Ponysite Classic Mustang Archived Online Magazine
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26.April
Our reporter Gary Hanson visited

Fabulous Ford Forever, Knott’s Berry Farm, April 2005
For each of the last 20 years the Ford family  faithful has gathered each April to celebrate the greatness of all Fords, past and present.  Every year the show has a marquee car line that is highlighted and honored with special recognition.  This year the honor car was the Ford Thunderbird, celebrating 50 years since the original model was introduced.  About 1700 Fords from 1903 to the current models are on display.  It is believed to be the largest gathering of Fords in the world. 
As in past years the car line with the largest representation was the Ford Mustang.  About 400 models from the original 1965s to the latest designs from Saleen and Roush.  The Mustangs on display represent cars from all walks of life, everything from cars needing total restoration to pristine show cars.  The trend toward the “restomods” continues to grow and now seems to be the norm. 
The restomods are even growing in the late model Mustangs.  In an idea that started about two years ago several cars are now equipped with upward lifting side doors, gullwing style.  While they look very difficult to install the word is that the installation is easy and takes 4 hours per door while the special hinges cost about $1700.  They change the whole character of the car and make entry and exit much easier.  These special hinges are not yet available for the early Mustangs.
The latest models from Saleen and Roush are very nice are ready for immediate delivery from selected Ford dealers.  Steve Saleen was on hand to sign autographs and visit with the Mustang crowd.  You can get excellent pictures of the cars from their respective websites. 
A trend in the early models that continues to grow is the installation of newer 5 liter engines with fuel injection along with AOD and 5 speed transmissions.  These newer transmissions are also being seen in the early models with the original engines. 
As in past years it was a great show. 

This 1967 S-code (390cui) powered black Mustang was our "rental car" for a trip to Pony Parts Norway, pictured in the background. The car is owned by Rudi Rønning from Hønefoss and now needs a C6 overhaul. Sorry Rudi, but it wasn't really us, was it?

Did you ever wonder, why Norwegians accumulated so many  big block Mustangs? When I was just recently in Norway, Lars-Petter Kolkind from the Norsk Mustang Club dropped a sentence that made it all clear.  "Here in Norway entering a freeway is very dangerous. It's not ruled out who in which lane should wait and who should accelerate or slow down.  With a Big Block, the choice is easy for us and we decide the way it will be sorted out."  Maybe that's a reason, why these guys are the toughest competitors on the dragstrip?

After coming back from this thrilling carnut journey to some Norwegian enthusiasts guided by Lars-Petter and meeting finally Mustang collector Svein Erik A., it came to my mind that there is something, I had really forgotten a bit in the process of this site, the RARE PEOPLE behind the Mustang collections. 

Therefore:
I am starting soon a special series  - "The Mustang Collector"

There are more Mustang Enthusiasts out there that do have the opportunity to live the dream of many other Pony Enthusiasts - in buying, restoring or caring about our beloved items of special interest without necessarily thinking about the savings of your partner.
Still you don't always need a big pocket to acquire more than 3 Ponies, it's most often just about timing and buying and selling, until you get what you really want to keep. 

Ever heard of a Mustang P51? Sure you have heard of the airplane, but certainly not about this unique custom Mustang of the 60ies. 
Thanks to Mark Gustavson and his Lynx Project we can present you untold stories about the Mustang in the next weeks to come.
Unique concept and customs car never published - even in the Witzenburg documentation - will be shown in this section thanks to Mark. Watch out for his soon to be published book on the Lynx project with rare and never published pictures of one of the most exciting Ford and Mercury adventure in the early 60ies.

Here is what Mark has on the Mustang P51:
"Andy Hotton offered, for a short time, a custom conversion kit for the '65 Mustang Fastback.  He called the car the "P51" -- a play on the word "Mustang" and Andy, apparently, was a WWII figher pilot.  There are advertisements for the kit in 1965 issues of Road & Track"

We will first publish an 8 page article exclusively in our club mag 2/2005 and will publish excerts of it on this site later. 

Following the original Mustang 2005 concept car shown above, the front fascia of the new Shelby G.T.500 catches a lot of the original designers ideas and was probably most easy to apply in a short time for an option package as intended.


The finally decided Shelby Cobra GT500's supercharged 5.4-liter SC (not DOHC) V-8 will produce over 450 hp

More pics and details on Ford Media site 

More in the Hot Rod June 2005 issue about the development including pics of the prototype in the Showroom car treatment studio. 

Acc. to latest information 7500-12000 Shelby Cobra GT 500 will be produced, featuring the 5.4 litre engine and about 450HP minimum
Ford took the wraps off the 450-plus horsepower Ford Shelby Cobra GT500 show car at the New York International Auto Show March 23. Designed in the unmistakable image of Shelby Mustangs of the 1960s, the Shelby Cobra GT500 melts SVT's modern engineering with the big-block performance that made the original GT500 the king of the road.

The colour choice will be limited to a red/white scheme as presented, a blue/white one plus 2 sets, that have as of June not yet been decided. Bet it will be white/blue plus Terlingua Racing colours. Price is currently calculated to be between 37.000 dollar and 40.000 dollar. Body changes will be done to the hood and fascia yet.

Getting a Mustang over to Australia has never been easy. Driving it as well. This right hand driven Boss 351 however seems to have been the real fan for a guy down under back then. Jo and Lindi inherited it from an relative in the opal mining area of Australia.

It's on sale for an Mustang enthusiast only, so make sure you make the right money offer.

More on the car - click on this link

In Memoriam: Tony Sousa

Tony Sousa, co-organizer and participant of the Mustangs Across America trails died in early January 2005 due to a heart attack.

Thanks to my friend Gary Hanson, who has been "in the MAA trail" since years, let's have a short review of the MAA 2004 in memoriam of Tony.

MAA report 2004

A pair of rare genuine hillclimbing 1971 429 Cobra Jets (original export cars)

Hans Halek - 1971 429 CJ-R

Rolf R. - 1971 429CJ-R

Nothing beats a big block once you enter the mountain world of Austria and Switzerland in tiny little Europe. We'll feature today these two rare export '71 429 Cobra Jets that have certainly paved their tires into the "roads to Heaven" more than once.
Hans Halek from Salzburg takes it more serious. He enters occasionally the Rossfeld Historic hillclimbing race and has done a few mods to his engine and suspension to be up front of his competitors. You'd never expect a Big Body in such a race, but Hans is proud to have won several prices, so don't underestimate its brute torque uphill with a 4-speed.

Rolf R. from Germany recently bought this black Big Body with a 429 Cobra Jet  from Switzerland. It is well optioned and will be featured in our next club mag 1/2005. So be patient for a while..

Both cars are original export Mustangs to Austria, respectively Switzerland, most probably the Austrian is the only one ever exported there, while in Switzerland we do know of already 3, probably around a dozen exported there.
1865 71 429 CJs were made in total, 1512 with Ram Air like these 2., 618 with manual, 894 with automatics (of these 1512), 544 exported and only 3 were exported to Germany as T-5s. 

One of the first serial production Mustang in Europe?

You might have read on this site already about the preproducton Mustang that went to Alan Mann Racing for suspension test as early as February 1964.
Well recently I found this pic of a 260 convertible that is most probably one of the three first Mustangs ever to arrive in the UK for media use. 2 convertibles and one 170 hardtop are mentioned in an early 1964 UK motorjournal, however they were not pictured there. 
Looks like it got a lot of attention immediately after it was put on the docks in Great Britain. Whoever has more on this car, might want to share his memories.
We assume that this is a car around the VIN of #100170. 
We know that there are lower numbers delivered to Europe like 5F08F100145, but the subline of this pic said: "the first Mustang in Europe"

One of about a dozen 1966 T-5 K-code convertibles?



Pictures courtesy Emmanuel

"I bought the car on the 14 July 2004 (Anniversaire de la Revolution!) in Marseille from a french man, who restored it completely 4 years ago. It was one of my teenager dreams and as in our times we cannot speed too much any more on these roads, it was the best way to enjoy driving in an eyecatching convertible. Initially I wanted only a regular convertible, but a friend of mine put me in contact with the T-5 convertible owner. It was not really within my budget, but after thinking about it,this friend who collects cars, told me that it was a great oportunity. Today I really don't regret this. This car has a lot of options. It's VIN indicates it as an early 66 car  (6T08K107xxx) and the door tag codes read as following:
Int.76B    Colour R    Trim 66    Date 03J
DSO 95   Axle 5      Trans 5

At least one of 2 registered today!
Emmanuel from Monaco presents us this ultranice dark green metallic 1966  HiPo convertible shown in front of a perfect RIVA boat  setting at the Monaco seaport..

What else could be a better background for such a beauty? It certainly has found a warm and perfect  home down there. Let's hear, what the owner has to say about this CV.

Thanks for letting us know. There are still no accurate figures about early T-5s (64-66). About 600 of all body styles are estimated by my friend Gary Hanson (T-5 registry owner). According to import statistics 624 Fords were officially imported into Germany by Ford, however US-staff cars (T-5s as well) are not included in that. 

That leaves us only to speculate about the accurate numbers of T-5 Mustangs back then.  Anyway we can assume that the total number of convertibles was less than 200 and the HiPo probably around a dozen in total.