First Inspection

The first inspection was done when the car was home. It seemed to run fine. I was astonished of the nice silent sound it had, espesially with the top down. The VIN code was easily decoded:

Year: 5 1965
Plant: F Dearborn, MI
Body Series: 08 Convertible
Engine: T 200 1v I6

Body: 76A Convertible, Standard Interior
Color: R Ivy Green Metallic
Trim: 28 Lt. Ivy Gold Crinkle Vinyl, Standard Interior
Date: 23A January 23, 1965
D.S.O: 11 Boston
Axle: 2 2.83:1, Conventional
Trans: 6 C4 Automatic

To my knowledge, the only options chosen by the first owner were the C4 automatic transmission and the AM radio. In the windshield I found a sticker of the inspection done in Massachusetts for year 2007. Had the pony lived there all these years ? It had around 92.000 miles in the odometer. If this was all, it would mean an average mileage of only 2.000 per year. That's not a lot. I am not sure what kind of climate there is in MA, but it is not California anyhow. Maybe there are only a couple of sunny summerdays yearly. Or had the car stayed in the backyard for years since the owner passed away in the 80's ? Then someone bought it, fixed it, painted it red and sold it to the swede. I started wondering the story behind this car. Was this car bought as a present to a high school graduate girl in '65 or to an elderly lady. Somehow I couldn't figure a ferocious youngster driving an ivy green six-cylinder.

I replaced the sealed beam headlights with H4 type to meet the local legislation, had the car registered and fixed some minor things for the coming season. I made a couple of interesting discoveries. Under the rear seat I found patches made of twisted plate, pop-rivets, bondo and a top of a tin can (of asparagus, I assume. Someone did not like it and hid the can under the seat).

The other discovery was rather nice one. Obviously the other (the AM radio) of the two options had broken down in '99 and the owner had visited Antique Radio Service in Bedford, MA and bought a repaired one. This and the name and address of the customer ( I'll call him Tom ) could be read in the shop receipt which I found behind the glove box. Antique radio shop had antique type of receipt form which helped me to track the previous owner.

With the help of Bedford Town website I was able to find out that Tom still lived there and with the help of Google Earth I could even take a look at the street where Mustang used to live. I wrote Tom a letter asking him to tell his story about the Mustang. Tom replied by email a few weeks later. He had purchased the car in April of '96. He promised to come back with more info later, but unfortunately he hasn't. Was he the man that hid the asparagus ? So, Tom , if you're out there , please mail me.