Wow, forgot about this thread!
The car was not a particularly early GT, it most likely was built at the end of May '65. The scheduled build date was 24 May, but I found a 25 May sheet metal stamp on the cowl, so assume it was built a few days or a week late.
Don't know any history previous to 1976, it was owned by a guy in Gaffney, SC at that time and then 2 owners between 1979-2002 in SC, before I bought it. The DSO was Richmond, VA, so maybe it sold new in Virginia, not sure.
I found no evidence that the GT had styled steel wheels originally and I didn't have any original paperwork. For all I knew, it had standard hub-caps. I installed knock-off wheel covers on it when it was restored as it seemed to fit best with the other options/appearance of the car. The owner after me installed the repro SS wheels and radials.
The GT gas cap was not used until '66 production. All '65 GT cars would have had the standard gas cap... even GT350's used the standard mustang gas cap for '65.
Yes, I was very surprised what it sold for, but the second sale seemed to legitimize the first. I'm still not sure why it went that high, it was a very nicely done car, but there are areas that I would restore differently today. It definitely had a lot of plus(es), like all original sheet metal and floors. Every piece of sheet metal was original to the car, even the valences. Being a 4sp GT convertible makes it desirable, but you would think with it having standard interior and no a/c that it would hurt the value. It didn't seem to make any difference. Maybe it was because the car looked like something you could buy in 1965 instead of what you see on most show-fields... cars loaded up with options that were not on them when new. I tried to stay as true to how the car was made as possible, which maybe separated it from other restored cars.
