Collectors seeking one of the rarest Mustangs in the world need look no further than this 1964 ½ convertible, Serial No. 139 of approximately 180 to 200 preproduction prototypes built and one of only about 15 known to exist worldwide. The car’s door tag contains the first significant evidence of its provenance: the build date, 05C, indicating March 5, 1964. This code was applied to all the original preproduction Mustangs, which were actually built from February through March 5, 1964. Typical of the period, the preproduction Mustangs served a wide variety of purposes, including dealer advertising, press releases, executive employee use, engineering and crash testing, and even promotional duties at the 1964 World’s Fair. Preproduction Mustangs were also used to establish assembly procedures and guide engineering revisions, often resulting in the use of hand-fabricated parts and other details particular to each car. One such detail can be found on this Mustang convertible in the hand-written numbers on the passenger and driver side of the front radiator support, which represent inventory control, rotational and job numbers. Serial No. 139’s DSO (District Sales Office) code 89 (Transport Services), indicates its designation for internal use rather than assignment to a dealer. The original “Ford Registered Owner Plan” card shows it was eventually sold through Galyen Motor Company in Atkinson, Nebraska, in September 1964 to a Denver, Colorado, physician. The first owner drove the car until 1983, when he parked it in his garage, and it remained sheltered in Colorado’s arid climate for the next 33 years. In 2016, the doctor sold No. 139 to his long-time property manager, who gave the car an extensive cosmetic and mechanical refreshing and drove it approximately 200 miles over two years. The Mustang is now being offered by its third owner, who commissioned Mustang experts Buckeye Restorations in Canfield, Ohio, to perform a concours restoration. Completed in September 2019, Serial No. 139 has since won First Place honors at the Antique Automobile Club of America’s Eastern Nationals held in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in October 2019, and it was one of 142 cars invited to the Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance in November 2019. More recently, it won a Silver Award at the Mustang Club of America’s Spirit of the West National Show in Tucson, Arizona, in October 2021. The subject of a feature article in the December 2021 issue of Mustang Times, Serial No. 139 shares the distinction with its closest sibling, No. 140, as a rare and significant artifact in the history of the original pony car.
