Mike Alameda's story
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"I bought my car in September 1985 after a long search for a 429 big block 71 Mustang. It was advertised in a 3 years old Mustang Monthly that I had in my files. I was fortunate enough that the advertiser still had the car. Actually nobody had called for the car and he was willing after some negotiation to sell it to me. At that time neither him or me had a clue of the history of the car. I did a major restoration in the following years until 1992 replacing some of the suspension parts, repainting it in the bright red colour, putting on Mach 1 stripes and black paint on the hood, which was not there, when I bought it.
When I had finished the restoration, I send for Lois Eminger to get a copy of the original invoice for my Mustang. The VIN is a very low 71 number amongst the first 200 built units.
I was very surprised to receive 3 pages from her. The invoices clearly shows the delivery to DSO 71 (Phoenix Sales District) and list a '375-G-007 Press Show Las Vegas" remark. The car was fully loaded with options and delivered via Earnhardt Ford in Chandler to Las Vegas Convention Center, where the Mustangs were stored for the filming as I learned
later.
After I knew my car was something special I changed some parts back to original condition like the unpainted hood, which was modified for the movie as well, as the car had to match the others used in the scenses. The hockey stripes went off and I detailed the car a lot.
The 429CJ was already rebuilt by the previous owner and the numbers are still matching.
I made then contacts with several of the staff people and most confirmed that a 429 CJ Mustang was the reference car, used for the power slide of the dirt in the beginning, any close-up filming of Bond and St. John and for the actual tire burn-outs in downtown Las Vegas, where real torque was needed.
My car sits in the garage next to
a GT 500 and they talk. The Mach still
sports all of its original drive train, engine, trans, rearend. I have completely gone thru. all the suspension, brakes, paint,... everything and have found some items on the car that are seen in the movie that I have not changed or corrected.
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What happened to the other Mustangs
1F05M160938
.after its first restoration by Peter Nelson.
It then went into the Dezer Collection
Picture taken by myself in 2015 in Miami
1F05J100066
..shown here in the Bond in Motion show |
I was told that the 302s were later wrecked*, as no production team and the sponsor FORD could afford these cars to be used by the public.
The 351cui equipped car (1F05M160938) was heavily modified and had been used
further for a rolling all Ford car stunt show (by Buzz Bundy) called 'The Tournament of Thrills" in the 70ies.
Josep Brancella owned the car for a while. He was the one who responded to
the P. Newitt article in Mustang Monthly.
*(Guy Hamilton confirms this in his interview)
It was
bought for an UK based
collection of other BOND cars and since early 2000 under restoration. The
alley car, was in England (Keswick) until 2012 and was in need of much repair. I have discussed
in length with Mr. Peter Nelson*, the owner of Cars of the Stars about the Mustang and how it should be restored to condition as used in the film.
The car went into the Dezer Collection in 2012. After the facility was
closed around 2018/19, the cars went up to Orlando for the Dezerland. There
were some delays, but it seems that as of late 2021 the Bond show will be
reopened.
*Peter Nelson confirmed buying the car from the owner of
the Buzz Bundy show car to ponysite.de
I could inspect this car by myself in 2015 in
Miami, the museum wards let me even open the doors and the hood to take more
detailed pictures.
I will post them soon on another subpage.
(W.Kohrn9
There used to be another
429 Mach 1 "Bond"
car in Texas that was/is often discussed on webforums, which is 1F05J100066.
Lois Eminger e-mail communication shows a Mr. Keever as the owner back
then. He was clearly advised that his car was a 375-D coded press loan car
for Las Vegas (D for press loan, 375-G for show purposes like 100076).
This car was finally bought by the Ian Fleming Organisation and later on
display in the Bond in Motion exhibition. It carries a strange black stripe
along its sidelines.
It finally became apparent after closer DVD
research that it
was not one of the hero cars through the in-detail research. There is still
some more evidence maybe needed to exclude it. In fact it is also a very
early car from August 1970, while the Las Vegas filming took place from
April 12th, 1971 and in May 1971.
Not a proof, but some details of
the early vinned cars just do not fit the visible cars in the movie. Did
they pic rental car at the airport or a suitable car at a local Ford
dealer. Both versions were under research by Kevin Marti. The common sense
is that Ford also used cars from "stock" which could be indeed press loan
cars or dealer stored cars.
The more cars were
found in those 2 decades, the narrower the choice got. We press our thumbs
for a 2021 News breakthrough in December. It did not happen for another 4
years, however.
Update 2025: It took actually until November 2025 for Bo Durban to
come up with their final research on
www.bondmustang.com
Two parties claimed in 2024 and 2025 to be
involved in the restoration of 100066 on order by the IanFleming.org - the
Mustang Brothers and later on the Blue Oval car barn. No new facts are
given.
On their own site the Ian Fleming Organisation still states (for
years) that they do not have any further proof.
We are curious to see
those proofs either way.
Regarding another Bond Mach1, the Marti
research obviously points to one other car that has the TV Studio remark in
the paperwork. Typically that was the clear indication for a special built
movie car. We still know that some of the Bond DAF cars were just sent from
stock.
The specific TV Studio car has not surfaced up to today, it might
be gone, it might be even it was used for another movie, who knows.
So
we still have speculation around the DAF Mustangs. Good for the story.
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