We found this perfect 1966 Stang for $69,900 on eBay and here’s the description of the listing:
Talk about a wolf in sheep’s clothing! On the outside, this amazing 1966 Mustang convertible looks like a clean, black ragtop with a high-quality restoration, but when you start to look a little closer you notice things like the 4-wheel disc brakes, the 17-inch Torque Thrusts, and the slightly raked ride height. Under the skin, it’s a take-no-prisoners hammer designed to pound anything with less than 500 horsepower into dust, thanks to a 600 horsepower aluminum stroker motor, a Richmond 5-speed, and a heavily fortified suspension. Best of all, it isn’t some Shelby clone with oversized fender flares that will attract all kinds of unwanted attention. No, like all the best sleepers, this one keeps a low profile until it’s time to crack the throttle. By then, you’d better be holding on tight, because all hell’s gonna break loose. Read more and check out the gallery!
The bodywork is a tribute to this car’s overall workmanship, and once you see how good the finish work is, you’ll have no doubts about the quality of the vehicle itself. No Mustang ever came out of the factory this straight, and thanks to that deep, rich paint it has movie star looks that work well with the early Mustang sheetmetal (which is 100% factory original, by the way). At first glance, you might even mistake this for a stock ragtop with an over-the-top paint job, and that just how we like it with these killer resto-mods. The doors fit beautifully, the hood and trunk offer excellent gaps, and the paint has been wet sanded and buffed to a brilliant shine. They say that nothing looks better than black when it’s done right, and this car certainly qualifies. Your knees will get weak when you see this one out in the sunlight.
All the original Mustang trim was retained as well, save for a billet grille up front. No shaved door handles, no blacked out bumpers, just beautifully restored jewelry as the Ford designers intended. It wears Hi-Po 289 badges on the front fenders, perhaps as a nod to its K-code ancestors, but it is not one of the tiny handful of real K-code convertibles built by Ford. The traditional Mustang three-element tail lights are clear and bright, the glass looks new, and even the snaps on the trim around the convertible top are brightly polished. No details were overlooked during the build of this amazing car.
Under that factory fresh sheetmetal, however, you’ll find a horse of a different breed. The engine is an all-aluminum 363 cubic inch stroker motor that cranks out in excess of 600 horsepower. With a single Holley 4-barrel and tons of raw aluminum under the hood, it looks like a full race piece that belongs in a Trans-Am vintage racer, not a street car. There’s an MSD ignition system, billet reservoir for the upgraded power steering system, and a modern serpentine drive system for the accessories, which greatly improves its high-RPM stability. A massive aluminum radiator looks ready for track duty, cooled by a heavy duty mechanical clutch fan. Stepped long-tube headers dump into a custom 3-inch exhaust system with Magnaflow mufflers and give it a snarl that’s ready for the paddock, not the local cruise-in. A new Bendix manual master cylinder feeds new lines and hoses, and all the wiring is fresh.
With that lightweight aluminum flywheel inside a Quicktime scattershield, this one loves to rev, with quick, barking snaps every time you goose the throttle. A heavy-duty hydraulic clutch connects the engine to the Richmond 5-speed I mentioned earlier, and requires a good shove on the clutch pedal to harness all that horsepower. Out back, there’s a Currie Ford 9-inch full of 4.10 gears on a Track-Lok limited slip, and it’s connected by a custom made aluminum driveshaft. If you’re thinking this sounds like a race car, you’d be exactly right. The suspension is also race-derived, with a Chassis Works coil over setup in front, QA1 shocks all around, a Total Control power rack-and-pinion system, subframe connectors, and a set of Competition Engineering Slide-A-Link traction bars mounted on the heavy-duty rear leaf springs. You’ll also be pleasantly surprised to note that the red oxide primer you see on the floors is ORIGINAL, not resprayed, which gives you an idea of how clean this car truly is. The center chassis brace has been modified to clear the 3-inch exhaust system, but otherwise the floor is untouched OEM. Cross-drilled and vented Baer disc brakes live at all four corners, with 13-inch rotors and two-piston calipers up front for steady performance under all conditions. And nothing looks better on a vintage pony than a set of charcoal Torque Thrust wheels wearing 215/45/17 front and 245/45/17 rear BFGoodrich G-Force Sport tires.
The beautifully finished interior may actually be the least radical part of the car. Using original materials and patterns throughout, the seats, carpets, and door panels are restoration pieces that would be at home at the MCA nationals. Acres of Dnyamat have been installed to keep it cool and quiet inside, which is a smart idea any time you have the interior out of a car. The original dashboard has been upgraded with a custom piece full of Auto Meter Phantom gauges, which along with the roll bar behind the seats, is the most noticeable modification. There is no console, but the 5-speed shifter proudly pokes out of the transmission tunnel and wears a leather boot and correctly-marked knob. A new LaCarrera wood-rimmed steering wheel does a great impersonation of the impossible-to-find Shelby piece, and the radio is the original AM unit with an optional 8-track player. Overhead there’s a brand new tan canvas convertible top installed by the experts at RK Motors Charlotte’s in-house upholstery shop. The trunk offers a correct trunk mat and houses the relocated Optima battery.
This is another one of those cars that were a labor of love, not a calculated investment. If you were to set out to duplicate this car yourself, you’d hit the asking price long before the chassis was complete, and you’d end up with over six figures invested once the paint was dry. And while it’s beautiful to look at, this is not a car for the guy who just wants a pleasant little Mustang to tool around in. This is a man’s car, and you’d better bring your big boy pants with you when you climb behind the wheel. That isn’t to say it is difficult to drivefar from itbut the performance will terrify you if you’ve never experienced a true 600 horsepower car before. But if you’re prepared and like the way it looks, I guarantee you’ll love the way it drives. An amazing piece for a surprisingly reasonable price.
