The Rare Ford T5 Most People Mistake For A Mustang

Back in the 1960s, the Ford Mustang felt unstoppable. It exploded in America almost instantly, selling faster than Ford probably expected, and before long the company wanted to bring that success to Europe too. The Mustang was already building a name for itself in racing, so the interest was there.

The problem was that exporting cars back then came with a lot more complications. Germany turned out to be one of them.

When Ford introduced the first-generation Mustang there in 1966, it ran into a strange issue. A German truck company called Krupp already owned the rights to the “Mustang” name. Ford couldn’t legally use the badge, so instead of walking away, it simply renamed the car the T5 for the German market.

What’s funny is that the name barely changed anything. It still looked exactly like a Mustang, sounded like one, and carried the same spirit. Most people probably wouldn’t even notice the difference unless they saw the missing badges.

Now one of those rare T5 models has appeared on Bring-a-Trailer, and it’s a special one too. According to the listing, this black-over-tan coupe is believed to be the final T5 coupe ever built, and apparently the only one finished in black from the factory.

Under the hood sits the famous K-code 289 V8 with 271 horsepower, paired with a 4-speed manual gearbox. Since it was originally sold in Germany, it also gets a metric speedometer instead of the usual American setup. The car returned to the US in 1981, was restored in Arizona in 2007, and recently received fresh servicing including brake work, carburetor and radiator rebuilds, plus new valve cover gaskets.