Darwin Carmichael's 1965 GT Convertible

Darwin purchased this car from the original owner in 1976 for the total sum of $350 for his son Greg. This classic ragtop was Greg's first car. Greg was only 15 years old at the time and the car needed a lot of work. Darwin and Greg enrolled in an evening body shop class at a local high school and banged around on the old Mustang while trying to learn the art of body repair. Greg bloodied a number of knuckles on the car as he loosened stubborn, rusty bolts on various parts of his new project. After finishing his undergraduate work at Indiana University, Greg departed for Air Force flight training in Oklahoma, leaving his partially completed project behind. His sister, Julie, still in high school, soon found herself behind the wheel of this project in motion and had lots of fun tooling around campus. By then, it had a cheap paint job, new tires and a new top, but was still in need of a lot of work. Eventually, Julie decided to abandon the "fun" car for a more reliable source of transportation.

While at Vance Air Force base as a T37 Instructor Pilot, Greg brought his pony out to the base to continue his labor of love, eventually giving it a total engine rebuild. In 1988, when Greg's next assignment made it impossible to take the Mustang along, Darwin flew out to Enid, Oklahoma and drove the mighty steed back to Cincinnati. Greg, now Lt. Colonel Carmichael, recently returned from a 2-month stint patrolling parts of Afghanistan in his F-16 and currently resides in Phoenix with his wife and two fantastic daughters.

After the car had sat idly in his garage for about 10 years, Darwin finally got serious about restoring the black beauty to its original state. The car was towed to Otway, Ohio, where a craftsman by the name of Tom Jones embarked on a major makeover. Tom removed everything from the car engine, transmission, hood, fenders, quarters, etc., and then replaced, sand blasted, straightened, refinished and reassembled the car. The only piece of original sheet metal on the car is the deck lid. Fenders, quarters, doors and hood were all replaced. It then came back to Cincinnati for a new top and paint work. Derek Nolan, of Nolan's Unique Paint and Body, did a fabulous Raven Black paint job on the car. Scott Kelley of the Tri State Mustang Club helped complete the project as if it were his own car. The interior of the car is completely his handiwork, as well as many other aspects of the finer points of finishing the project. Scott continues to willingly contribute much of his time and talent to upgrading the car. Equipped with a 289 4V engine and a C4 Automatic Transmission, the proud stallion boasts such options as the GT package, Pony Interior, Power Steering, Power Top, Air Conditioning and Styled Steel wheels with bias belted dual redline tires. A recent addition was a factory style Rally Pac.

The car has garnered a good share of awards at local and regional shows, including a Best Of Show at the John Nolan Ford Show last year. At Ford shows, it is entered in the Driven Concours class. While not a lot of miles are added to the car, it is driven occasionally on nice, warm days. The longest drive since the total makeover has been to Darwin's hometown of Bloomington, Indiana (just had to show it off to the relatives!). Darwin is also the proud owner of a concours driven 1966 coupe, which he continues to show, but the 1965 convertible is easily his favorite. This one has been in the family a long time and there it will remain.

No for sale signs on this one!