Old cars are supposed to be fun. Rev the engine! Squeal the tires! Slam through the gears! The style, the sounds, the smells, the feel—all evoke a past when times were carefree, pocket change bought a tank of gas, and our hair was fuller, less gray, and more prominent atop our heads than in our ears. While a muscle car’s many immeasurable tactile pleasures are often a major part of their appeal, there are myriad other ways to enjoy them; our hobby is broad enough to have as many points of view as there are people who consider themselves enthusiasts.  

Sometimes, the cars themselves aren’t the result of our efforts and passions. The chase of perfection, the pursuit of excellence elevating what these machines were designed for, obtaining absolute factory accuracy for a 60-year-old manufactured object that was built to be used and discarded, can captivate an owner. The approval and laurels that follow are proof of correctness and attention to the most minute detail. Stemming from that, judged show competition is where additional fun lies; the car remains (metaphorically) the means of getting there.  

 Jim Boyd understands. Now living in Mesa, Arizona, Jim has owned and restored an impressive array of Blue Oval ponies over the last three decades: four Boss 302s (three ’69s including his high school car, and a ’70 428 CJ-powered Mach 1, and a pair of early Shelby G.T. 350s—a ’65 and a carry-over early ’66. He’s entered SAAC and MCA shows, been judged in Division 1 (as-built factory originality) and Division 2 (correctly restored to factory specs) and has garnered both serious hardware presented by judges and the warm accolades of his peers. 

“I look at restoration like art, like a Van Gogh or Rembrandt. Those cars are an art form to me. I can go in the garage and sit in a chair and look at my Boss 302. I can appreciate the design work, and it’s just awesome to be able to do that.” The downside? “Most of the time, I’m doing a car that I can’t take out and drive. Once you build a car and it’s got a big-dollar paint job, you hate to see it get all chipped up. I wanted something that … well, I don’t want it to get chipped up, but I’ll drive it and fix the chips.” His attention turned to a restomod project, the result of which is on the pages before you.  

Jim’s goal was simple: have something that looked like an early Mustang inside, outside, and under the hood—but make it ride, drive, sound, and perform beyond the Mustang’s original perky-pony brief. This meant modern technology installed under vintage skin, ample upgrades that bring all aspects of performance up to modern levels, and results that had to be invisible to anyone but the driver. Not a sleeper, but a well-balanced all-rounder with a period vibe and just enough subtle custom touches to feel personal. 

This ’65 Mustang 2+2 was a factory San Jose-built Twilight Turquoise C-code (200-hp 289 2-bbl) automatic. It had been owned by a family friend of Jim’s in California for many decades but had come to rest under a pine tree once its octogenarian owner found that it needed basically everything, and that it was beyond his means to accomplish this. Jim jumped when it became available. The plan was set early on. “I did a lot of reading by people who have made the same modifications to their cars,” Jim said, “and I talked to a lot of people at car shows. I had a blueprint in my head where, if I got a car, here’s what I’d do.” So, here’s what he did… 

 Jim’s first task was stripping everything down to the naked unit-body; every nut, bolt, and fastener was taken off the car save for the door hinges, because “it becomes a lot harder to align the doors and get ’em right otherwise.” Though always a California car, its body wasn’t perfect; it hadn’t been hit, but “the roof needed work. I took it to my metal fixer, and he asked me, ‘Did someone dance on the roof with high heels?’ I didn’t want to cut the panel out, and it worked out cheaper to smooth the factory steel than replace the roof.”  

Some factory steel disappeared, however: “The hood is a vintage reproduction Shelby piece that used a fiberglass frame and skin. Shelby tried that and they were warping, so they went to a steel frame with fiberglass skin. But this is the lightest possible [hinged] hood you can do. The front valance is by Peter Brock; he says that this is what he wanted to put on the ’65 G.T. 350s but they didn’t have time to pull it off. The original G.T. 350Rs have no front bumper, but this does, along with more sophisticated air ducting.” With these and other changes, Jim figures that well over a hundred pounds came off the Mustang’s nose.  

The body also did away with the bulk of the stock chrome—though the window stainless and door handles remain bright. The grille itself is a stock piece, painted the factory bluish gray, but the argent and chrome surround has been blacked out. Jim went back and forth on whether to remove the rear quarter roof vents and replace them with G.T. 350-esque plexiglass and has decided against it but suggests it’s easy enough to do that it may yet happen.  

It’s at the rear where you have to squint and go “Wait a minute…” Jim wanted to give the tail a whiff of the high-school Boss 302 he still owns, and so along with a blacked-out taillamp panel, and stock light bezels painted black with argent surrounds, Jim also lost the optional rear-valance-mounted backup lights, instead engineering a near-invisible LED solution mounted to the license plate frame. (It doubles as a center-mounted third brake light.) The trunk lock was shaved, and Jim designed a metal lip that lives at the rearmost edge. Also, the steel rear bumper was de-chromed, and all its brackets were welded to the inside; this allowed the bracket hardware holes to be filled in and painted 1966 Shelby Sapphire Blue along with the rest of the body.  

 But all that bodywork means little if it doesn’t have the beans to back up its look. Rest assured, despite a .030-over K-code 289 living between the shock towers, there’s ample oomph. “So, it’s really a 293. I thought it would be interesting to keep the 289 with the newer stuff, like the roller valve train and bigger valves. I used the rods out of a Hi-Po 289, which are the same as from a Boss 302. The lightweight aluminum flywheel helped too! My goal was to have a car that would spin faster and rev quickly—just something that brought the power on more suddenly.” 

Turns out, this was one of those decisions where things could have turned out very differently. “I waffled a little on engine choice,” Jim confessed. “I also have a built 347 stroker race motor that’s been dyno-tested to 550 hp. It would be a little harder to run on the street… but it would slip right in. Cost wasn’t the issue—it would have been the same money for the engine with an extra half-inch of stroke, and that’s more torque, but it’s slower to get the revs going. I went back and forth on doing a Coyote swap too, but if I put the Coyote in, it would look like a Coyote, and there are plenty of people doing those swaps. I wanted a car that looked like a hot-rodded car from 1965: open the hood, and you see a K-code 289 with aluminum heads.” Indeed, you might note upgrades like the lack of battery (now in the trunk) or the Holley Sniper throttle-body EFI (if you pulled the air cleaner to look) but most of what’s visible, from the engine room chassis bracing to the Shelby valve covers, feels period-correct.  

Lest you worry that Jim has somehow sacrificed power in exchange for a look, please note that there’s still plenty on tap. “G.T. 350R models were running close to 375 horsepower,” Jim said. “These aluminum heads have 2.02/1.60 valves and a .550 lift roller cam, so I figure I’m right around there.” Jim also cites the liveliness afforded by the lightweight flywheel; there were also benefits from the weight reduction to the car itself. 

That meant re-figuring the spring rates on the Varishock front coil-overs while working on a thorough chassis upgrade. Total Control upper and lower control arms and power rack-and-pinion steering (now featuring an ididit tilt column and a wood-rimmed G.T. 350 steering wheel that had been living in someone’s closet for 40-plus years), Chassisworks four-link rear suspension, and massive cross-drilled Baer brakes (13 inches in front, 12s in back, bright red four-pot calipers on all corners) filling the spokes of the 17-inch American Racing Torq-Thrusts. 

While some items like the painting and engine machine work were farmed out, assembly was done entirely in Jim’s own home garage. “At this point I’ve built so many Mustangs, I pretty much know them. Very little surprises me anymore.” That said, “I was pleased with how easy the front end went together. I knew the rear would be harder to do—that axle must be perfectly aligned so it doesn’t push one way or the other when you drive. You know the old saying, ‘Measure twice, cut once’? I measured probably 10 times before I did the final lock-down and welding to the rear.” 

The more you look, the more you see. A reproduction stock black Pony interior. A Vintage Air system, worked by factory controls. LED lights everywhere, save for the headlamps, to make things brighter and draw less power. A Philco AM radio with a secret Bluetooth controller that works with Kicker speakers and amps to provide concert-hall sounds. The Holley Sniper control screen that hides in the ashtray. A surprisingly mellow exhaust note at idle, despite the high-lift cam, Borla stainless mufflers, and side-turned tips that let out ahead of the rear tires. The MSD ignition box mentioned in our spec box was moved to the interior side of the firewall, both for aesthetics and for heat rejection; this led to a wholesale rewiring, considering the newer equipment and new battery location.  

Jim’s goal was a vintage look and a chassis that didn’t feel like a vintage Mustang. Did he hit that goal after four years of COVID-interrupted supply-chain delays and the inevitable struggle of being a one-man band building your own car? His response is unequivocal: “One hundred percent. The handling is great, and the engine is just what I wanted—I’m happy it doesn’t bog, and I’m thrilled that we didn’t get the gearing or tire size wrong. I love how it turned out.” He’ll drive it and fix the chips. Which is as it should be. After all, old cars are supposed to be fun.  

Specifications – 1965 Ford Mustang 2+2

ENGINE 

Block type: Ford “small-block” OHV V-8, cast-iron  

Cylinder heads: AFR 185-cc aluminum OHV, 2.02/1.60-in valves  

Displacement: 289 cubic inches (Currently 293-cu.in.) 

Bore x stroke: 4.00 (Currently 4.030-in) x 2.87 inches 

Compression ratio: 10.5:1 

Pistons: Forged aluminum 

Connecting rods: Ford Boss 302/Hi-Po 289 forged steel 

Horsepower @ rpm: 375 @ 5,500 (est.) 

Torque @ rpm: Not tested 

Camshaft type: Competition Cams solid roller lifter 

Camshaft duration: 224/232 degrees, intake/exhaust (at 0.050); 112-degree lobe separation 

Camshaft lift: .555/.565-in, intake/exhaust 

Valvetrain: Stainless 2.02/1.60-in valves, intake/exhaust; Comp Cams 1.6:1 ratio roller rocker arms; Comp Cams solid roller lifters 

Induction system: Holley Sniper 550-510 electronic throttle-body fuel injection, 4x 100 lb/hr injectors, Holley in-tank electric pump 

Lubrication system: High-volume gear-type pump, windage tray 

Ignition system: MSD billet distributor, MSD coil, MSD 6AL-2 ignition box 

Exhaust system: Shelby Tri-Y headers, dual Borla mufflers, side-exit pipes

Original Engine: Ford small-block C-code 289-cubic inch V-8 

TRANSMISSION 

Type: Tremec TKX five-speed manual, aluminum flywheel, Ram/McLeod hydraulic clutch, Lakewood bellhousing, Wilwood hydraulic master cylinder  

Ratios: 1^st/2.87:1…2^nd/1.89:1… 3^rd/1.28:1… 4^th/1.00:1… 5^th/0.68 … Reverse/2.56:1 

DIFFERENTIAL 

Type: Ford 9-inch housing w/ nodular iron carrier 

Ratio: 3.50:1 

STEERING 

Type: Total Control power rack-and-pinion steering, KRC HP pump, ididit tilt steering column, vintage Shelby wood-rimmed wheel 

Ratio: 15:1

BRAKES 

Type: Hydraulic four-wheel disc

Front: Baer 13-inch cross-drilled/slotted rotor w/ four-piston T4 calipers 

Rear: Baer 12-inch cross-drilled/slotted rotor w/ four-piston S4 calipers 

SUSPENSION 

Front: Total Control upper and lower control arms, 1-in anti-roll bar, Varishock coil-over 

Rear: Chassisworks four-link conversion, ¾-in anti-roll bar, Varishock coil-over 

WHEELS & TIRES 

Wheels: American Racing Torq-Thrust 

Front: 17 x 7 inches

Rear: 17 x 8 inches 

Tires: Nitto NT555GT 

Front: 225/45ZR17

Rear: 245/45ZR17 

PERFORMANCE 

Acceleration: Not tested 

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