Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Ponies in the Corral

64-68 1st Gen/Pure Stock Class
 Juvat showed us his favorite ponies yesterday, so I thought I'd do the same, but different.  By the way Juvat, I'm so sorry for the loss of yours.  Tough post to write I'm sure.

I'm always ranting on here, but you deserve some niceties out of me every once in a while so I'm just going to post some pictures.  I spent Sunday at "Mustangs By The Bay."  It's a car show put on by the San Diego Mustang Club, of which I'm now a member since buying my own Mustang last February.  It's a very popular event, with the entire Embarcadero Park being  taken over by 320 Mustangs and their enthusiasts.  I didn't enter my own car, seeing how it's a basic stock Mustang without any special modifications that more-savvy car-show attendees make to their cars.  However, I enjoyed visiting and talking with other owners, and taking all these pictures



Those kind of Mustangs.  Not these:

Horsey Selfie with my beautiful wife backing me up.
Anyway, it was the first car show I've ever attended.  There are some folks who take car shows VERY seriously, probably putting a hundred thousand into their cars over the life of them.  Saw plenty of restored Mustangs, which is no inexpensive endeavor, but also heavily modified late models with superchargers, special wheels, upgraded interiors, hand painted engine covers, and the like.  A guy in my club owns two of these specialized ponies, but only drives them to the club meetings and car shows.  I prefer my daily driver which has been a blast for me so far, getting me nowhere near the 21 city MPG that was on the window sticker.



One of many '67 Fastbacks in the show

Steve McQueen would be proud

Two classics-  your humble scribe and a 1967 Coupe.
 This yellow one is a favorite since a good friend owns it, the same guy that convinced me to join the club.  It's a 99.9% original '67 Coupe.  Only the tires have been changed, once. Even the paint is original, thanks to the little old lady who owned it not driving it for 19 years, and barely at all before that- 38,000 original miles.




1968 Mustang Shelby.  What's a Shelby?  Take a look here.

40 years later, here's the updated version.

The surfboard was not standard equipment, but it's a great modification.

Patriotic engine cover
 I'm not really interested in changing the look of my car, preferring the simplicity of "stock," but I wouldn't mind doing something under the hood like this.  His galloping pony on the grill was similarly painted.

The winner of the class
 This one is another club member's.  When I first saw it I thought it was terrible how he had modified it, putting that bumper on the front.  Turns out that was standard equipment on the Mustangs made in Mexico.  Same type on the rear.


I realize we spend a lot of time on this blog talking about old stuff we like-  history, warplanes, how things used to be, etc.  I like the new stuff too though.

Modern Muscle

GT350 in the foreground, 8 reactors in the background.
Probably the best '67 Ragtop I've ever seen.
This black beauty was my choice for "Best In Show"  It's an incredibly clean '67 convertible almost exactly like the one my mom bought 50 years ago.  I've always loved the '67 as the best muscle car ever made, and the best Mustang.  It's a little beefier than the first generation, which was a little too small and fragile looking to me, but not big, heavy, and plastic like the 70's versions.  I would love to own one, and could afford it - some in the teens and low 20's- but I need a daily driver so the 2017 was the better choice. Maybe if I win the lottery and can afford to add a wing to my garage.


Beauty on the inside as well.

The End.  And a gorgeous one at that.
 Ok, I've exhausted my collection of Pony Pics.  Maybe I'll get political next time.  Or angry.  Or angry and political!

Giddyup!

26 comments:

  1. Beautiful vehicles, thanks for sharing those. The Mustang has long been a favorite car.

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  2. Thanks. Another reason I like the 67 is we were both made that year!

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  3. Not getting 21MPG? Could there be operator technique influencing that perhaps? ;-)

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    Replies
    1. Absolutely! I'm having way too much fun to get good MPG.

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  4. I had a 69 Mustang with the 390 engine that I bought circa 1977 and drove for a long time. I ended up selling it and at the time it seemed like the thing to do. Today, I'd like to have it to play with. I'm with you though, daily driver is better than a garage queen.

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    1. So many of those stories out there- nobody is glad to sell, but it's often a necessity.

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  5. I never intended to let go of the '94 ragtop, but a change in circumstances forced the issue.
    For a 6 cylinder it had lots of get upand regularly got over 25mpg.

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  6. One of my running buddies went to the Mecum show in Portland, OR, in June to fulfill a childhood dream of owning a 50's era T-Bird. Being the good Fleet Supply Officer that he was, he not only had Plans A, B, and C, but X, Y, and Z ready. And given the three T-Birds on offer at the show turned out in person to be, shall we say, "sad", he executed his alternate plans and ended up driving home this '69 Chevelle SS:

    https://www.mecum.com/lots/PJ0617-287929/1969-chevrolet-chevelle-ss/

    He's been causally doing the car show circuit in Oregon this summer, and trying to convince me I need to take a trip to a Mecum show and pick something up myself. Given I've still got a 14 year old who's thinking of College, I'm putting such thoughts way on the back burner.

    But there are some very interesting cars at the Mecum shows, at interesting prices. Very tempting!

    /
    L.J.

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  7. A guy in our club tried to auction his Mustang at a Mecum show- didn't meet the reserve. It is the 2nd Mustang ever and the first coupe. Ford owns the first, he owns the 2nd.

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  8. How about this one? It's a Mustang! Well, okay, it has the roof and C-pillars of a 65... Because 'Merica. :D

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    Replies
    1. Those Hoonigan videos are wild!

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    2. I dunno, something about the taped headlights makes me giggle. Because when your car is a 1400HP meth-fueled turbo AWD smoke-and-fire making machine, the last thing you would want to do is spray some glass around when you crash. That'd just be ungentlemanly.

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  9. Also, do the club guys laugh at you if you show up with one of the new 4-banger 'Stangs? They're the ones I can afford, but I'm not sure if I can survive the ridicule :P

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    1. Nope. We're more of a show car club than a racing, power, bravado, compensating club.

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    2. The 2017 V6's are going away, but are actually cheaper than the EcoBoost versions.

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    3. Yeah, but I need my Premium trim. :)

      (It's all a dream anyways, heh. I don't really have enough in the bank - just because I COULD, doesn't mean I SHOULD, yadda yadda...)

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  10. It's been interesting watching Mecum on TV and then checking their web site after the auctions for what sells and what doesn't. Who's at the show really seems to drive things. For instance, there where 2 Maserati Quattroportes at Louisville. The 2006 sold for $28k, while the 2007 remained unsold at $14k, even though it had a much, much, nicer interior and better presentation on the web site.

    LJ

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    1. The regular Mustang market is down right now, although it's rare to get what you put in them if you put a lot. At least that's what one owner said. They've gotta be super rare, and that doesn't always help. That #2 car is worth 600K, but didn't even make 300K.

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  11. My big problems with Mustangs have always been lack of headroom, especially in the newer ones. And the fact that I grew up in a Chevy crowd ... But there have been some awesome 'stangs over the years. Did they have any of the Hertz Shelby Mustangs, either 1966 or 2016 models? Those were always really cool, I thought. Read last year about a guy renting a new one from Hertz and taking it to a car show in PA, maybe Carlisle, hoping to win something. He was directed to "park it over there next to the other Hertz Mustang" and thought someone else had the same idea as he. Turns out it was an original '66 model.

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  12. I know this is about the cars, but I'm only counting 4 reactors. Two CVN's x2. I know, picky, picky.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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