Trailer Find!

Barn-find Mustang fastback purchase interrupted by thieves results in a handshake deal

- Jerry Heasley

THAD LANDAICHE COULDN’T BELIEVE HIS LUCK WHEN HE FOUND A 1966 K-CODE MUSTANG FASTBACK. However, on his way to get the car, his luck would change— somebody stole his F-250 Ford diesel truck, car trailer, and even the Ben Franklins stowed inside his suitcase to buy the barn find.

Thad lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His Mustang K-code adventure began a month earlier when he drove 460 miles to the Texas Motor Speedway for the Pate Swap Meet, where he met Alan Piper. Piper told Thad he was ready to sell a 1966 K-GT fastback and a 1964½ convertible, which had been stored for 30 years. Thad and his buddies followed Piper’s directions to Terrell, Texas: “Down a service road, onto a gravel road, you will see a cattle gate; drive through the cattle gate, and the first 18-wheeler trailer with no doors has the Mustangs inside.”

“We climbed up into the trailer. Bees were flying all around. Car parts were piled on top and all around the cars,” Thad recalls.

On this first inspection, they had permission to view the Mustang, but the owner could not be there. They could not find a VIN under the hood and Thad realized at that time that the door had been changed from another Mustang, so there wasn’t a door trim tag to source. The car was very difficult to access inside the trailer, especially since it was so dark and bees were thick in the air, so Thad and his friends drove back home to Baton Rouge.

Later, Thad phoned owner Alan Piper, who said, “No, it’s a true K-code. I have the title.” Of course, the 289 Hi-Po engine and transmission were long gone. About a month later, on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend 2019, Thad recalls, “We woke up early and left Baton Rouge at 6:30 a.m., on what was a safe trip, going good”—until they pulled into the TA Truck Stop at the I-20 exit in Terrell, Texas.