I was discussing a person I know, on another forum, named Norman "Bud" Layton.
He is an extreme Ford enthusiast ever since the late 1930's who has many many stories to tell. I have followed a forum members' advice and contacted Mustang Monthly to perhaps do an article on him.
I knew from personally seeing them with my own eyes, that he had purchased NEW 65/66 Mustang bodies FROM Ford in the mid-to-late 60's and had built and sold rebodied or all-new Mustangs.
Well, I found out in the past few days, that these ORIGINAL FORD bodies came to him in crates, directly from Ford, and he completed an estimated FIFTY cars and sold them with Georgia Titles, (In the 60's Georgia Titles were not marked "salvage" or "rebuilt") and State-Issued VIN's. His son told me yesterday that his Dad hand-stamped the GA VIN on the fender apron during the builds.
His son also told me that a GBI agent wound up buying one of the hand stamped Mustangs and causing a serious incident at "Bud's" shop because the GBI Agent thought he had found a "chop-shop." After getting local law enforcement involved, the situation calmed down and Bud continued building the cars until Ford quit selling him the bodies a year or two later.
Now IF he built THAT MANY of these cars, there is BOUND to be at least one or two survivors out there. If anyone knows of a 65/66 Mustang that fits the description of one of Bud's Mustangs, please post some info or pictures.
His son indicated to me that many of them were "rebodied" total losses where parts would be installed from a donor car that had been wrecked. He also said that several were built from scratch using new parts ordered from the Parts Department of the local Ford Place and sold as NEW cars.
In all cases, the VIN's were new, unique numbers, issued by Georgia DMV. He never stamped any with the VIN of the donor car.
