A few Friday evenings ago my wife and I went to the local Barnes and Nobel and took some time to expand our minds with the latest literary subjects. After so long of time, as always, I worked my way back to the "Automotive" section. I noticed a publication by Brad Bowling, The Standard Catalog of Mustang 1964 - 2004, 2nd Edition. I've seen it mentioned in a few publications, but hadn't had the opportunity to set my hands on a copy to review. Spinning through the pages I noticed a nice looking Gold 71 Mach 1 that is very similar to my Gold 72 Mach 1. There was a guy just a short distance from me looking at some Chevy stuff and we exchanged comments on how much we liked the "old" Fords and Chevy's and really all the classic muscle cars. I then turned to the next page and glanced at the '72 section. There was a Gold 72 car on that page and made a mental note to come back to it and check it out a bit further. I then flipped the page and looked at the Glamour Gold Glow Mach 1 on page 54 and said to myself, out-loud, "that looks like my car!". I looked at the picture a little closer and said, (again out-loud) "that sure looks like my car!" I looked a little more closer and noticed the burgundy Missouri license plates, the valve stem location as compared to the Goodyear "flying-boot" on the tires (which I always align) and then noticed the license plate number and remembered that the numbers were the same as my old plate(before my personalized plates that I now have) "That is my car!" "No way!" said the guy next to me..... It sure was and it wasn't till later (after I bought the only copy they had) did I notice that the interior shot was of my car as well. Three pictures of my car in a publication and I didn't even know about it! I bought that car new in 1972. The original "CJ"engine self-destructed with 36 miles on the car. (Ford had a rash of engine failures with "Q" code engines) It was replaced at the local Ford dealership. I sold the car in 1976 and bought a new Gold Mercury Cougar. A number of years later (1988 / 89) while taking one of those slow / lazy country drives with my wife did I find the car sitting in the woods with squirrels and who knows what living in it around (my old girlfriend now owned it). I inquired about buying it. She refused. My wife called her later that week and asked if she could buy it and they worked out a deal without my knowledge. (My wife's a real keeper!) She and a couple of guys from work dollied the "gold boat anchor" to the house. She then called me to come up and put the dogs up and there it was. My old car. I still had half of the original car in the attic and I soon started the restoration and the rest they say is History. And I thought Gomer Pyle was the only one that said "surprise, surprise, surprise!" Now just another side note... The young man that performed the "dealer-prep" on the car when new was the local Ford "Service Manager" when I completed the restoration of the car. I called him to make an appointment for a "State Inspection" without telling him that it was this car. When I pulled into the service bay, his eyes about popped out and went on the PA system and told the whole shop that he had prepped this car as soon as it came off the truck back in 1972. Not only did he enjoy seeing the car. He personally inspected it and also picked up the tab. Just a few short years ago he passed away in his early 50's. This one's for you Mike Backfish, my friend.
