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My Father and I harnessed “Old Blue” behind the John Deer and pulled it from a barn two weeks ago. This will be my Mom’s weekend cruiser. We dusted off eleven years of accumulative dust from the blue epoxy primer. Beneath the patina is a fairly solid 1965 Fastback. The VIN, 5R09C2XXXXX reveals that this one was born in San Jose California, and was originally equipped with a two barrel 289.
Unfortunately the high performance air filter is a just for show. The intake manifold stamping indicates that the engine originated from a 66, so this isn’t the original C code engine. I’m told the engine ran with a knock, which went away after warm-up. As depicted in the photographs, it’s a leaker. A previous owner added long tube headers and dual exhaust. The front floor supports were crushed, so someone was improperly jacking up the car. There is some floor rust. The car is already equipped with 620 coils and a monte carlo bar.
The C code Fastback has the 5-gauge cluster dash and the pony door lights, indicating that it was a factory pony interior car. It originally came with red and white interior. From what I can tell from the overspray, the exterior was silver blue. The interior was partially restored to black. The seats were reupholstered, but a lot of the red interior components like the kick and door panels were simply painted over. The interior will need some tlc, but it’s a solid foundation.
The car currently has an automatic C4, but judging by the clutch pedal return spring hanging on the pedal box and a wad of tape lodged into the clutch firewall hole, I’d guess this was originally a manual transmission car.
I’m sure more history about the car will be revealed through disassembly. This won’t be a fancy or full rotisserie restoration. The car will be a decent cruiser for my Mom; so it must be reliable with some modern mechanical upgrades for safety. We are thinking 260-290 carbureted horsepower 289, power steering, electric fan, tandem master cylinder, front disc brakes, air conditioning, GT sway bar, mid eye leafs, and my Mom prefers a manual, so T5 it is! Paint and rims to be determined.


Unfortunately the high performance air filter is a just for show. The intake manifold stamping indicates that the engine originated from a 66, so this isn’t the original C code engine. I’m told the engine ran with a knock, which went away after warm-up. As depicted in the photographs, it’s a leaker. A previous owner added long tube headers and dual exhaust. The front floor supports were crushed, so someone was improperly jacking up the car. There is some floor rust. The car is already equipped with 620 coils and a monte carlo bar.



The C code Fastback has the 5-gauge cluster dash and the pony door lights, indicating that it was a factory pony interior car. It originally came with red and white interior. From what I can tell from the overspray, the exterior was silver blue. The interior was partially restored to black. The seats were reupholstered, but a lot of the red interior components like the kick and door panels were simply painted over. The interior will need some tlc, but it’s a solid foundation.



The car currently has an automatic C4, but judging by the clutch pedal return spring hanging on the pedal box and a wad of tape lodged into the clutch firewall hole, I’d guess this was originally a manual transmission car.

I’m sure more history about the car will be revealed through disassembly. This won’t be a fancy or full rotisserie restoration. The car will be a decent cruiser for my Mom; so it must be reliable with some modern mechanical upgrades for safety. We are thinking 260-290 carbureted horsepower 289, power steering, electric fan, tandem master cylinder, front disc brakes, air conditioning, GT sway bar, mid eye leafs, and my Mom prefers a manual, so T5 it is! Paint and rims to be determined.