Joe Fitzsimmons' 1965 Ford Mustang Convertible
The first-generation Ford Mustang (1964-66) debuted in April of 1964 and was priced at $2,368, or about $19,760 in today’s dollars. I think it would be fair to call the Mustang an accidental success, as the original plan was to sell 100,000 a year. But the first-year sales were more than 400,000 units and 1 million within the first two years.
The Ford Mustang idea is credited to Lee Iacocca, who was fired some years later by Henry Ford II. Iacocca became the hero of the near-bankrupt Chrysler Corp. starting in 1978. The Mustang was never planned to be an exotic car but more of a small “sporty” economical car using as much of Ford’s existing engineering as possible. The smallest Ford car at that time was the Falcon, so the Mustang and Falcon shared many of the same components. In fact, the first Mustangs were built in the same plant as the Falcon. Car model years usually start in October, so the very first Mustang models were available for the second half of the model year, and these now rare models are referred to as “1964½ Mustangs.”
The original offerings were a notchback coupe and a convertible with a 108-inch wheelbase and 181.6 inches in total length, the same as the Falcon. Although much was the same between the two cars, much was different, starting with the proportions. The car’s popularity and notoriety certainly must have caused panic at Chevrolet and Chrysler and soon that segment of the market was referred to as the “pony car” segment.
There were a number of engine options, but the standard engine was a straight-six rated at only 101 horsepower. The most popular engine was the 289-cubic-inch V8 that could be teamed up with a three or four-speed manual transmission or with Ford’s automatic transmission. The car had a very attractive interior with either front bucket seats or a front bench seat. There was a rear bench seat, wall-to-wall carpeting, a floor-mounted shifter, a full headliner and a sports car-type steering wheel. In that short 1964½ model run, a total of 121,538 Mustangs were manufactured.
Not so surprisingly, the 1965 model run had very few changes. The biggest was the addition of the fastback model, which later became the basis for Carroll Shelby’s GT350. There were some engine changes, dropping the small six-cylinder model and adding power to other engines. An alternator replaced the generator, and fancier interiors were offered, including one with running horses on the seat back. Business was fantastic, producing 559,451 Mustangs for that first full model year.
About 30 years ago, Concord resident Joe Fitzsimmons was working as the fleet manager in a Ford dealership. A man came in to trade his 1965 Ford Mustang convertible for a new car.
“The way I remember it was a guy came in, and they gave him a stupid price of $300,” Fitzsimmons said.
Fitzsimmons was standing outside the dealership when that owner said he thought he should get at least $500 (about $1,020 in today’s dollars) for the car.
“I said, ‘I’ll give you $500,’ ” Fitzsimmons said, and the deal was made.
