Mustang Newbie
 

I'm looking at buying my first mustang, not haveing much experience with classic cars I'm not sure how much I should be spending for it. My wifes brother(I guess that would make him my brother-in-law) is selling his 64 1/2 coupe with an I-6. the body is in OK, shape, but the paint is oxidised pretty badly, it's also not the original paint(it's red, it used to be white). it has been sitting outside the last two years, and has not run for 10 because of electrical problems. There is also a tear in the uposltry, and the hub caps are missing. He is asking 6000, I think he's nuts, but I was wondering what a suitable price was. i was thinking3500-4000, if that's wrong, how much is a reasonable price?

thanks in advance
bob

Welcome to the wonderful world of trying to price old cars. The problem is that it is worth what someone is willing to pay and how long the seller is willing to wait. That being said, I think your price is more in line and in fact for a car with electrical problems that dosen't run, I would go lower. I was thinking $2500-3000. Do some looking around first. You don't have to jump at the first carrot that gets dangled in front of you. Remember they made over 2 million of these cars between 64 and 68, there are still a bunch out there.

Important points to consider are originality, if you are going to keep it that way you want something fairly complete to begin with, if not then original is no big deal. Second, rust. If it has holes in the floorboards or the shock towers are leaning, I would pass for a better car. How much work are you going to do on the car VS how much to have done? My best estimate on bills are to double what you think it will cost, add half again as much and you are in the ballpark. Do you want a V8 car or are you happy with an I6? There are substantial differences between the two. The I6 can be converted fairly easily, but with lots of parts.

Pick up some books and do some reading first so you get a better idea what you would like to get.

Good luck, hope you get what you want.

I'm going to agree with thunderbolt. What you described as the condition of the car and what T-bolt said about price matches closely what I purchased and it's price. I have a '66 coupe that was off the road for 18 years and mostly garage kept until the last 2. I got it valued for purchase around $2500-3000. Even though it's a '64.5, the value isn't much higher than a '66 from all investigating I did. The one + I had was that the engine runs good.

Since I am currently going through a similar restore, let me tell you possible things that may be issues that I was warned of (or ran into). With the car sitting for so many years without running, there was concern with the engine seals having dry-rot, so the engine will leak when running (I was lucky to not have this problem - at least noticable yet). Brakes and brake lines should be checked. I need everything replaced. Tires may have dry-rot or have "flattened" from sitting (not sure what they meant). Tires are cheap. I was told Fuel pumps commonly have problems when cars are left sitting. Mine was replaced. I also needed a new fuel tank (old one was rusted out)

You mentioned interior damage. The drivers seat on my 66 is ripped, and the carpet stinks. I am redoing the whole interior myself for about $600 for everything, including new seat cushioning. While I am cautious about doing some of the initial mechanical work, this is one thing I feel confortable doing. I am lucky that the body doesn't have a lot of rust, but I will be re-painting the car at some point as well. Make sure you are not rusted through. Make sure that where the suspension connects to the body/frame isn't rusted out as well.

I would not worry about the color not being original. Decide for yourself what you want to do. Chances are, you'll have the paint removed anyway when taking care of the rust, depending on how extensive it is. Anyway, it's better to start with a clean slate than to paint over paint (i.e. don't go to Earl Sheib for $99 unless you dont care!).

Thunder and Bigbad are both right in the ball park. I'm just finishing my 70 conv and believe me all the little things add up to big$$$. Tand thats not even counting the big ones. For 6G's it better have no rust, which any Mustang owner will tell you is next to impossible. Need no bodywork, and run like a top. I dont know about where you live but a decent paint job around here runs at least $4000. Add that to the price of a new interior, and you can see where this is going $$$$$ Unless you dont worry about money do your homework when buying a car to restore and shop shop shop around. Good luck!