Mustangs from 1964-2014 will take over the Ramada Hotel’s parking lot when a roundup is held to celebrate the Ford Mustang’s 50th birthday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. April 19.
One of the longest continuously produced sports cars, with close to 10 million built to date, Ford and Mustang developer Lee Iacoca were excited to release their sporty new pony car. With massive advertising and a huge exhibition at the New York World’s Fair, the Mustang made an early debut April 17, 1964.
“The new Mustang set sales records that will never be broken, with over 22,000 cars sold the first day,” said event organizer Bill Pfeifer. “Dealers ran out of Mustangs and 60,000 orders were placed that first week.”
By the end of the first year, over 68,000 were sold. Priced at around $2,320, people couldn’t get enough of the Mustang, and at the end of 1966, sales showed an amazing 607,568 units sold.
“The performance muscle car wars were on and Ford sent some of their new pony cars to an ex-car racer, a Texas chicken farmer named Carroll Shelby,” said Pfeifer. “He transformed the Mustang into a racing thoroughbred called GT-350 and GT-500 Shelbys. These cars are highly valued and sought after by collectors today.”
For more information, contact Pfeifer at 250-428-4940 or wpfeifer@telus.net.
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