The Mustang is probably one of the best known pony cars in the World but even so, it still has its secrets. Not many people know about the Ford Mustang K-Code, a highly sought after version of the car which has been available for only 3 years. The car was basically a regular V8 Mustang with a different engine which was a $276 option. For $442,60 Ford over the base price of the car Ford also added a few performance upgrades meant to go along the better engine. While this might not seem like a large amount of money now, it was back in 1965 when the K-Code version of the car was released. In fact it was so expensive that Ford only sold little over 12,000 units, meaning that it is one of the rarest version of the Mustang to date.
What is the K-Code?
The name comes from the car’s VIN number. The car equipped with the better engine and the performance package had the “K” letter in the VIN. There were no other differences between it and the regular Mustang but this didn’t stop the car’s value to go up tremendously in the past few years. Some suggested Ford may decide to release a contemporary version of the K-Code but we do find this very unlikely.
Ford Mustang K-Code Exterior
The Ford Mustang K-Code wasn’t all that different from the original 1965.5 or the 1967 Mustang. In fact the car was mostly identical to the regular base version. The only notable difference was the addition of a set of badges on the front fenders. These stated “High Performance 289” which was unique to them.
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The badge was only available up until the end of the run but some people removed it, so it might be hard to find a Mustang with the original badges on it. The “Hi-Po” version of the car, which was the top end model, also added wider 14 inch rims wrapped in better tires with red sidewalls.
The interior
The interesting part is that the K-Code wasn’t really meant as an everyday car. While the base version of the car was available with power steering or air conditioning, the K-Code didn’t have any of these commodities.
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This was because the engine wasn’t actually compatible at the time and Ford found it easier to just offer the car without them.
Under the hood
The most special part about the Ford Mustang K-Code has to be its engine. While the regular top of the range vehicle had a 210 horsepower 289 c.i. engine, the K-Code cars were a bit more different. While the displacement didn’t change, all of the engine’s internal components did. The one in the “Hi-Po” cars came with new pistons, connecting rods, cylinder heads, exhaust and even a larger carburetor. The end result for all of that was a rather impressive 271 horsepower and 3112 lb-ft of torque which was significantly more than the older V8.
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This amount of power allowed the K-Code Mustang to sprint faster to 60 MPH than pretty much any of its direct rivals. On top of that it allowed it to take on much more expensive cars. Unfortunately there were some drawbacks. On top of the missing commodities, up until 1966 the engine has only been available with a 4 speed manual gearbox. The acceleration was similar to that of the regular V8 but this was because the car had much longer gears than its predecessor. This meant that the new K-Code Mustang was able to achieve much higher top speeds which quickly made it a favorite for many. In 1966 Ford also started to offer an automatic gearbox which was offering similar ratios to those found on the 4 speed manual.
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