looked at a 65 A code vert today. could use some opinions

positives-fantastic 10 footer, paint is okay when you get up close. no cowl problems, dumped some water, none went inside the car. frame rails, wheel wells, trunk look awesome, tiny bit of surface rust on the rails but 95 percent with no rust at all. original 289 auto, runs like a dream. took it out for a drive, shifted fine, accelerated well, no weird noises. new suspension, the ride is quite nice. engine looks amazing, the engine compartment was newly detailed and painted, seriously, for being 43 years old, the engine looks great. power top works well.

negatives-big ones first, floor boards are toast. they were soft and there were a few spots on the driver's side towards the frame that you could see through from the bottom. passenger side door has dificulty closing because there is some bowing in the frame, its visible that where the front passenger quarter panel meets the passenger side door, there's about a quarter of an inch inwards (i.e., its not straight). bondo on all quarters near the wheels (bondo work looks reasonable, not great). needs a new interior, including seats front and rear, carpet, and dash, interior door panels, etc. driver's side door takes some work to get it to latch. outer passenger side door handle doesn't work, but the inner one does. convertible top has a couple slits in it.

guys, i don't really know what to do. part of the problem is that i don't know what to expect. i unfortunately wasn't able to get anyone to go with me today (i had work to do in the area so stopped by afterwards just to see it) and i don't know if i'm expecting too much for a 40+ year old car for 10k. any opinions given the above? i brought a camera but the damn thing ran out of batteries about as soon as i hit the power button. let me know what you think, depending on your advice i may or may not go back and snap some pics to post, although you can find general pics here http://route31hotrods.com/65mustangconv.html.

thanks in advance.

 

Price seems a little high if you ask me and it needs a lot of work. There is no telling what is under that paint. Mine is a 66 coupe, it was free. BUT when I started tearing it down to metal, there are a lot of hack patch panels and about a 1/2 inch of bondo over the wheel wells. See what others say but that is my opinion.

 

thanks pokertramp, after thinking about it more, the only thing that is keeping me from buying it is the apparent frame issue. the passeneger side door was rather difficult to close and the owner saw me inspecting it and said "the frame is bowing." i have read up on this a little, and it seems this is not an uncommon problem with the v8 verts, but i'm now wondering how much its going to cost to fix it.

i'm prepared to fix the pans and the interior, but the frame maybe not so much. any one have any experience with this problem?

 

If the car is sagging that much then the inner rockers are probably shot. They are the main strength in a ragtop. That is not at all uncommon on them. Check the top of the frame rails under the upper control arms. Dirt tends to build up there cause rot you wont see without some cleaning but this is an easy fix if the problem exists. I would get under the car with a flashlight and really look around and see what else you might find. Better now than after you bought it.........

 

Theres like 3 289s made it don't say which one it is so that can make it worth more or less but if the floors that bad id talk them down to 6 grand to 7 10 is too much for me for a mustang with rust problems.

 

can't say at all from experience,,but I'd call a body shop? and ask what's involved and how much,,just an idea

 

I nearly bought a 68 convert once that looked OK. Someone offered more than me. I helped him load it on a ramp truck with a cable. The door popped open and the car collapsed, to the point he could no longer close the door. Be careful. I just have a coupe, but looked at alot. I got excited at a few and passed because of rust and eventually found mine for little more money and no rust. I would say be patient, there are alot out there. This one to me seems fishy. Good luck

 

andrewmp6, its an A code. thanks for the advice everybody. i'm going to call the body shop and see what they can tell me. i think the best advice i've gotten is to get a body guy to come with me to look at the car, so i guess thats the next step.