Mustang Market Value....

[Chinoz71]

Hello everyone,

I want to throw a question out to whoever may want to answer from having insight based on your own experience.

Are 1st generation Mustangs 1965 through 1968 valued higher when restored to factory specs or when they are restored with factory options which have been correctly installed that did not originally come with the car?

I guess the simplified question would be: Are highly or rare optioned retrofitted cars more valuable than original low optioned cars?

I am restoring and 1968 Mustang fastback GT 4 soeed J code car verified by a marti report but my car has standard interior, no consoles and no factory ac and these are things that I would very much like to upgrade. Any thoughts on this?

Thank you!

 

[tos]

I'm no expert but I would say that the more valuable car would be as it came from the factory and the more factory installed options the better.
Unrestored but in excellent shape would be more valuable than restored to factory condition.
I think you could take a low optioned car however and make it more valuable by adding some more options provided they are good used originals (or new old stock "NOS")?

 

[WORTH]

Your talking about 2 different "BUYERS", so there is no right answer.
One buyer wants bone stock perfect, or bone stock untouched.
the Second wants a classic he can drive and doesn't usually know or care what was bone stock.
So there is no answer to your question. For me a perfect original Mustang is worth nothing, because I drive the crap out of my cars so I wouldn't want it. Perfect original cars sit in garages and see the world from a trailer.

 

[RedGTvert]

Your talking about 2 different "BUYERS", so there is no right answer.
One buyer wants bone stock perfect, or bone stock untouched.
the Second wants a classic he can drive and doesn't usually know or care what was bone stock.
So there is no answer to your question. For me a perfect original Mustang is worth nothing, because I drive the crap out of my cars so I wouldn't want it. Perfect original cars sit in garages and see the world from a trailer.

Agreed.

To add to this, it really depends on what you are starting with.

A 68 J-Code real GT FB is a great base, especially being a J-Code 4-speed. I am not sure keeping it 100% accurate to the Marti Report will add or detract from the value, especially sine the car is a low optioned model.

If it were my car, I would restore with all the Deluxe interior parts. The parts and bits to do this are available in the aftermarket, but not cheap. Yes, I would add AC, as long as you can find all the correct interior parts, but would not have a problem with the underhood parts being aftermarket. Make sure you use a known company like Classic Auto Air. If you can hunt down original parts, even better.

Would not add aftermarket cup holders and such. Do an original style console.

Bottom line, while the car has value, depending on how much restoration work is needed, you may likely be under water for quite some time