Vintage Cars: 1965 mustang numbers matching engine, mustang info, mustang clubs

Question
Hi, Don. How can I tell whether or not the 289 engine in my '65 Mustang
Convertible is the original?

Answer
OK, I am not as up on older Ford products as I should be, but I would recommend that you start by decoding the vin number.  here is neat tool from the Missouri club:

http://www.showmemustang.com/decode.html

Also, you could join one of the many Mustang clubs that you can find by a quick search engine search.  Usually they have people that are familiar with a particular year or group of years of production.

YOu might check to see if another expert on this site has more experience with Ford products.

But some of the things you will need are the casting numbers on the engine and heads, look for them on the sides of the block especially.

Here is another site you should visit:

http://www.vintage-mustang.com/topics/decode/decode.html

and another:

http://home.pon.net/hunnicutt/history_vin.htm

and another:

http://www.mustangsplus.com/tech/stats/stat02.htm

And this site sells a decoder program for not too much, but they have a free sample program that might give you what you need:

http://www.mustangdecoder.com/disk.html

and finally (for now, there is more if you search)

http://www.ariakristen.com/mustang/info.htm

This should get you what you need.

Don