First-generation Mustang coupes are everywhere, an archetype of the American collector car; heck, I have one that is almost identical to this burgundy 1965 model in my garage. But this one is a little different. It’s a 1965 T5, a model produced for German export because Germany already had a Mustang, a truck produced by a company called Krupp; therefore, Ford simply made a few tweaks and sold the Mustang as its alphanumeric development code name: T5. This one is for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Buffalo, New York, with an asking price of $19,750.
The T5 was fundamentally the same car as a home-market Mustang, but there were a few subtle differences. The seller of this coupe hasn’t posted the door tag, but Mustangs built for export had District Sales Office codes in the 90s, so this car should have a DSO code of 91 or 95. Also, all T5s received the “export brace,” which connected the shock towers to the cowl (Shelby also used it on their GT350). American Mustangs used a flimsier setup, but apparently back in the 1960s, the expectation was that European roads were rougher or drivers would be more likely to exercise their cars in the twisties. Either way, the front end felt a lot tighter with the export brace (also notice that the cowl has a welded-in plate where the brace mounted).
This car has the optional 289, which appears to be the 200-horsepower C-code two-barrel version hooked to a C4 automatic (which was rebuilt 100 miles ago). It also seems to have a new radiator, which is nice for the hot days we’ve been having in the upper tier of states. This one has no power steering or brakes, but honestly, you don’t need them in a first-generation Mustang.
T5s bound for Germany had standard Mustang wheel covers, but the “MUSTANG” script was replaced with this unadorned black center cap. The dual redline tires are a nice touch, but I can’t make out the date code in this picture.
Gas caps were also changed; the “Mustang” around the bottom half was eliminated, leaving only “Ford” on the top of the cap. The trunk looks nice, and it’s even painted in the car’s factory (I assume) Vintage Burgundy. Being a New York car, you’ll definitely want to check this one out for rust, especially since there are no undercarriage pictures. On the other hand, the engine compartment looks very solid for a northeastern car; Mustangs tend to rust at the top of the fender aprons (severely), and this one doesn’t appear to have any obvious rust repair in that area.
Ford also eliminated “Mustang” from the horn ring, but they left all the horse imagery; clearly, Ford knew that German buyers would know that this is a Mustang. One note of interest: Some German T5s had 200-kilometer-per-hour speedometers, but apparently, T5s sold to American servicemen serving in Germany and sold through the military’s PX had speedometers calibrated in miles per hour. Therefore, we can assume that this car was originally purchased and shipped home by an American.
The interior is standard Mustang, with the only major options of note being the AM radio and center console.
Legend has it that Krupp offered the Mustang name to Ford for a fee, and from what I’ve read, it was anything from $10,000 to “exorbitant.” If the former, Ford was simply being obstinate for whatever reason, because tooling up even the minor changes in nameplates would have cost more than that. If the latter, then Ford probably did the right thing. Whatever the case, not too many T5s were sold in the grander scheme of Mustang sales, and they don’t come up for sale often. While this is simply a nice driver, one of probably several hundred “Mustangs” that are for sale around the country right now, it might be worth a little extra simply because of its interesting backstory.
Related Reading
Curbside Classic: 1965 Mustang – Freedom; Starting At $2368 (by Paul N)
COAL Capsule: 1965 Mustang – 26 Years And Counting With My Family Heirloom (by me)
I remember the story of the T5, and how Ford refused to pay the $10K (how I heard it) and thought that this was really stubborn of Ford not to Pony-Up (yeah, I went there) to Krupp for the use of the name.
Now if it was exuberant as you say, then it wasn’t so silly.
Krupp A.G. was a big deal in Imperial and Nazi Germany; they were famous for their steel field guns of the Franco-Prussian War, the Paris Gun of WW1, the 88 of WW2, and notorious for how they treated slave laborers in WW2, so badly that according to Wm. Manchester, even the Nazis were shocked.
Now they are ThyssenKrupp.
All true.
In a great irony, my grandfather, a WW1 infantryman for Germany, would have benefitted from the firing of Big Bertha guns, so named after Krupp’s wife. The architecture firm he worked for as an architect designed a house for the Krupps in the late ’20’s, and he worked directly on that. Didn’t do him much good when the Nazis wanted him gone after ’34, or when he was put in an early concentration camp. (He did get out, just, getting to Australia in May ’39).
It seems the main Krupp was gaga by ’45, but his son was imprisoned for 12 years for crimes against humanity, and had all his property confiscated.
I was aware of the T5 story but not that cars could be bought through the PX. This is quite an interesting find
I find it amusing that back in the day Ford would not pay to use the Mustang name, whereas today, on the car’s exterior there is no indication of the model name, barring some special editions.
People just know it is a Mustang
It’s hard to imagine anyone could find a “reasonable person” who might confuse a Krupp Mustang with a Ford Mustang but trademark law is a funny beast, some jurisdictions stricter than others. In 1972, Ford of England was taken to court by Granada Television after choosing to call their replacement for the unlamented Mark 4 Zodiac a “Granada” but the judge gave the argument short shrift, holding: (1) it was unlikely anyone would confuse a car with a TV channel and (2) neither the city nor the province of Granada in Spain’s Andalusia region had in 1956 complained when the name was adopted for the channel. The suit was thrown out and the Ford Granada went on to such success the parent company in the US also used the name. Ford apparently received legal advice that under FRG (the old West Germany) trademark law, Kreidler AG held the rights to use the “Mustang” name for “two-wheeled vehicles” (ie motor-cycles) while Krupp AG enjoyed the same for “four-wheeled vehicles” with no distinction made between passenger cars and trucks.
So how long did this T5 naming continue in Germany? Did it last through the entire Mustang II era and the Fox as well? I was in Switzerland in 1984 and remember being surprised to see a white, vinyl-topped Mustang II Ghia … and not with US serviceman plates. I know American cars were pretty popular in Switzerland but a Mustang II? I didn’t know to see if it was in fact a T5.
From what I found, they used the name until 1979, when the trademark was again available.
Yes, that’s right, Krupp’s trademark expired at the end of 1978 so from 1979 the Mustang badge was global. Ford did have early difficulties with the FRG registration authorities. When first made available in 1964, the cars were actually standard (US-specification) Mustangs with the required parts in a “T-5 Kit”, supplied in boxes in the trunk, ready to be installed by the dealer. That approach was in the US used for a number of purposes (notably “dealer fitted” high performance parts) but the German authorities weren’t amused and insisted all this had to be done on a production-line, explaining why all but the earliest T-5s were produced in batches.
There’s a T-5 in the German film Rote Sonne (Red Sun, 1970) and, as an early one, it would have been a “T-5”, the badge in 1967 changed to the (non-hyphenated) “T5”, used until 1979 when the last was sold. The plotline of Rote Sonne revolves around four young Fräuleins (Peggy, Sylvie, Christine & Isolde) who have entered into a mortiferous pact to use their charms to lure men into their grasp as a prelude to murdering them. Maybe the foursome had read Valerie Solanas’s (1936-1988), S.C.U.M. Manifesto (1967) which, even today, is still about as terminal as feminism gets (note the jackboots on the cast member resting fetchingly on the circa 1966 VW Type 1). Although criticized as an example of the “pornography of violence”, genuinely the film did fit into the contemporary feminist narratives of the FRG, a place in which ripples from the street protests of 1968’s “failed moment” were still fresh in the national memory. So Rote Sonne was part of the zeitgeist of 1970 and it was in that year the terrorist collective Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Faction (RAF)) was formed; in the English-speaking world it’s better (if misleadingly) known as the Baader–Meinhof Gang.
I remember an ad in Der Spiegel (in the campus bookstore) for “Der Neue Mustang,” the 1st year Fox body. I have to wonder if this was cross-shopped vs. Capri.
I also remember Cadillac Sevilles all over Switzerland when I visited Europe ca. 1978. I got it: a Mercedes there wouldn’t turn heads.
A nice little car and depending on the rust and wear situation, maybe not too much $ .
-Nate
Nice to see one in detail. Yes, American cars exported to Europe almost invariably had suspensions upgraded to the higher expectations there. If you’re going to take your T5 out on the Autobahn or Alpine pass and let her go, American-style suspension settings were not going to cut it.
So funny how cheap the American car companies were. Drive south of Detriot a couple hundred miles and the roads are just as steep/curvy in West Virginia as they are in Switzerland. Go out west to Nebraska, west Texas, Nevada, etc and the roads are arrow straight for miles with less traffic than the autobahn.
Wonder how much the “export brace” added to the cost of the car. $20 maybe? A shame the domestic version didn’t get it. Reminds me of Chevy’s last second elimination of a $12 roll bar on the early Corvair. At least Ford’s cheapness didn’t have the calamitous effect that Chevy’s did.
I’d be shocked if it even cost $20. I believe the export brace actually used fewer fasteners than the factory braces, and aside from welding in the cowl plate, it would have been little more labor aside from installing it before the shock absorbers.
In 1965 Ford Australia imported some 200 Mustangs as a pre cursor to the new Mustang bred Falcon of 1966. Now that’s an interesting story.
I find it a real oddity of the local market that original, factory RHD cars (of all sorts) don’t seem to be given special value above others come more lately. Those RHD Mustangs ARE interesting. I wonder if they were imported to test the market or for possible homologation purposes?
a pre cursor to the new Mustang bred Falcon of 1966.
How was the ’66 Falcon “Mustang bred”? The ’66 Falcon shared most of its body and chassis with the new ’66 Fairlane. And in 1967, the Mustang got the same wider front end as the ’66 Falcon. So it would be more accurate to say “the new Falcon bred Mustang of 1967”.
“Mustang bred” was the local ad campaign for the – or ‘our’ – ’66 Falcon. With the stonking success of the ‘Stang, you can see why marketing would use that idea. Also, the ’66 Falc looked a lot more dynamic than the slightly weak-looking previous ones, and, with short boot and long bonnet (comparative to earlier), it did look Mustang-ish.
I may have seen this exact car in 2014 at a show in Virginia at my employer at the time, the M – 7090 license plates are a match: https://www.flickr.com/photos/channaher/13954590447/
That’s the car. Well, now at least we know that the tires need replacing at this point. 🙂
“This one has no power steering or brakes, but honestly, you don’t need them in a first-generation Mustang.”
Yeah, you do! In the steering, it’s not for weight, but turns: pretty hard on the old arms to go up an Alpine pass with any enthusiasm on a bajillion turns lock to lock, and near-impossible to be accurate. And if you do have to catch a slide, well, let’s just say your trip down the side of the mountain IS quicker.
In the brakes, if they’re drums, which the lack of a booster might suggest, there ARE no brakes, so at least a booster would make the first few hard stops on that Alpine pass enjoyable!
Oh, you know I was talking about effort and not esprit. 🙂
This is a drum brake car; cars with discs had a different master cylinder. And on a Mustang, the power steering setup was not an integral part of the box like it was with most other brands, so you probably didn’t want that either. Luckily, Ford offered the quick-ratio box without power steering, but that would require more steering effort.
The power steering ratio was also not THAT much quicker: 3.73 turns lock-to-lock versus 4.64 turns, per the AMA specs.
…This car has the optional 289, which appears to be the 200-horsepower C-code two-barrel version…
Those checkered flags on both sides of the air cleaner housing’s engine size identification decal indicate a four-barreled carburetor underneath, on domestic models. In which case, complementing “High Performance” engine size fender-mounted emblems haven’t been issued for this one, raising questions as to whether the castrated emblem or the decal is telling the truth. The star witness would be the harmonic balancer which would be thicker for the” Hi.-Po.” mill, if only we could get a peek
That’s not true, Sal. Here’s the air cleaner decal for the 289 two-barrel.
This is the decal for the 289 four-barrel. Notice the “4-V Premium Fuel” addition.
And of course, here’s the High-Performance decal. Our featured car doesn’t have a K-code High-Performance engine because they weren’t offered with an automatic until 1966.
I stand corrected. It’s satisfying to know that both decal and fender ornaments were telling the truth
From now on, each time I run into an American car, here in Germany, PX suspicion automatically arises.
Case in point is this supposed “4-4-2” registered as a historical vehicle. It’s been sitting at this BOSCH franchise repair garage for a second week now. This time, I made it a point to bring my camera, instead of taking poor shots with my cell phone.
Unfortunately, as with typical digital cameras, images focus too much on glare, giving a poor glimpse into the interior of this one which is missing a tachometer:
If they weren’t still mounting these onto center consoles, it wasn’t anywhere within the dashboard. I’m guessing, it should have been where that clock’s taking up valuable space:
It looks better than most 55 year olds I see running around here. Being over half a century old already, any inspection technician left who’s even remotely familiar with these is doomed to approaching retirement, if not already there. This is appearant here by how strict adherence to originality for complying with German historical vehicle requirements has been blatantly violated, starting with jacking this clo(w)ne up and setting it on tires and wheels, all of which never were factory options. The headers, either. But, we’ll get back to those, later.
Historical vehicle registry will allow certain alterations, for example, if your station wagon was never ordered with roof racks, you’re allowed to retro-fit these, only if they were offered as a factory options. The headers would be allowed as aftermarket tidbits, only if they somehow were to improve emissions of which I’m still scatching my noggin trying to rationalize this one’s theory. What about that aftermarket steering wheel? Did they suddenly hire Ray Charles to do inspections here?
I didn’t intend on including my Suzuki Wagon R in the background of whose cousin is a rebadged “Chevrolet” once assembled in Columbia. Two years from now, it’ll be eligible for historical registry. But, there would be cost disadvantages to that, given that taxation and insurance rates vary little between behemoths like this Cutlass and tiny F.I.A.T. 500s, for example:
The 4-4-2 emblems were evidently factory options, even when this vehicle is missing the factory tachometer and hood scoop. So, maybe because they were options, that alone would guarantee compliance.
It appears that the underpinnings are heavy-duty suspension options, as faintly seen here, when looking closely at both mufflers where the stabilizer bar is seen crossing them both.
The aftermarket reflectors hanging down there are mandatory lighting mods, circumventing originality requirements:
A good set of eyes could visually determine if this front stabilizer connecting a new pin is genuine heavy duty or not. As previously mentioned, the headers are plain to see.
Could you even get a Cutlass at a PX?
From here, it’s near impossible to see if the former T-3s have been swapped with mandated H-4 lamps, except for the hint left by the fog which has developed especially within both high beams, indicating possible bi-yearly inspection certification expiration? I should have made it a point to get a close look at the rear license plate’s certification sticker which has the next inspection appointmet printed on it. The photo session was taken yesterday, when nobody was visually around. Going back and checking the appointment date today would possible raise someone’s paranoia and I don’t feel like getting into some verbal confrontation with any self-righteous hypocritical by-stander. That would have been a good reason to pop the hood, yesterday, in order to get a glimpse of what’s milling this. If headers are allowed then anything’s possible. Even getting disappointed, if a shortdeck has been dropped-in. I which case, it might be better not to risk a confrontation with anybody not connected, if the wrong engine is to ruin my day. At least, the pipe sizes look the 425 sadly stroked to 455 for emissions compliance part: