by Nell Laurel

Created on: July 04, 2010

When people ask me what my favorite car is, my response is the same as it has always been: 1965 two door coupe Ford Mustang. When I bought my first car, she was already 20 years older than I was. Growing up I had always loved classic cars. The first classic car I had ever ridden in was a Model T that belonged to my cousin’s grandfather. We rode in that car over 40 miles to a classic car show, driving on the shoulder of the road. I do not think we drove any faster than 25 miles an hour.

That trip and the following car show instilled within me a passion and undying love for the classics. So when I came upon this beat up, rusted out, Mustang I almost died. I was in the market to buy my first car, but when talked about her everyone tried to talk me out of it. I however was sold; I paid just over a grand for my beat up baby, with the dream to restore her to her original glory.

She is what they called a ‘hertz’ orange in color with black leather interior. Though at the time of buying her I had little to no, mechanical inclination or knowledge I quickly learned what I needed to as she often acted out the joking acronym for F.O.R.D., ‘fix or repair daily’. Which considering she had sat in a garage for the 14 years before I bought her, I did not expect much more. 

The one thing in this world I will never forget is the way I felt the first time I climbed behind the wheel and fired her up. The roar of the engine made me feel alive, from that moment on I was inexplicably in love with my car.  Even though her underbody was almost completely rusted out, she had holes in the floorboard, the rear quarter panels were almost more rust than metal and the trunk had a hole the size of a bowling ball I did not care. She was mine.

Over the last 5 years that I have owned her, I have been able to do little in the way of restoration. In fact sadly for the last two years she has been parked. In addition, it seems that with each passing day the chance of seeing her in her full and pristine glory fades a little more. However, I still hold onto that hope of one day flying down the highway windows down, showing off my pretty little beauty.

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