Ultra-rare Mustang for sale in the US
A rare first car has hit American auction house Mecum – A 1965 Ford Mustang with the serial number 00002. The car is recognised as the first Mustang hardtop to receive a vehicle identification number. The 1965 Mustang contains a restored 170 CI six-cylnder engine and a three-speed transmission, with 13-inch wheels. The car, which had 13 owners, was purchased by Bob Fria in 1997, who has since been unravelling the 53-year history of the Mustang. During restoration, Fria found several anomalies in the car, such as prototype sheetmetal stampings and welds, which piqued his interest. After talking with former Ford employees, Fria revealed that approximately 150 pre-production Mustangs were built between February and March in 1964. The pilot vehicles were shipped to the Dearborn Assembly Plant in Detroit for completion. Fria’s Mustang hardtop and a convertible – bearing the serial number 00001 – was intended for a Canadian dealership, Brown Brothers Ford in Vancouver. However, both vehicles were misrouted, and ended up at Whitehorse Motors in the Yukon months later. Very few examples of the 1965 Mustang survive today, and the 00001 convertible is on display at the Henry Ford Museum. The white convertible was first sold to Canadian airline pilot Stanley Tucker in 1964. Ford executives eventually realised Tucker was driving a pre-production model and attempted to buy it back. A year later, Tucker agreed, trading in his convertible for a new model – the one millionth Mustang to be manufactured. The blue Mustang hardtop will go to auction in Indianapolis on May 16.
