I’ve have a '65 convertible mustang for the last 15 years, about 10 years ago I started restoring her to “pretty”, she was campaign beige with cream and green interior and I wanted a fire engine red pony car. I got about 75% of the way done and now it’s time to finish (or start re-restoring again), do I restore back to the original or continue along with my red and white pony dream? Thanks.
Are you worried about selling it and getting top dollar or do you just want to enjoy it? I’m a fan of doing what I like and not worrying about originality. Then again, I could care less about the resale value of my classics…
Edit: I should have added- if possible, I don’t do anything that isn’t reversable and I save all the original parts in case I croak and someone else wants to put them back the way they were. Paint/interior is relatively easy to change.
My vote: Go Red and white.
25 years ago I restored my first car (1953 Pontiac 2dr coupe). I went with the original 2 tone green paint scheme. It came out good. But every time I looked at it, I wished it was blue.
A decent color change is a nightmare and VERY expensive to do…If you MUST HAVE a red one, trade yours for a factory red one and save yourself a lot of grief, not to mention money…
It depends whether you paint under the hood, in the trunk, and in the door sills. If everything is red and it’s an authentic Ford color (not neccessarily Ford paint), then enjoy the new paint. BTW, did you put the white interior in yet? If you did, is it hitorically accurate? If not, any red you like will do. Depending on the engine and transmission, it could hurt the value a lot by customizing it. If you’re into that kind of thing.
I kind of lean towards Caddyman’s advice about a possible trade if you must have a red one. Altering a straight original old car is against my religion and the only way I would go with red on your car would be if it was a gutted shell and originality was not a factor. Since it sounds like you have a near complete car in the original colors I would say leave it as is.
Thanks everyone - I appreciate the input - I’m currently on the fence on selling it, I don’t really drive it any more (it was my daily driver for about 8 years) but I love owning it. There were two Ford reds in 65 for the Mustand and both of them are on the orange side of red (Rangoon Red was the darker of the two) The interior was custom mail order (if there is such a thing) so it’s predominatly red with white insets above the running ponies…I had to order the seat buns as well so I could have the pony interior…Since my original attempts at restoration were done about 10 years ago, I’ve lost the original door insets, but that is about all, everything else, including the radio, is either original, original repainted/re-covered or I still have in the trunk. (And by original, I mean when I bought in in the early '90’s) Maybe I’ll haul out the vin # and see what I’m really dealing with… Thanks again for all the help.
Some confusion on my part. I was under the impression the vehicle was currently beige.
Since it’s not then I’d say go ahead with the red and white pony dream.
Pretty decent looking little sled there.
If you’re ever looking for some obsolete parts you might keep Classic Auto Parts in mind. (Oklahoma City, OK.)
They specialize in old Ford stuff and used to be named Obsolete Ford Parts until FOMOCO dropped the hammer on them for copyright infringement some years ago.
I drool every time I walk in that place; especially over their 64 Thunderbolt.
Thanks OK4450,
We’re in Dallas, so OK City is not too far…
I did only post the pictures from the “good” angles, since she was a daily driver, I concerned myself with her mechanics first, she has a re-built 8 cylinder 289 (same as she came with) with less than 5,000 miles, straight body and frame, little to no rust, sounds like a dc10 at idle and diesels like crazy when you turn her off. Add to that her incredible lack of power steering, the complete and total absence of anything remotely resembling saftey equiptment and the “rare” front disc brakes from 1965 (you say rare, I say expensive) and I admit it, I have a real honey of a play car. And that’s why I’m conflicted on selling her.
What color was it from the factory and what color is it now??? It looks RED to us…
Ok, I get it, you painted it red 10 years ago…That having been done, it’s never going to be worth big bucks…So just drive it…
It looks great. Drive it on weekends or on those really nice days when losing the top is a must.
Most classic cars are only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. If you plan on keeping it forever, why bother worrying about resale value?