Upon its arrival in New Zealand, in 1998, the fate of this 1965 Mustang Fastback actually took several twists and turns before it was made into the stunning 450-plus circuit rocket pictured here.

New Plymouth Ford enthusiast Wayne Fabish purchased this car, sight unseen, from Manila in the Philippines. A good friend, based there, actually looked the car over and everything appeared to be in good order. Obviously, on a car nearly 30 years old, finding an example relatively rust free is a top priority, and this car appeared to be a very good find.

One of the reasons Wayne chose to buy from the Philippines is that there are actually a lot of these cars based there, taken there by US military personnel when new, and this one was very reasonably priced.

New Plymouth Ford enthusiast Wayne Fabish purchased this car, sight unseen, from Manila in the Philippines

At NZ$12,000, New Zealand landed after all costs, it seemed Wayne had bought well, particularly for a highly sought-after fastback model. He was originally planning to build the Mustang into a road/race car. Ideal for driving to the track, enjoying low key events, then driving home again. As it appeared to be a good example, Wayne didn’t want to chop it up to turn it into a full-on racer. However, once the rebuild began his plans took a drastic change.

Altered states

Very early on in the strip down Wayne began to suspect something was not right with the Mustang body shell. Upon pulling up the carpets, and taking a closer inspection of the floors, he found sheets of metal had been welded over them. Alarm bells rang, and the further he dug the worse the picture became. This was clearly not the clean, original condition car the seller had advertised it as. As Wayne pulled the car apart he found more hidden rust, filler, and welded panels covering rusty bodge-ups and short cuts. So to get a true idea of the condition of the car, and to see how salvageable it was, he took the stripped body shell and panels to Kiwi Metal Polishers in Rotorua to be acid dipped.

Acid dipping is a popular weight loss exercise often performed by serious race teams. The acid eats away at excess metal and filler, and impressive weight reductions can be made depending on how long the item is submerged for. Back in the late ’60s/early ’70s American TransAm competition, all the top teams acid-dipped body shells and panels to within a whisker of completely dissolving them. The 1969 Penske Camaros actually had vinyl glued over their roofs to hide the holes caused by excessive acid dipping. However, nowadays when used as an alternative to bead or sand blasting it’s an effective way to truly discover what lies beneath layers of paint on an old car.

Kiwi Metal Polishers dipped the Mustang into a large acid-filled tank for a couple of weeks. This was enough time to remove the layers of paint, clean it of its filler, and to provide a fresh base from which to start the rebuild. However, when the body shell was removed Wayne was informed the car was in very poor shape. It seemed that Manila’s high humidity had corroded the shell quite badly.

Several sacks of fibreglass, body sealer and rubbish were removed from the tank, and the floor of the car had so many holes it resembled a sieve! It was at this point Wayne concluded the car was too far gone to entertain the prospect of a road/race project, so it would be rebuilt purely as a race car. At first he was going to build it up for Pre-65s, but then he chose to go the more modified route, and build it for the Super GT muscle car class and for classic events.

The hard yards

Once the body was back home, Wayne began work. The rotten floors were cut out, and he set about rolling complete new ones. He cut out all the rust, doing all the work himself, and welded in new panels to replace the rotten ones. He also fitted new panels where the body needed to be strengthened. Brian Wilson, of Brian Wilson Panelbeaters, worked all the exterior panels straight.

All up, the rust repairs took several months. Then the car was bolted onto a chassis jig, checked for alignment, and fully seam welded. Wayne built the roll cage himself, using Southward-supplied steel tube. Southward’s tube is commonly used on race cars, being lighter and stronger than normal steel but easier to work with than chrome-moly. When the body and panels had been finished, Inglewood Car Painters prepped, primed and painted the car in an attractive shade of BMW Stratos blue, with two white Shelby stripes running along the centre.

After initially running Super GT events, he also used the car to good effect in the newly created GDM Group Central Muscle Cars series

Wayne has a good number of close friends in the USA, and many were able to assist in the mechanical side of the car. Doug Norrdin, of Global West Suspension Systems in California, assisted with the front suspension arms and geometry, supplying special hubs and stubs. The rear end assembly was designed and built by New Zealand speedway legend, seven-time New Zealand Modified Champion, and speedway race car builder Murray Gordge.

Gordge built up a Ford nine-inch differential, with Romac fully floating hubs and billet axles. Koni adjustable coil over shocks at the front and rear keep the beautiful 17×10-inch three-piece Simmons wheels and race slicks stuck firmly to the track.

Work of art

The engine in the Mustang is something of a work of art. And as is the case with many works of art, it did not come together too smoothly. As Wayne’s plans for the car changed, so too did his quest for power. Wayne got another of his US buddies, legendary race car builder Steve Saleen, to supply some trick parts to help up the stakes.
Wayne takes up the story. “Having talked with Steve Saleen, he recommended these cylinder heads (Trick Flow R Series) because they had used them in their racing program with their push rod engines, so we went ahead and had them made for us.

After receiving the heads in New Zealand our engine builder, Dave Mills (Road and Track Pukekohe), started to dummy up the engine, but we found the manifold that had been sent with the heads didn’t even look like matching up with the cylinder head ports. “After several more phone calls to Steve, in the States, we still didn’t have an inlet manifold. We had two more manifolds sent over from different race shops in the USA, but still nothing matched up.

Saleen had not had this problem, as he used a three-piece fuel injection manifold. At this time we found there was no single four-barrel carburettor manifold available to fit the R Series cylinder heads. Then Dave came up with the idea of getting in contact with Funnel Web Manifolds in Australia to see if it could help. It came back to us with a manifold that was basically a blank, and the manifold was machine finished to fit the engine in New Zealand. The heads are basically a Windsor design, but with Cleveland cantered valve and Cleveland inlet and exhaust port spacing, while the manifold bolts to the heads are as per Windsor design. Good heads, but a lesson learned.

“The next problem faced was that the headers had to be built to suit. Hookers in the US said it could build us a set that would fit the Mustang, with two-inch primary pipes. That was another mistake. When we got them they had to be cut up and re-made. But it was all worth it in the long run, as the engine made good power and torque.” That’s certainly true. The Mustang’s engine pumps out more than 450kW, and 786Nm of torque at 7000rpm. After racing with these heads for three seasons they were sent to Pro Action, and re-CNC machined for more flow and power. The engine block is an SVO R Series block. J & E pistons, 4340 crankshaft and billet rods are fitted, and it’s now out to 6178cc.

Shelby connection

Tony Branda in the US supplied all the Shelby and Shelby R body parts, including an R Series rear window, ’66 side windows, and side brake ducts. On the inside Wayne has fitted a pair of Momo NASCAR seats, plus Momo five-point race harnesses and steering wheel, while still keeping the classic look of the car. As he spends so much of the year offshore with his job, Wayne tries to squeeze in as much racing as he can when he’s at home. After initially running Super GT events, he also used the car to good effect in the newly created GDM Group Central Muscle Cars series and, along with the rapid ’69 Mustang fastback of Ian Williamson and the ’65 Mustang of Richard Gatward, he keeps the top-performing GM products on their toes.

Updates and improvements to the car have been ongoing. For the 2005 season Wayne built and fitted a new oval exhaust system, allowing him to lower the car closer to the ground to further improve the handling. The Mustang is a superb car, stunning to look at and beautifully engineered. But as is the case with so many enthusiast race car builders, creating the racer is as much fun as driving it, and Wayne has decided to start on a new project.

The stunning little Mustang was put on the market, and was snapped up by a South Island enthusiast when the CMC series visited Ruapuna in February.
Fortunately the new owner plans to run the car in CMC events, where it’ll go up against Wayne’s latest project, the spectacular ex Dean Perkins XE Falcon.

Words: Steven Holmes Photos: Wayne Fabish and Stew Wood