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Vintage 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1. (Image source:
expertautoappraisals.com)
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Otay, so this is old news, and will show Yuhs
just how much I've slipped from the hype "o automobiles... Especially
since I was more enthralled with playing Arcade Fire's current album's title
song Reflector upon
Zed 'Confuzer vs. typing something mesmerizing about Ford's Mustang, thee
original "Pony Car" turning the B-I-G 5-Oh on April 17, 2014.
Yeah, I suppose I should have been "JAZZED" over
this occasion, after all having once owned a very rough 1969 Mach 1, my
"Poor Man's" rendition of the stang' I really wanted, one of the
'Uber rare, nee expensive 1970 BOSS 302's! As some where's at Tomaso Manor
resides the long ago pictures taken of my '69 Fastback at the inaugural
Canterbury Faire's car show where Deano' snapped the picture of my chariot with
the Beater Ford parking sign in front of I-T; Hooah!
Having had my flames fanned for A-L-L thingys
"FoMoCo," particularly Mustang's and Shelby's in particular fed by
Roberto & Co, along with honorary inclusion in WASAAC, Washington's
original Shelby Club, along with being its Motorsports Beat Writer for Saac Time,
the club's monthly newsletter for six years.
This consumption of Pony-fever boiled over by
getting to drive Roberto's '66 Shelby GT-350H rental "Rocket-car,"
along with piloting BOSS BILL's' grabber orange 1970 BOSS 302! And test driving
the Mustang I should have bought, a completely restored yellow '70 Mach 1, albeit
a "Slush-box," (Automatic) while I wanted a 4-speed car instead!
Not to mention numerous rides aboard a bevy
of 1965-66-67-68 Shelby Mustang's, most notably Randy's NASTY '65 Shelby GT-350
vintage racecar at Portland International Raceway - as I still fondly recall
goin' 3-WIDE down PIR's front straight whilst playfully racin' to be first into
the Festival Curve!
Or riding in Kimberly's vintage 64-1/2 289cid
V-8 mustang convertible, Deano's SVO and a cherry 30th anniversary Indy 500
Pacecar replica, just to name a few...
As I've bled so deep Ford blue over the years
that Tacoma Bureau Chief Mary Ellen had to call and ask What's the Dealio? Why
hadn't I told her it was the Mustang's 50th birthday and she'd had to hear
about it on the radio instead.
But I suppose a large piece of my enthusiasm
for Mustang's was lost the day I had to sell my Mach 1 - having lost the ability
to drive automobiles anymore due to my faltering eyesight, which really kicked
my ARSE initially! As I'd spent countless hours dreaming of how I'd restore my
Stang' into a NASTY '69 BOSS 302 clone,
albeit upgrading the motor to fuel injection, etc, even having drawn up
sketches of wrapping its front hood & fender's with Larry Shinoda's '94
BOSS graphics treatment.
Yet like many typical Hot Rodders or
Petrolheads', I simply lacked the dinero to restore my Stang' quickly and
instead just enjoyed going for my Sunday
Drive's on my various "Back-roads loops!"
Although I did spot the news in the New York
Times Autos section (naturally) - originally; as what's becoming a common occurrence
these Dazes, I couldn't locate I-T on Zed Internetz and instead used somebody
else's story. As this USA Today piece has a nice photo gallery of the various
Mustang incarnations...
As the original story plus countless others
tells of how the original 1965 Mustang convertible was cut into three pieces
plus windshield to fit into the Empire State building's 36-inch wide elevators
in order to reach the 86th story
observation deck.
This year's Mustang GT convertible used for
the feat naturally is longer, wider and taller, and thus, the new donor chassis
for the project was cut into six pieces, along with needing to be fully
assembled in just a scant six hours time!
And naturally the Ford Motor Company is
taking full advantage of the marketing bonanza afforded by its Star player's
birthday, by not only introducing the latest iteration of the fabled Pony Car
this year but also producing a limited edition run of 1,964 50th Anniversary
Mustang's...
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| Tom Gloy Racing Dorsey Schroeder "Hero" card, circa 1994. (The Tomaso Collection) |
All of which makes me Jones' for a ride in a
new Mustang, as its funny to realize that I haven't ever set foot inside of any new Stang's' since the 5.0-liter era,
meaning I haven't been fortunate enough to ride in a Mustang involving the '94 body style forwards;
SHEISA!
Making I-T even funnier yet, is the fact that
I've kept two 30th Anniversary Ford Racing Mustang posters autographed by the
"Gloy Boyz," aka Dorsey Schroeder, Boris Said and John Gooding
stuffed in a poster tube A-L-L of these year's now! As I can still see 'Ol
Dorsey's snarky frown grimacing at Mwah for getting two posters signed at Y'all
guessed I-T! Portland International Raceway during the '94 CART/PPG IndyCar
race, when the factory backed Trans Am wars were still going strong.
As even more ironic yet, is the fact that
Schroeder drove the Jack Roush 25th Anniversary T/A Stang' to the top "O
the heap by winning the 1989 Trans Am championship...
Now if we could
just get the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to drop its General Motors
"exclusivity" clause, as it'd sure be nice to see a Stang' pacing the
Indy 500 field in 2015!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUSTANG!
