The Falcon-based Mustang that inaugurated the sporty compact genre named after it, "pony cars", was initially offered as a notchback coupe and a convertible. Those two body styles were joined in its first full model year of production by a fastback coupe that Ford called the "2+2".
That designation can be seen on the fender badges of the Raven Black 1965 2+2 GT parked on College Avenue in the SoBro neighborhood of Indianapolis back in early April of 2018.
The arrangement of bars surrounding the "corralled pony" on the grille mark it as a GT, and specifically a '65, as the 1966 grille lacked the vertical bars in the center. Amber fog lights were apparently less common than clear ones. This one lacks the rocker stripes usually found on GTs, but some came without them and some owners removed theirs. The rear valance with exhaust cutouts and the grille lead me to believe it's a real GT and not a base fastback LARPing as one.
The GT only came with a choice of 3- or 4-speed manual transmissions. Under the hood was either an "A-code" 225 horsepower 289 4-barrel Challenger V-8 or the "K-code" HiPo 289 Challenger rated at 271 SAE gross horsepower.
The K-code motor had numerous differences, from the special crankshaft and harmonic balancer all the way up to the un-silenced air cleaner. It had a bigger carb, hotter cam, solid lifters, and a 10.5:1 compression ratio and a host of little details garnered from Ford racing motors of the era.
Car and Driver tested a '65 fastback with the K-code motor and four-speed and reported a 0-60 time of 5.2 seconds and a blistering quarter mile run of 14.0 seconds at 100mph through the traps.
While this may sound sus, it was running on sticky (for the time) optional 15" semi-race rubber and, more importantly, swinging a set of 4.11:1 gears in the diff. While a 4.11 rear end would make for extremely unpleasant cruising at anything much over 50mph, it'd launch that thing like an F-18 Hornet off a steam catapult.
The photo above was taken with an Olympus OM-D E-M5 and an M. Zuiko Digital 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO zoom lens.
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