Used Cars: 1966 Mustang - How reliable?, ford mustang coupe, common sence

Question
QUESTION: Jay
Thanks for your time. I am looking to purchase a 1966 Ford Mustang, Coupe, as an everyday driver. My question revolves around reliability and whether buying a 40 year old vehicle.
I obviously dont want to pay for a show car that never gets driven, but am happy to pay for the best looking and mechanically sound vehicle I can.
Can you pls give me your general thoughts and things to look out for.
Note: Am in Australia so will be buying something locally.
regards
Paul

ANSWER: Well I am a huge fan of the older mustangs.  And they are really good cars all the way around.
Now if I was looking for something to drive back and forth all of the time, I dont know if that would be my first choice, simply because of fuel economy and all around driveability.
They are sports cars, with outdated technology, compared to some of the newer stuff available.
But you can make them pretty comparable by putting disc brakes, electronic ignition, different suspensions and such....but back to the question.  If the car is running good, and everything is like it should be, they are extremely reliable, and pretty easy to fix in the event something went wrong.  The older engines and transmissions, are almost bullet proof.  They are really tough!  When talking about the coupes, there isnt really a whole lot to look out for because of all of the older mustangs, they are the cheapest, and easiest to find, and you really should not be paying an arm and a leg for one of them.  If it was a 67 Fastback, it would be a whole new ball game! Those older stangs are fun to fix up, and if you like the older vehicles, I would highly recommend one.  I hope this is helpful and if you have any further questions about older stangs, feel free to get back to me.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Jay
Thank you very much for getting back to me so quickly.
My common sence is saying go for a modern car, but I just love the older Mustangs and need a little
re enforcement/assurance that with a few of the modern additions (disc brakes, elec ignition, power steering etc) that an
old Mustang is not a stupid thing to get.
I will keep looking at them and if I need and more specific advice I will come back to you.
Regards
Paul

Answer
Well you have already answered what I consider to be the most important thing in buying a used car....You must really like it!  Now I tell people that they must really like it, because in the modern end of things, if they dont want it after they bought it, they are going to lose some money, maybe $2000 to $3000.  But when you are talking about an older Mustang like that, that is not the same scenario.  If you buy the car right, spend your money wisely, and do the right things to the car, you will probably not lose any money, and might even make some money, when the time comes to sell it.  If I had an older mustang, modernized, I would drive it all over the place.  They are so fun to fix up, primarily because when fixing them up, you immediately notice a difference in the things that you do.  And Modern car market values fluctuate, pending economic conditions and such, that would not really be the case with an older mustang, because that would be a deal where somebody could/would pay cash for it, and people with money, generally, always have money regardless of economic conditions......for the most part.
I would go with it, have fun with it, and know that you are not going to lose your ass when you go to sell it.