1966 Ford Mustang for sale $17,900

This bright 1966 Mustang coupe wears a recent paint job thatandrsquo;s fairly close to Silver Blue, which was on the original color chart. It shines up beautifully and someone spent some extra time to give it a professional cut and buff, because thereandrsquo;s almost no orange peel to be found. You donandrsquo;t find that very often in cars at this price. You already know this isnandrsquo;t a perfect car, but it sure looks good at a glance. You could tweak the fit of the trunk lid and a few other little items to really take it up a notch, but the basics are all quite good. You also get bright chrome, traditional Mustang emblems in all the right places, and cool andlsquo;351andrsquo; badges on the front fenders, perhaps a bit of a warning to the unwary when they roll up next to this heavy-hitting little coupe.

The black standard interior is very much the way Ford made it back in 1966. The low-back buckets are comfortable, the carpets look fairly recent, and the no-frills attitude that made the Mustang a slam-dunk for Ford is on display here. Thereandrsquo;s been a considerable investment in new rubber and weather seals, so the car is solid and quiet inside, and weandrsquo;re guessing that thereandrsquo;s more under the carpets and in the doors, because this coupe is more solid-feeling than many weandrsquo;ve driven. The gauges are standard Mustang fare, joined by a white-faced oil pressure gauge on the steering column to monitor the most vital of all functions. A digital AM/FM stereo radio slots neatly into the center of the dash, obviously built just for this application, and powers a pair of big 6x9 speakers on the rear package shelf. A center console is a nice addition to the coupe and it hosts a 3-speed manual shifter that slots neatly through the gears. The trunk is neatly finished with a reproduction mat and a full-sized spare, and youandrsquo;ll note there are valves for the rear air shocks, so the ride height can be fine-tuned.

Thanks to the wonders of Fordandrsquo;s Windsor family of V8 engines, the 351 cubic inch V8 slots neatly into the early Mustangandrsquo;s engine bay. The most obvious change is the HEI ignition system and its big distributor cap with built-in coil, but beyond that, it looks like thousands of other Mustangs running around today. Thereandrsquo;s an Edelbrock 4-barrel carburetor topped by a chrome air cleaner that matches the valve covers, and the block has been dressed in proper Ford Blue paint. Itandrsquo;s been properly tuned because it starts almost instantly with no special techniques needed and settles into an even idle very quickly. Out on the road, the extra displacement is quickly felt in the form of endless reserves of torque, making the lightweight coupe feel very quick as you run through the gears. Long-tube headers bolster that torque curve and while we werenandrsquo;t fans of the side exhaust initially, we sure canandrsquo;t argue with how awesome this car sounds. This is not a meek and mild Mustang coupe!

With all that torque on tap, the three-speed manual transmission is plenty adequate and it shifts quite nicely. Clutch action is smooth and progressive, and itandrsquo;s almost impossible to stall this car, no matter how clumsy you are with your left foot. Out back thereandrsquo;s an 8-inch rear end hanging on original leaf springs assisted by those air shocks I mentioned earlier, and we believe there are 3.00 gears inside, making this an easy highway cruiser. Those aluminum Centerline wheels have an old school race look that works well on the coupe, and theyandrsquo;re wrapped in staggered 195/70/14 front and 235/60/14 Hoosier radials.

This cool Mustang coupe gets the basics right, and thatandrsquo;s why you want an early Mustang. Itandrsquo;s fast, agile, reliable, and even comfortable, all