plainsmen

Indy Pace Car for sale on Ebay

Better check your garage! [sm=icon_sneaky.gif]

Soaring

Stupid me, but I would have thought there was only Indy pace car built for each year back then. The ad says 185 1965 Pace cars were built. I don't remember there being 185 Nascar races during the 1965 year even if they use a new one for each race. What gives here? Who is scamming whom?

66 Hardtop 5.0

Credit for the following information goes to The Indy Pace Car Registry.

The Pace Cars
Three 1964 1/2 convertibles were built with the sole purpose of pacing the 1964 Indianapolis 500. These three cars were sent directly from the factory to Holman & Moody in North Carolina to be specially modified for pace car duties. These modifications included extensive work to the 289cid engines, the installation of a Borg-Warner 4-speed transmission, and lowered suspension with differently valved shocks on each side of the car to accommodate the banked turns of the Indianapolis Speedway, and high-speed rated tires. The cars were all painted Wimbledon White. On race day only 2 of these cars actually made the parade lap, as the third ran into mechanical difficulties. The fate of these three specially built convertibles is unknown, but there have been rumors that one of these cars is now in the hands of an MCA judge. However, at this point the Registry has not been able to confirm that this car is actually one of the original 3 pace cars.
In addition, thirty five convertibles were used as dignitary cars during the festivities of the Indy 500. Due to a shortage of Mustangs available from the factory, these 35 were pulled from dealer lots to fill the need. All of these cars were D-code cars (289 cid V8, 4-barrel, 210 hp) in Wimbledon White with either red, white or blue interiors. After the race these cars were auctioned off to dealerships and absorbed into the general population, instead of being made available for sale as special edition cars. Unfortunately, the location and identity of only one of these convertibles is known today.

The Replicas
Ford put on a special competition between dealerships in order to distribute the planned pace car replicas to be released for sale to the public. The competition consisted of "Checkered Flag" and "Green Flag" contests that were based on the sales performance of the dealerships prior to the April 17, 1964 introduction of the Mustang. The top five performers in each district would receive a pace car replica for free, or at a significant discount, based on their final standings in the sales contest. With 36 districts this added up to 180 replicas, however, because of dealership ties and strong performances, approximately 10 extra replicas were made, bringing the total to an estimated 190. Representatives from the 105 winning dealerships were invited to Dearborn for a special celebration, where the keys to their replicas were handed over by Mr. Lee Iacocca himself.
Each of the replicas were coupes painted in Pace Car White (paint code "C" for 64 1/2) and had white interiors with blue appointments (code "42"). The cars were equipped with the 260 V8 engine, power steering, rear back-up lights and automatic transmissions. Other identifying features of the pace car replicas include pace car blue racing stripes up the center of the hood and "Official Pace Car" decals along the sides of the car. The words "PACE CAR" were written on the radiator support with a grease pencil of some kind, and then later painted over. The center stripes did not get placed on the taillight panel around the gas cap on coupes, but they did on the dignitary convertibles. Apparently some cars did not have the decals installed at the dealership, and due to a press photo showing a prototype with the stripes installed to one side rather than down the middle a few cars ended up with the stripes in this incorrect location.
Another interesting fact with regards to the replica cars was the lack of outside mirrors. Standard procedure at the time was for cars to be delivered to the dealerships with the outside mirrors placed loose inside the car. When the car was prepped by the dealership the mirrors were then installed. However, the pace car replicas were not delivered the same way as regular Mustangs... the Checkered Flag cars were retrieved by the winning dealers from Dearborn, and the Green Flag cars were retireved from the District Sales Office by the dealer. This meant that these cars did not end up with an outside mirror.

The VINs of the cars are sequentially numbered, but the DSOs reflect the dealerships that they were sent too. All of the replicas were built in April, except for the extras mentioned earlier that were built in May, and given a DSO of 84 ("Home Office" designation).
Credit for the previous information goes to The Indy Pace Car Registry.

sdgrant

Most of that text from the Indy Pace Car Registry is true (I should know, I wrote most of it). However, these statements are false:

Holman & Moody prepared the engines, but a private company in Dearborn did the rest of the prep work for the on-track cars.

The VINs of the cars are NOT sequentially numbered. My registry has a low 5F07F112566 and a high of 5F07F123722. The confusion comes about because there are several sequentially numbered Pace Car coupes within many DSOs. For example, Denver's DSO (51) has sequential units 113920, 113921, 113922, and 113923. However, the fifth Pace Car from the Denver DSO is not in that sequence (114799). On the other hand, San Jose's DSO (72) shows four completely non-sequential units (112566, 113396, 113402, and 114176).

Soaring

So Steve, is your coupe a replica since it is not a convertible?

sdgrant

Hehe, thanks for the heads up, but it's not mine. That's originally from the Salt Lake City DSO, and I have it's VIN in my registry. It's a nice example, but a long way from being concours:

Stripe color is off
Decal kit is the cheap repro with 2 single-color "MUSTANG" decals instead of the more expensive, correct single 2-color letters
Missing back-up lights
Most body panels fit poorly
Shouldn't have rocker panel moldings
Shouldn't have outside mirror
Has CA-only closed emission system - not on DSO 73 car
Shouldn't have "260" decal on air cleaner
Missing generator shroud
Wrong radiator cap, brake fluid cap
Shouldn't have orange boots on spark plug wires
Cheap-o aftermarket trunk mat - should be splatter pattern burtex
Trunk interior should be body color, not spatter black
Missing luggage strip on driver's side wheel housing
Incorrect chromed '65 door lock *****
Kick panels missing 2 screws
Incorrect larger transmission T-handle
Incorrect rounded-corner door sill plates

And that's without even getting underneath the car where most of the concours work shows. However, it is a true and genuine PC coupe.

sdgrant

Depends on your definition of "replica". I don't consider it a replica because it is exactly how it left the factory. Therefore, it is a unique and special model on its own, not created or modified aftermarket to replicate something else. Yes, the PC coupes were created by the factory to simulate the on-track convertibles, but I don't believe that makes them replicas.

Soaring

OK, so your coupe was never used as a true pace car, where it led the Indy race cars around the track. Is that right? Excuse my ignorance. I am learning something here. BTW, we tried desparately to contact you to enter your pace car in the ROTM contest, but you were not available.

sdgrant

Thanks for trying to reach me about the ROTM contest, that's flattering!

No, the car used on the track for the race was a highly modified convertible. The coupes were dealer sales contest prizes awared to winners of a sales contest during the month of April, 1964.

Soaring

Thanks for that clarification Steve. We can all gain knowledge from your clarifying this.