and when necessary. Given that he’s done 500 miles in it since 2015, it won’t have been necessary very often.

This car has less history than Clint Eastwood in any of the countless films where he turns up at some desperate, fly-blown town inhabited by terrified Mexicans, wearing a poncho and chewing a cheroot.

We don’t think that the lack of history matters very much. These are simple, honest cars. There’s nowhere to hide any bad news. And this one seems to have a great deal of mechanical and aesthetic integrity.

The car doesn’t have a current MoT certificate, and while it is exempt by virtue of its age, we would strongly encourage the new owner to have the car re-MoT’d at the earliest opportunity. The cost of an MoT certificate is a small investment when offset against the purchase and upkeep of any classic car, and it gives an independent, third-party assessment of the car’s condition, which not only provides reassurance to the owner (and any subsequent purchasers) but might also be invaluable in the event of a bump when negotiating with the police and any interested insurance companies.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

Iconic is a woefully overused word, particularly in the world of classic cars. But no-one could deny the original Ford Mustang’s eligibility for that title.

It was a game-changer for Ford, it brought muscle-car thrills to the masses for not much more money than they’d been forking out for considerably more boring vehicles in the past, and it encapsulated the youthful vigour and optimism of the 1960s.

And this is a great example of both the marque and the model.

All it needs is a service and the same kind of TLC it’s evidently been receiving for most of its life.

And did we mention the noise it makes?

Mercy.

We’re confident that this is worth between £19,000 to £25,000 of anyone’s money.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular array of parts is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.