Anyone remember the Ford "T-5"? (no not the trans.)

[TsgtRet]

" I was living in Germany at the time and our AAFES (Army and Air Force Exchange Service) Base Exchange in Kaiserslautern had a small office with 1 on the floor, except is was a Z-28-E (for Export). That was a Euro-spec version. They all came in gray and had differnt options including NO emissions equipment."

This post by DR in Modlerbob's Z-28 thread, dredged up a memory. Back when the Mustang first came out they weren't allowed to be sold in Germany (as Mustangs), seems some truck manufacturer had the rights to the name. As a result they were rebadged as T-5s clear up through the late 70s. Here's an article that goes into some detail: http://www.fordt5.com/history.html
When I was stationed in Germany (85-89) one of the guys had purchased a used 73 (?) T5, Mach One; the only change on the door jamb ID sticker was the word "Mustang" had been cut out. It had all the T5 badges as outlined in the article. Interesting that Ford thought it was easier to rebadge the cars rather than spend $10K to buy the rights to the name.
Here are a couple pics: http://gomotors.net/photos/7d/57/1968-f ... 7cc7.jpg?i
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_i_AovfzNXgQ/S ... 355332.jpg
http://www.mustangheaven.com/blog/wp-co ... ermany.jpg

[waaytoomuchintothis]

That '73 Mach 1 takes me back. I drove one for a week while my '65 was in the paint shop. Crazy car. Looked neat on the outside, but compared to my '65 it was weirdly huge, and the back window only allowed the narrowest peep at what's behind you. This one had the Cleveland, so it ran like a striped-ass ape! I think I went through two tanks of gas in that week. Some of that was the Rockcrusher trans. It would get rubber on a speed shift from 2nd to 3rd at 50mph. At 90, the whole car shook enough to scare you to death. Fun, though.

[mrstumpyHO]

I ran across a '65 or '66 T-5 at a car show many years ago, around 1977 or'78 and thought some clown had cobbled up the chrome lettering. The car looked like a typical small block V-8 Mustang to me, so I asked the guy about it. What an education!

The car had a "beefed up" 289, the 271 horsepower version. Four speed transmission of course, and posi-traction type rear end and the Ford "rally" wheels and "Wide Oval" tires. There were heavy anti roll bars under it front and back and body stiffening braces under the hood from firewall to the shock towers and between the front and rear frame clips. It was a fastback body painted an odd orange color with a grey interior.

The owner had bought it brand new in Europe (I forget where) and when his hitch in the Air Force was over, he shipped it home. He said that while power steering and air conditioning were options of the Mustang in the United States, they weren't available at all on the T-5 cars. Later on I became good friends with an ex-Ford executive who shared my interest in vintage race cars and old hot rods. He verified pretty much what the T-5 owner had told me years before and added that they made less than two full days production run of them each year at one of the Mustang assembly plants. Ford had boxes of T-5 fender emblems long after they stopped making "T-5's" and exported "Mustangs."

Even today, I doubt 99% of the "car guys" in this country even know these cars existed. And since in all my years in around cars, I've only seen the one T-5, I figure damn few ever "came home."

Stumpy in Ahia :character-oldtimer:

[TsgtRet]

Stumpy, I'm guessing you're right about only a few coming back to the US. The Mach One I mentioned the guy had actually purchased it from a German citizen that had bought it new. He was planning on bringing it back but don't know if he ever did as I rotated back before he did.