I sent my Dad the December 2016 Aviation Consumer article on the Mooney 201 M20J. I bought a M20J last year and it reminds my Dad of his first airplane. He wrote me this email today:
GREAT ARTICLE ABOUT A GREAT AIRPLANE - NOTHING SO FAST ON SO LITTLE FUEL ON 200HP! N5785Q was owned privately and billed 15 cents per mile when on business. (It was his personal plane but he used it for business and billed the business 15 cents per mile.)
Answering your question: - It was a 1965 M20E b