What to know and what to look for.

If you have two years until you go back, then at least you have time on your side. I looked for 6 months before I found the right vintage Mustang, and while that seemed long, it was worth it to buy the right car.
It sounds like you want a finished car, so lets start with body style and price. If it were me, I'd look for a fastback. There are really no "bad" '65 Mustangs, but the fastbacks simply cannot be beat in terms of rarity, style and value. They are always sought after and always bring top-dollar when it comes time to sell. Having said that, you can fugure on $10,000-$20,000 for a solid, presentable and driveable car. A car that needs more work will be less, a nicer car may be more.
As for condition, never, ever, ever, ever buy a rusty car. They are simply more trouble than they are worth, and in the end it often seems as though they are never quite right. Replacement sheetmetal is thinner than original, and these cars are flexy enough stock without using a thinner structural sheetmetal.
More stuff means more money, I always like to buy stock vehicles. That may seem absolutely hypocrytical from a guy who cut up a nice orginal car to build a GT350 clone, but it's true. If you buy a modified car, it should have exactly the parts on it you would put on it anyway. If you have to replace the seats, transmission, wheels and tires to suit your tastes and needs, you could've saved yourself money and bought a different car.
Lastly, keep your eyes open and keep an open mind. If you have yur heart set on a '65 fastback with a four speed, but a nice, rust-free '66 fastback with an automatic shows up at a good price, be prepared to decide. '65 and '66 Mustamgs are nearly identical and mechanical parts can always be swapped without killing the value of the car, sometimes they actually increase the value. Before you commit to buy, post your find here, lots of experts are always here, and you can usually get an answer within an hour as to whether or not the car you found is worth it, so don't be afraid to take a few pictures and ask a few questions. Hope this helps, Jim

Something's not right about the '67. That car looks perfect, maybe even professionally restored, yet the asking price as at least half of what that car's worth. I suspect either the price is wrong or it's a scam. While the '66 seems a little high on the price for some reason. I don't know how much you know about vintage Mustangs, so here's a brief (for me) explanation on prices.
Most Mustangs were equipped from the factory with a small block that had a 2 barrel carb. These were by far the most common V8-equipped, then and remain so now. You can tell which cars originally had the 2 barrel small block by the fifth letter of the vin#, which will be a "C". The '67 GTA in your example should have an "S" as the fifth letter, indicating the car came with a four barrel 390. These are getting to be VERY expensive cars, and will likely be out of your range of $15,000.
I think you are making an excellent start by setting a price and year range, and I think you can get a nice car for that. To me, it seems as though the early cars (1965-1966) are down a bit in prices when compared to the 1967-1968 cars, especially fastbacks. I have owned both and while I love my current car, I'd love to have another '65 fastback. They are the original Pony car and just have the right look.
Regardless of what you are looking for, there is simply no substitute for a hands on examination before buying. When I bought mine, I was originally lured into a 12 hour (one way) trip to pick up a car I had seen pictures of over the net. I spoke with the seller and he seemed honest enough, but when I arrived, the car was MUCH worse than he told me, so I passed. It cost me $500 in gas, motel and trailer rental, but it was a whole lot better than buying a car that would have cost me 10 times that in repairs. Be patient, be careful and be thorough in your search and you'll find a car you can be very proud to own. If I can be of any help whatsoever, feel free to email me and I'll answer as best as I can. You never know, I may find a fastback for sale somewhere out here and if I do, I'll email some pics.
Hope this helps, Jim

I might add, you DO NOT want to buy the car sight unseen UNLESS you have it checked out thoroughly by someone you trust who knows Mustangs and knows what to look for.
That being said, I would also suggest that when you go to look at your prospects, you take along someone who knows Mustangs and knows what to look for.
A good place to meet and develop this type of connection would be your local Mustang Clubs....check on campus and the local papers as well as the web.
BTW....Welcome to SN and good luck!

Dont believe a word the person tells you about the car unless you check it out for yourself, most of the time people are feeding you guff.

That sounds pretty good but you have to be careful about the mileage, it's really easy to lie about the mileage when there are 5 digits on the odometer, it's happened to me before. I sent you personal message with another proposal.

zookeeper said:

Regardless of what you are looking for, there is simply no substitute for a hands on examination before buying. When I bought mine, I was originally lured into a 12 hour (one way) trip to pick up a car I had seen pictures of over the net. I spoke with the seller and he seemed honest enough, but when I arrived, the car was MUCH worse than he told me, so I passed. It cost me $500 in gas, motel and trailer rental, but it was a whole lot better than buying a car that would have cost me 10 times that in repairs. Be patient, be careful and be thorough in your search and you'll find a car you can be very proud to own. If I can be of any help whatsoever, feel free to email me and I'll answer as best as I can. You never know, I may find a fastback for sale somewhere out here and if I do, I'll email some pics.
Hope this helps, Jim

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+1 on jim's advice.

we're working on a '68 camaro currently, and it also took us about a year of looking to find one. Like jim, we were also lured into a 13 (HA! got you beat ) hour one way trip. Luckily, it was up by a friends house, so we still had a good weekend. anyway. The owner said that there was some slight rust around the fenders etc. etc. nothing out of the ordinary, but that the middle floor pans had to be replaced. He ASSURED us that the frame rails and rocker panels/torque boxes were good and would not need replacement.
needless to say, we got up there, and i could poke holes though the sub frame with my knife, and the torque boxes were all but gone, the trunk pan was swizz cheese...etc etc. you get the picture. since we thought it was a legitimate possibility to buy it, we drove my 02' F-350 and spent about $500 in diesel (luckily prices were down).


but then we found one up in the cities for a good price as well... Keep looking if its not the one you want, because chances are there's 10 more out there for every one you have seen.

don't be discouraged either, My 68 was stored in a barn in NV for 20 years, and a fella on the camaro forums just found a #'s matching 69' Z28 camaro out in a field in AZ. So there ARE still some "barn finds" out there. you just have to keep looking.

good luck on your search!

-John

My 2 cents:

When I was looking for a "toy" car, I wanted a hot rod, nothing original. I think determining your goal is first.

Secondly the price range which you already have set.

Then you find the most "bang for your buck" and don't be disheartened after you buy that "dream" car because almost for sure, a better deal will surface. Good luck.

If at all possible you should get it on a hoist and see what things look like underneath. Mustangs rust like no other if given the chance like where I am in the Pacific Northwest. I've replaced almost all the sheet metal on my 65 and I'm not done

That looks to be in excellent condition. Nice!