The Very First Ford Mustang Is Still Around, And It's Worth A Fortune

Sometimes, a car becomes more than just a car as it ages. They become cultural icons, like the original Mini, the Ford Model T, and the Ford Mustang. The problem is, at the time of launch, these cars are usually just cars, and so the earliest and purest examples of them are generally given no special treatment. As time goes by and the importance of them becomes recognized, automakers and collectors alike scramble to find the earliest surviving examples in an effort to preserve them.

Ford wanted to keep the first-ever Mustang, which carried the vehicle identification number (VIN) 5F08F100001, but there was a problem: it had been sold. See, the first Mustang ever made was a preproduction car, never intended for sale. It should have been shipped back to Ford's base in Dearborn, Michigan, where, in all likelihood, it may have been scrapped. However, Ford wanted every dealer to have a Mustang as a display model, and this particular Mustang was sent to George G.R. Parsons' Ford dealership in Newfoundland, where young salesman Harry Phillips was employed at the time.

One day, a customer, Capt. Stanley Tucker, expressed to Phillips his desire to buy the Mustang. It was quite possibly the easiest sale Phillips would ever make, but a few weeks later, it became apparent it was one sale Ford wished he had never actually made. Ford wanted the car back, but there was nothing Phillips or the dealer could do — it was out running free with Tucker at the helm. Very few pre-production Mustangs exist today, and chassis two — a coupe — commanded bids in the multiple hundreds of thousands some years ago, highlighting the importance and value of these remarkable early survivors.

Capt. Stanley Tucker was understandably over the moon with his shiny new Mustang. It was a Wimbledon White Convertible with a 260ci V8 under the hood and a three-speed automatic transmission. In the weeks before he could collect it, as it was still needed as a showroom display piece, he would visit it daily to ensure it was being treated well and not getting damaged by other customers.

Naturally, then, when Ford got in touch asking for it back, Tucker wasn't entirely willing. The Blue Oval bosses couldn't get him to agree for a while, but after two years, they finally found the perfect bargaining tool. In exchange for chassis number one, Ford would offer Tucker the one-millionth Mustang. Interestingly, the 10-millionth Mustang was a Wimbledon White Convertible, as a homage to that very first 'Stang which Tucker scored 60 years ago now. This was a fully loaded 1966 Convertible, and an offer that Tucker just could not refuse. Finally, Ford had their Genesis Mustang back, and Tucker was driving around in the swankiest 'Stang in town, which once again carried a historically important VIN.

The first Mustang ever sold now resides in the Henry Ford museum, where fans of the brand, and indeed the salesman who originally sold it, can visit and admire the historically important model. We may never know what it might fetch on the open market, but the second-ever Mustang made, a Caspian Blue Notchback with a 170ci inline-six under the hood, managed to stir bids close to the $300,000 back in 2017. From this, we can only assume that the storied chassis number one would command even higher prices, somewhat significantly north of the $26,100 valuation Hagerty places on any other 260ci '65 Mustang Convertible.