Stunning One-Owner 1964 Mustang With 700k Miles for Sale, It's the Steal of the Millennium

Grant Martin is a gentleman from Lenexa, Kansas, who treated himself to a new car while attending his senior year at the McGill University of Montreal, Canada, studying to become an engineer. Nothing exceptional so far; countless other young men do this. However, how many would still have the same car after sixty years of almost continuous ownership? (The ‘almost’ will be explained shortly).

Imagine this: a 2024 soon-to-graduate student walks into a dealership and sees a car. He likes it, buys one, and keeps it until 2084.  Except that’s not remotely comparable because no other car can come within seven hundred thousand miles of what the 1964 Ford Mustang stood (and stands) for in the pantheon of automobile mythical heroes. If the 700k number seems random, keep reading; the mystery is about to unveil itself.

That’s the car Mr. Grant Martin bought in May 1964 after seeing it in April 1964 in New York at the World Fair. That’s when and where the Mustang legend officially began. The young engineer aspirant, then 20 years old, plunked down the $2,795 asking price and got the keys (together with the rest of the yellow car) on May 25 of that year. It was a Monday, and the next day, on May 26, he drove it to his classes in Canada.

He continued putting miles on his 260 cubic-inch (4.3-liter) inline-six, backed by a three-speed automatic gearbox. Grant didn’t spare his Ford, adding quite a dowry on the odometer during the following 41 years of ownership and rolling over the clock five times. Finally, in 2005, he treated the car to a full restoration, including a repaint to Burgundy, after 603,000 miles. I’ll let that sink in for a minute.

That’s 970,434 kilometers – an average of 23,669 km a year (14,707 miles) – a distance he covered in over four decades minus three weeks. Now’s the time to explain the brief hiatus: in 1977, the Mustang was stolen, but the wild horse thieves only had it for a couple of hours. The police recovered it (the story doesn’t mention whether the crooks were treated to a noose and a strong, tall tree branch, in true Wild West justice spirit) but, for some unknown reason, returned it to Mr. Martin three weeks later.

It was probably the longest days in the man’s life. Still, that forced separation opened his eyes (and heart) to the fact that the Mustang was not to be let get away easily. Another dozen years passed, and the Mustang, then in its 25th year of service, got a mechanical refurbishment. With 450,000 miles on its tab (over 724,000 kilometers), the engine received new valves and piston rings.

Two months after his Mustang purchase (incidentally, the sturdy pony was also Grant Martin’s first car), the man got something else to keep him company. A very energetic fox terrier dog with whom the Ford owner spent a lot of time riding in the car. In 2005, when the restoration was initiated, Mr. Martin insisted on keeping the original side windows in place because they had scratch marks from when the dog saw a bear during a trip to Yellowstone National Park.

In 2014, at the Mustang’s Golden Jubilee, Grant Martin and his first-year Ford pony co-starred in an article in the New York Times alongside nine other stable mates still in the care of their original owners. After another decade, Mr. Martin, now 80 years old, made a tough decision to let his beloved automobile find a new proprietor. ‘After spending 60 years together, the time has sadly come where I must say farewell to my 1964 1/2 Mustang.’

Nineteen years ago, when the Mustang was refurbished, Grant installed a Monte Carlo bar, a bigger lower sway bar, fog lights upfront, an electronic ignition system, and sequential LED turn signals at the rear. Although these upgrades would chip the originality aura of this particular Mustang, the car comes with original “sixty-four-and-a-half” and super rare seat belt buckles, horns, generator, AM radio, and oval gearshift lever handle.

The last bit can only be found on early-built 1964 1/2 Mustangs and is nearly impossible to locate an original one today. Late 1964.5’s (and the rest of the 1965 Mustangs) have larger, round shifter handles. More spare parts and a replacement set of original spinner-type hubcaps are included in the $25,900 asking price. Adjusted with the 907% inflation rate for the last sixty years, the current equivalent of the $2,795 paid in May 1964 is $28,160.26.

Less than three grand for a one-owner Ford Mustang (from the first batch off the assembly line) that still has the original engine under the hood and has traveled close to seven hundred thousand miles! The current odometer reading is 94,384 miles (151,896 kilometers). Add this to the 603,000 garnered between 1964 and 2005, and we get to 697,000 or thereabout (1,121,712 kilometers).

Call it the steal of the millennium. Comparing it to other classics would be sacrilegious, at least. (Some Golden Age muscle cars, like this 1970 Coronet R/T convertible 440 Six-Pack, could sit at the same table with this Mustang.) ‘I hate to say goodbye. Looking for a buyer who will give my longtime companion a good home in the years to come.’ I’m sure there is one out there, Mr. Martin, who’ll tip his hat at your dedication for your wonderful piece of Blue Oval history.