It’s Hard to Define a T5?

Written by Don Stewart | 01 October 2006

We all know what the T5 was, right? Of course we do. It was Ford’s project code for Mustang as it went through the concept and development process in the early 1960s. Or maybe that’s not the T5 you were thinking of. Maybe you were thinking about the export Mustang known as T5. Is there a difference? Well, yes and no. In one sense, all first generation Mustangs were T5s just like all 2005/06/07 Mustangs are S197s. Ford doesn’t put an S197 badge on the new-generation Mustangs and they didn’t badge domestic T5s with a T5 badge either. So why were some of the early cars exported with T5 badging?

From the beginning, Ford intended to export the Mustang to Europe and they planned to call the car Mustang, just as they did for the domestic market. One of the targeted and potentially lucrative European customer pools was the U.S. military presence in Germany. At the time, the army was said to have 132,000 cars registered in Germany so Ford wanted Mustang to have a piece of that pie.

It was going to be quite an undertaking to convert the cars for compliance with German motor vehicle regulations (I’ll touch on that in a minute) but another more pressing issue reared its ugly head. The original marketing plans had to be drastically revised because there were already two motor vehicle manufacturers in Germany that used the name Mustang. Ford could use the Mustang name in the UK and in the rest of Europe but Kreidler and Krupp owned the name in Germany.

Krupp built trucks sold under the Mustang name and Kreidler made a line of motor bikes and motorcycles called Mustang. The naming rights didn’t expire until 12/31/1978 so if Ford wanted to sell Mustangs in Germany, they first had to resolve the naming issue. Krupp and Kreidler offered to sell rights to the name for $10,000 but Ford refused the offer. If I was to make a guess, their refusal probably had more to do with maintaining Mustang’s autonomy than it did with the $10,000 price tag. Regardless, the Mustang would have to be renamed for the German market.

Whether or not Ford found it difficult to decide on the new name may be a piece of historical trivia that’s lost forever but despite that small gap in the story, the T5 project code ultimately became the new name and resolved the issue. Ford would still sell the car as Mustang in the UK and the rest of Europe except that cars ordered from Germany but delivered to other countries would carry the T5 badging. First Mustang Club of Germany reports that they are aware of documented evidence of T5s sold in other countries for that exact reason.

In fact, Mustangs would be badged as T5s in Germany well beyond the life span of the first generation cars. The designation would carry forward until 12/31/1978 when Krupp and Kriedler lost rights to the name.

OK, with the naming issue resolved, what exactly was a German T5? Was it the same as a domestic Mustang except for the badges or was it a different car? Actually, it was some of each.

As far as we know, the basic car was built at either Dearborn or Metuchen, meaning none were assembled in San José. Typically, T5s were scheduled in batches or groups because German motor vehicle regulations were significantly different from those in the United States. Building them in groups made it logistically easier to stage parts on the assembly line. However, nothing was black and white, especially when it came to Ford Motor Company products of that era.

Many of the German-mandated modifications are listed further on in this column and most, if not all, of them were made for cars ordered by German citizens. But cars ordered by members of the armed services posted to Germany didn’t always receive all of the same revisions. That was probably true because Ford expected most of the military personnel to bring the cars home with them and along those lines, there was a program to return those cars to the U.S. free of charge.

This is a perfect setting for Murphy’s Law to intervene and, of course, it did. Some of the armed service owners left their cars in Germany making it difficult for today’s German collectors to be certain that a T5 from the 1965 or 1966 model years is the real thing. They can’t authenticate a car by the presence of specific modifications because, as noted, Ford didn’t consistently apply the same modifications to all cars. So if a car was not fully converted in accord with German regulations, it still might be a real T5, or not. The ‘65 and ‘66 cars can’t even be authenticated by the buck tag because all export Mustangs (T5 or not) had the same “X” embossed on the tag. This is the kind of stuff that makes the Mustang hobby so interesting and yes, at times, so frustrating. On ‘67 and later cars, Kevin Marti can help authenticate T5s by referring to the Ford database.

Parts for the laundry list of conversions dictated by German motor vehicle regulations were packed in the trunk of the early cars and then installed by the dealer. Beginning with calendar year 1965, the German government no longer accepted that method of conversion. From that point forward, many of the modifications had to be done on the assembly line. This goes back to the statement made earlier in the column regarding the practice of assembling the cars in groups or batches. The list below describes some of the changes mandated for the German market. Remember that cars sold to military personnel received these changes on a hit or miss basis.

• Mustang name elimination was handled by affixing new badges, which required a different hole pattern in the fenders; installing different wheel covers, installing a different gas cap; using a special dash emblem; and removing the name on the steering wheel cap.
• Suspension parts were beefed up and the export brace was used to lessen front end flex.
• A mechanical lock required on the steering mechanism was implemented by using a locking device installed on the right hand side of the steering column. The ignition switch was part of the device much as we’ve seen in domestic cars for many years. The device used at that time had an extra position on the ignition switch called “garage.” When the key was turned to “garage” and removed from the lock, a pin was released such that it immobilized the steering shaft. The original ignition switch apparently was left in place in the dash but not utilized. Revised wiring was threaded into the steering column and attached to the special switch.
• Headlights were changed out and replaced with units that that didn’t utilize the sealed beam configuration found on domestic cars.
• Separate turn signals that didn’t use a double filament bulb were installed at the front of the car. The lamp had to have an amber lense, not an amber bulb with a clear lense. The parking lamp was in a separate housing. Wiring modifications were required to make the new configuration work.
• The instrument panel foil behind the lenses of the turn signal telltales were changed to (usually) red. And the foil behind the high beam telltale was changed to blue.
• Emergency flashers were required but the implementation took a number of different forms as far as the switching device was concerned. Some of the early cars had an add-on package, typically from Bosch. The switch was usually located at bottom left on the dash and incorporated a red telltale lamp. Later T5s used the steering column switch found in domestic cars but sometimes separate red telltales were installed in the dash cluster.
• Regulations required separation of the tail light functions similar to separation of parking lamps and turn signals at the front of the car. In particular, the German authorities disapproved of one brake light not working when the turn signal was in use. The modification included boring new (additional) holes in the taillight housing and the installation of additional sockets and bulbs. Wiring also had to be modified.
  
  It has been reported that this modification was usually performed as required in the later years of the first generation cars but on the earlier cars, it was not done in a consistent manner. The changes (when they were performed) were done by the dealers and whether or not the work was done at all seemed to depend on the relationship between a particular dealer and the regulating authorities.
• Side marker lamps were not acceptable. The recommended modification was to remove the bulb and paint the lense black. Again this was a hit or miss deal.
• Regulations required towing brackets on the front frame rails but as with many of the other changes, not all T5s received this modification.
• Disc brakes were supposed to be installed on all T5s according to Ford literature but many of the vehicles ordered by military personnel had drum brakes.
• Tilt steering wheels were not allowed but cruise control was acceptable.
• The speedometer for German citizens was calibrated and marked in kph but the cars ordered by military personnel had speedometers calibrated and marked in mph.

Self-imported cars, of which there were some, were not necessarily assembled or badged as T5s but nevertheless, they had to undergo some of the modifications. This serves to further confound the ability to identify a 1965 or 1966 model as a real T5.

It has been estimated by Gary Hanson, owner of the T5 registry, that about 500 Mustangs were shipped to Germany in each of years 1965 and 1966. Ford, on the other hand, reported 2500 units. Hanson believes this was an artificially high number intended to mask disappointingly low sales. From Kevin Marti’s database, shipments from 1967 through 1973 totaled 3631 units combined.

So how hard is it to define a real T5? Pretty hard, especially if it’s a ‘65 or ’66.

[Much of the information in this article was inspired by the historical summary available online at www.ponysite.de, the very informative site maintained by First Mustang Club of Germany. If you’ve never visited the site, surf on over next time you’re on line. - Ed.]