House of Windsor: ’66 Ford Mustang GT K-Code

No, we haven’t been watching reruns of Downton Abbey. There are other houses of Windsor you know. We refer to Ford’s Engine Facility at Windsor Ontario. The V8 Ford Windsor motor family is considered by many to be one of the greatest and most successful engines of all time. Introduced in ’62 as the halo engine to Ford’s Total Performance program, finding its way into almost the entire range of Ford products. In the early days of the WIndsor, the 289 was the sweetest. It came in a variety of flavors but the one that caught the race car builders was the K-Code or more popularly known as the Hi-Performance. It was first deployed in the lowly Fairlane in 1963 but became the top engine choice of the early Mustangs. It was an expensive option and since it was only available with the 4-speed manual, it had a real niche audience. So of all the early Mustangs, the K-Code is the most rare – add the GT Package and it is rarer still. We stumbled across this loaded notchback ’66 on Craigslist and it looks pretty nice. It has lots of equipment like the GT Package, Pony Interior and metallic paint. But like every real K-Code, it has a 4-speed, disc brakes, 9″ rear and quicker steering. There are lots of little things to help identify a real K from a clone. The seller seems to know all of that detail and the listing is very specific about the proper codes for major systems and parts. Without a huge amount of modification, these K-Codes hit race tracks and rallies around the world. And you don’t need us to tell you that the fastback version was the car Shelby ordered to build the GT 350. With Shelbys going through the roof, you can snag one of these and have almost as much fun. The upside might not be as great but the smiles will. See the listing on Craigslist by clicking here. The ask is $31,500.00. Check the Hagerty Guide by clicking the icon.

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