For as long as I can remember, my father has owned a 1965 Ford Mustang GT—yet I don’t believe I’ve ever been in the car while it was in working order. I asked him about it every chance I had, though not as often as I would’ve liked.
In mid-August of 2025, my father listed his home in California for sale. With little notice, he asked if I’d like to take ownership of the Mustang and find a way to bring it home. Fortunately, my lifelong friends had organized an off-road adventure in Moab—about halfway between my home and where the car was kept. I quickly replied, “I’ll take it,” and explained my plan. That’s where my story of ownership began.
The 1965 Mustang:
The vehicle was originally purchased and registered in New York by my great-grandfather.
My father inherited the car when he was 17.
“The same age that my mother’s brother, Andy, who was passed away from an injury in a hunting accident. When my grandmother (grammy) was killed, my mother was the executor of her estate and gave the car to me. It was worth about $700 at the time. I only worked at Sea World for one year – my senior year at Point Loma High School. I drove the car to work for much of that year, but also rebuilt the 289 during that time. It was great to have input from guys who had years of mechanical experience, working on Sea World hydrofoils, cable cars, Vietnam Huey helicopters, race cars, etc. I was making about $2.50 per hour there!”
“I swapped in the manual transmission while at Cal Poly, a year or two later. You’ll probably be dropping in a modern drive train which will need its own pedal set, so the old clutch pedal will go anyway. You might find a specialty shop (like I did for my Jeep) that makes adapter brackets for mounting modern parts in the old car. If not, I know of a place that makes custom vehicle parts. If you need that, remind me about my colleague Simon’s custom motorcycle parts.”
“I put it in the back of a 24’ U-haul truck in 1983 to haul it from SoCal to Virginia. It was still road worthy at the time. I did drive it a few times in VA, but probably not with babies in it. Lap belts in front seats and none in the back!”
Before I was born, my father replaced the stock 289 small-block V8 with a larger 302 small-block V8. Around the time of my birth, he began a full engine rebuild, replacing many of the internal components. He had even considered removing the hardtop and converting it into a convertible, but that project never came to be. Work consumed more of his time, and his home life was undergoing major changes.
In the early to mid-1990s, he moved to Europe, leaving the car unattended in my mother’s garage for several years, where it suffered various “tortures” at the hands of myself and my siblings. Eventually, it was moved into storage—where it remained for at least a decade—before being transported to his home in California. Still, he was unable to find the time to work on it.
After nearly forty years of stagnation and relentless questioning from his sons and family, he finally agreed to pass ownership of the Mustang to someone who could bring it back to life. When he asked, I didn’t hesitate. I agreed to make the nearly 3,000-mile round trip to retrieve the car and begin the rebuild process.
It’s my hope that this blog serves as a record of its full restoration and resto-mod journey—a chronicle of effort, patience, and the rediscovery of a family legacy.
The Mustang Project 