1966 Ford Mustang

It looks like a Mustang, but the Mustang name is nowhere to be found, inside or out, and the badge on the fender says T-5. But why?...

In 1965, the top-selling Mustang in the U.S. was an affordable and attractive Ford coupe. In Germany, the year’s top-selling Mustang was a hulking commercial truck. Decidedly less sporty than America’s coupe, Germany’s Mustang truck was an ungainly presence on the road, and its two-stroke diesel engine was a noisy, smoking slug. Produced by Krupp Motoren und Kraftwagenfabriken in 1951-68, the Mustang truck’s primary claim to fame was that it — and Krupp’s copyright — set up a roadblock for Ford’s plans to market its Mustang in Germany. If you were a G.I. in Germany or a Nordic fan of American cars, you couldn’t buy a Ford Mustang, but you could purchase its doppelgänger: the Ford T5 – a car bearing the cryptic alpha- numeric code that Ford had assigned it during development. Marketed in Germany from 1965 until Krupp’s copyright expired in 1973, the T5 was a Mustang lookalike and drive-alike. A casual observer would be hard pressed to think it was anything other than a Mustang, but there are minor differences. The 1965 T5s had unique hubcaps with a plain center, rather than the galloping horse and “Ford Mustang” badging. The Mustang name on the front fenders gave way to a T-5 badge — Ford couldn’t decide how to spell the two-character name — and the Mustang ID on the steering wheel was banished. Most T5s had clear parking lamps rather than amber, and some speedometers were calibrated in kilometers. Practical modifications included extra bracing to fortify the body and a heavy-duty suspension. For more information, see https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2017/01/12/german-for-mustang

There are only three known 1966 T-5s of this year, color, and trim in existence today. See the T-5 Registry for additional details: http://www.fordt5.com/registry.html


Photo Credit: Peter Beliaev Photography