tropical turquoise

this is not a picture of the '65 mustang i owned. all my pics are printed, no digital. but, it is the same oddball color. tropical turquoise. it was a rare, 1965-only color. i'm pretty sure i know why it was rare....

the car was a bit unique for a number of reasons. first, the color. second, it was a 289 4bbl v-8. third, it was a manual 4-speed. fourth, it had white vinyl interior. none of these things alone made it rare, but the combination of all four did. i bought it in the spring of 1987 for $2400. the body was exceptional and it ran well. the interior was perfect.

i wasn't as mechanically confident as i am now, so when i got it home i was disappointed. once the car warmed up, there was tons of axle hop. (i now know that the crappy air-shocks that were on the car to make it ride level instead of low-rider-ass-down position were mostly to blame) it overheated a couple of times in heavy traffic. and, it fell on it's face at high rpm's. today, i would be positively giddy at the prospect of tearing into something so simple as a '65 mustang. even then i remember looking under the hood and marveling at how little there was. the engines in my modern mustangs seem like rocket science in comparison.

the "classic" cars that i have owned:

1965 mustang coupe
1966 mustang coupe (6cyl 3spd, very cool dark blue. slow.)
1968 torino (302 v8, swapped in a 351)

the beautiful mrs. and i would love to have a classic car of some kind to drive around with the kids on sunny days. right now, we don't have the time to waste in the garage with a project car, so it will have to wait a few years. i'm not sure it will be a mustang, though. for the most part, they aren't that satisfying to drive in the early models, at least. and she frowns on the 71-73's that i like. we both like some of the pontiacs and buicks, and even some cheby's. but, that would mean removing myself from the comfort zone of ford. there are thunderbirds and fairlanes, as well as '60's ltd's that we like, too, so i may be able to avoid gm for our classic car fix.

the only real requirement is that it be a good looking car with a v8.

dreamin', that's all.