What started as a bid to buy back my first car (1966 Mustang Coupe) ended in the purchase of a fairly rare 1966 Ford T-5. While researching on craigslist to find cars in comparable shape to my old Mustang, I found a listing for a 1966 T-5 (German Export Mustang) with a 289 2bbl, a 3spd trans and disc brakes. The car ran, moved, stopped and was fairly close to being a driver. After my bid to buy back my old car was turned down I turned my attention to the T-5. My wife Jessica and I went to take a look at it Friday night and it was a solid foundation for a project so we bought it! We hope to get it back on the road with a little work and slowly do a driving restoration on it. It will probably never be a concourse car.. but we wouldn't really enjoy that anyways.
I know its history for the last 12 years, and its got some stories yet to tell. 12 years ago it was bought for its owner by her husband as a birthday present. It was taken to a shop for restoration, and a few months later the owners husband died. About this time the shop owner found his true love... cocaine and snorted all of her money (along with the money he made from selling some of the T-5's parts) up his nose. When she realized what was going on, a group of her late husbands biker friends convinced the coke head to release the car. They also painted it (Grabber Blue) for her to keep it from deteriorating any further. Then it sat for 11 years. She tried to sell it last year, but the only real offer she got was from a gentleman who wanted to make a drag car out of it. She Declined. We bought it for a little less than asking price, with the promise that we would take care of it, and stop by to give her a ride when it was finished. Seemed fair enough...
So immediate plans include a new gas tank, fuel pump, exhaust, and brake rebuild as well as fluid change and lube job. That should get her back on the road. We hope this fall to start in on the restoration work.
bookmarked.
my wife would LOVE that car.
I've been a huge fan of early Mustangs all my life and I can only recall seeing one T-5, and that was about 25 years ago.
I can see that it has a real export brace and no Mustang emblem on the fender. Does it still have any of the other T-5 stuff on it, like the gas cap and horn ring?
In reply to Woody: It still has its Kilometer cluster with it on a box ( mph cluster in the dash) it has its factory export brace as well as a T-5 I.D. Plate on the d/s shock tower. Unfortunately all the other T-5 specific parts are long gone. I have found Reproductions of the horn ring and gas cap which are affordable. The only set of fender badges I've found are $2400.00 for the pair. I am going to try to make my own reproductions of those.
In reply to Mad_Ratel: Thank you sir! Hope we don't let you down.. ;-)
I don't have the time invested that you do waiting for this guy to unload his parts car, but someday I might.
In reply to 914Driver: Is that a T-5? If so, do you have any info on it?
Well she is home safe and sound! All tucked away in the garage. Mother nature tried her best to keep it from happening (Snow... Really????) But honestly everything went smooth. We even picked up a new gas tank for it on the way. We hope to get some time in the shop soon to start cleaning her and making a list of things that need done to make her drivable. I did have one oddity already pointed out. The car has disc brakes and a brake booster. Power disc brakes were not an option on the T5 (mustang) back then. It looks like someone added one or the other using 60's vintage parts. Oh the stories this girl could tell. :-)
As with any project, this one is going to be a one step forward three steps back. Looks like we need to fix wiring as nothing works at the moment. Lots of splices and enough P.O. loving to give me nightmares... Lol speaking of nightmares, the seats on early mustangs bolt in from underneath through access holes in the floor. Discovered last night that someone patched the floors by welding a piece of plate in... That covers those access holes. On the plus side, it's been confirmed as a real T5 and I found a lead on another past owner yesterday.
Awesome car!
I have never heard of a T5... is it a Mustang T5 or just a T5?
While you sort out the wiring, keep in mind something that old can be hot-wired in less than 30 seconds. It's fairly easy to do..
fujioko wrote:
Awesome car!
I have never heard of a T5... is it a Mustang T5 or just a T5?
It was just called a Ford T-5. The name Mustang was copyrighted in Germany by a company that built trucks. Ford removed the word Mustang from the car, but not the horse emblems. There were a few other changes as well. They all had the same DSO code (District Special Order) and all got export braces under the hood. I don't think they could have spinner hubcaps. I don't remember if they were sold anywhere beside Germany as T-5s. Most of the ones that are here probably came home with servicemen.
I don't know if they have any production numbers for the T-5, but this car is probably a lot rarer than a 1966 Shelby.
Woody Nailed It. Thank you sir!
The Mustang was exported throughout Europe. It was only known as the T5 in Germany. Everywhere else it retained the Mustang name. DSO codes started at 91 I believe, and went progressively up as the production run went on. My car has a DSO of 95 a do its sister cars. On the exports brace, if you look at the cowl bolt spacing on a T5 they are evenly spaced. ( also the same on a REAL Shelby.) Aftermarket export braces have a 2 and 2 pattern that matches the factory cowl brace bolting on a US car.
US Spec car
T5/Factory Shelby
Production Numbers for the 65/66 T5 are non existent. Ford had storage issues and dumped all of its data for those years. The production number is guessed to be less than 1000 cars/year 65/66. My car looks to have been a German Civilian car of which there were 624 registered in 1966. It is one of 98 still known to exist (world wide) today. By comparison, there were 2380 Shelby Mustangs built in 1966.
In reply to sanyarcosean:
I'm curious: Does your car have the reinforcement piece for the export brace welded to the cowl like a Shelby?
Also, there is a noticeable difference between the factory export brace and the repros. The original is much nicer.
Thanks Woody,
...well 'ya learn something new every day.
So here is dumb question...Why did they put an export brace on exports? What was so special about exports that required this brace? keeps the car from bending in transit? 
I've heard that bending in transit was part of it, as well as uncertain road conditions in other countries.
When I was a kid, there were about seven or eight years when all I thought about was early Mustangs.
I would assume bending in transport may have had something to do with the export brace. I know that in addition to the export brace these cars also got stiffer springs, bigger sway bars, better shocks (Koni) and in some cases GT steering boxes. Basically, they were given the suspension mods that the Shelby's got. (without the control arm relocation) This was said to be because of the road conditions in Europe. I wonder however, if it had anything to do with a review of the Mustang in issue no. 17/1964 of Auto Motor und Sport. They were given an early US production 65 and hated it. In their review they said "Our judgment upon our first impressions: A mass production box - put together without any further thought, but with a superb torquy and powerful engine.
We would not have written a test-report here, if Ford had not calmed our criticism, that in this form no Mustang would be delivered to Europe. They told us that the 65 model would be the first model to be imported with a lot of improvements. In general the so-called heavy-duty-version will be the only one available in Europe. Features of this will be improved brakes, much stronger springs and more adequate shock absorbers. None of these was yet available, so we had to be content, with what we had."
I stopped in my shop for a minute last night and took a look at the Export Brace. It does indeed have the additional support on the cowl, like the Shelby.
You can read more about the T5 at First Mustang Club of Germany
Were you actively seeking a T-5 when you bought this car or was it just a happy accident?
Woody wrote:
Were you actively seeking a T-5 when you bought this car or was it just a happy accident?
I have loved Mustangs since I was in High School. My first car was a 1966 coupe, 289 4bbl 4spd. I've owned 9 or 10 so far. I can remember reading about T5s but never really thought about buying one. Heck, in 30 years I had never seen one in person, until about a month ago. When I sold my first Mustang back in 1986, a friends father bought it. It has sat in his garage mostly untouched (it got new quarters and paint around 1987)ever since. I got a message on Facebook from my friend asking if I wanted to buy my old car back. I was asked to make a reasonable offer for it. To do so I researched local craigslist looking for comparable cars. I made my offer and it was rejected. At that point I started looking at some of the reference cars to possibly purchase. That's when I noticed one of them was listed as a German export car. It was well within my price range, my wife and I went to look at it. So honestly, it was a happy accident. :-)
Picture of my first Mustang the day I sold it in 1986
i love learning new things that i never knew i wanted to know
Got to spend a little time with the T5 today. Installed the gas tank and fuel filter and cleaned it up a little bit. Also got it running. it was the first time i have heard it run. Sounded pretty good if I do say so myself. Also looks like it is the original motor. (or at least a 289 of the same vintage). I am basing this on the intake casting number as well as the fact that it had its original button top fuel pump installed. While installing the tank I found evidence of old school traction bars. When my wife Jessica got to the shop we took it out for a quick spin. its not road worthy, but it made it around the block under its own power.
Kilo Speedometer
Traction Bar Mounts
First Start up
First Start up
Got to spend a little time in the shop this weekend. Pulled carpet and worked at getting the front seats out. At Some point in its life someone patched the floors under the seat area and covered the access holes to get to the seat nuts. I measured and cut new holes, but everything is a rusty mess in there. I couldnt get the nuts to budge. I may just leave them for now and deal with it when I replace the floors. It looks like I'll be buying some sheet metal in the not to distant future. Honestly for its age and the amount of care I think it got the last 12 years it isn't all that bad. Also took it for another quick run up and down the Alley. ( We need to keep the cobwebs blown out ) :-) Jessica and I are heading to Spring Carlisle Next Friday, hope to find a set of bumpers and some other odds and ends so we can get her street legal again.
