Ford Announces 1965-1966 Mustang Convertible Licensed Body Shells

by Michael Satterfield

Ford has been teasing us for a few months about releasing a new Mustang body, we were hoping for a new 65-66 Fastback. But we got the Convertible that will be unveiled at the SEMA show next week. (Photos from SEMA will be posted next Friday)

The price for your own brand new 1965-66 Mustang Convertible body??? Around $15,000. At first glance that sounds like a good deal for a brand new 65-66 Mustang. However, that is literally just the shell. That includes no glass, trim, seat frames, fuel tank, lines, hoses, mounts, wiring, etc... it is just a shell.

The thing is...you can buy a nice driver 65-66 Convertible for around $20,000 so the value here escapes me. In the real world, outside of the Pomona swap-meet and Barrett Jackson, these cars trade hands all the time for around $25K or less.

Even if you want to build an extreme custom it would make more sense to buy a driver and start from there. You can buy a complete car for $13-$20K and that is going to include the seat frames, trim, headlight buckets, suspension, brakes, rear end, wiring, top frame, and everything else.

We went on several popular Mustang websites and if you bought the 95% of the parts for the car new you will spend about $65,000 to build a standard 1965 Mustang Convertible, not including the price of the shell. That's $80,000 just to start, plus paint, any labor that you can't do yourself, you are easily looking at spending over $100,000 to have a $25,000 car.

Don't believe me that you can find a nice classic Mustang for around $20K??? Here is what $20,000 dollars will buy you in a 1965-66 Mustang Convertible, these are all live ads on Craigslist as of the time of this writing.

$20,500 in Southern California

This nice little 6 Cylinder car for just $13,000 in Southern California

$19,000 in Southern California

“The 1964-66 Mustang is the most restored vintage vehicle. But the number of original 1964-66 vintage bodies is shrinking every year,” said Dennis Mondrach, Ford Restoration Parts licensing manager. “Most of the original Mustangs left in scrapyards are rusted or wrecked beyond repair. The new body shell is made of virgin metal and uses modern welding techniques. It comes rustproofed, and after final adjustment and finish preparation of the body panels, it is ready for painting and final assembly.”