Carroll Shelby rather famously derided the original Ford Falcon-based first generation Mustang as a “secretary’s car”, and he wasn’t far from the mark. Young, single working women were one of the original target markets for the original pony car and you can see that from period advertisements for the Mustang. In 1964, as the Mustang approached its official sales date of April 17th of that year, Gail Brown was 22 years old, just graduated from the Chicago Teachers College, still living with her parents, and exactly the kind of young woman Ford wanted as their customer. In today’s hindsight, her mom’s ’57 Ford Fairlane that Gail drove to work every day was a pretty cool car, but she wanted her own wheels. She wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted, but it had to be cool and it had to be a convertible. Since the Browns were a Ford family, on April 15th, 1964 Gail went to Johnson Ford in Chicago.
Nothing in the showroom excited her, but the salesman decided to bend a couple of rules and took her to a storage area in the back lot where a car was hidden under a cover. Pulling back the cover, the salesman showed Gail a loaded powder blue 1965 Mustang, complete with Rally Pac instruments, a 260 V8 (the 260 was the first version of what in time would become the 289), and most important, a convertible top. Though the Mustang wasn’t supposed to officially go on sale until two days later on the 17th on the month, Gail loved the car so much that she persuaded the dealer to sell it to her, making her the first known retail owner of a Mustang.
Gail may have been single, but she had a college sweetheart, Tom Wise, who was serving on board a nuclear powered missile submarine during the height of the cold war. He was the envy of many of his shipmates, having a pretty girlfriend with a convertible that he could drive when he visited her on leave. He did eventually buy his own car, a base Chevy Biscayne that he ordered before his ship left on assignment and was ready when he next got shore leave.
They married in 1966 and started their family in the suburbs of Chicago. Now if you had your choice of driving a stripper full size Chevy or a well equipped Mustang convertible with a V8, you’d understand why Tom used the Mustang as his daily driver in nice weather. Besides, they had a growing family and Gail had an easier time fitting their kids in the back seat of the the Chevy. After years of fun and faithful service, a recalcitrant carburetor put the Mustang in their garage, where it sat for 27 years. After they retired, in 2007, Tom started what became a three year full restoration of the car. Though they paid someone to do the body and paint work, Tom did most of the assembly work, done to a very high standard, himself.
As you might expect, the Wises have a cordial relationship with Ford Motor Company. I first met them a couple of months ago when Ford revealed the all-new 2015 Mustang. The lobby of Ford’s conference center in Dearborn was filled with historic Mustangs including the Wise’s ’64 1/2 convertible. Not far away from their car was Mustang VIN #001, also a convertible, in Wimbledon white. That white Mustang was part of Ford’s display for the new Mustang at the Detroit auto show. As mentioned, the Wises live in the Chicago area, so for the vintage part of the Mustang display at the Chicago Auto Show, Ford put their blue pony car in a place of honor in Ford’s exhibit at McCormick Place.
That’s where I met them for the second time, with what they describe as a family member, their now 50 year old car. Mr. Wise told me that the car is in great demand by organizers of Mustang and Ford car shows and they take it to a lot events. It’s pretty obvious that the Wises have a lot of affection for their car and the company that made it. Tom’s current daily driver is a Ford Escape and he told me that he’s very happy with the little SUV. Even more obvious is the affection that the Wises have for each other. A fifty year old, one family car is a rarity, but these days, a marriage that has spanned five decades may be even rarer.
Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can get a parallax view at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS
Great story and a lovely car.
Timely too – I have a blue Mustang Convertible as a rental this week on vacation in FL. Just wish the weather was more cooperative. Better than snow though!
Like the baby blue color. It was common back then. Wish it would come back. Wish in general that the manufacturers just offered a broader palette. Fiat and Mini seem to have moved their cars substantially upscale simply by doing that.
Ford has; they offer their Fusion in what I think is a baby blue. Also offer some bold colors now with the Focus and Fiesta.
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/01/09/2013-ford-fusion-hybrid-detroit-2012/
That only emphasizes the problem with modern auto sales; if you’re not buying an econobox or sports car, you’re still stuck with a palette that is bland at best and depressing in most cases.
If the vehicle in question does not offer at least 6 colors from the primary and secondary hues in addition to black, white and grey, the marketing team is not earning its pay – and don’t get me started on the lack of interior colors and “you can’t do that” configurator shackles.
Great story! However, the 289 was already in production and available in full size Fords by then.
Mid to late 60s were a great time to be buying a car with a V8. The 289 in my 1967 ‘Stang still sounds/runs great after 46 years no rebuild.
My Dad still swears his favorite engine was the 283 V8 in his 1962 Bel Air.
Story of Vin #002:
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/Jan/29/escondidan-owns-first-mustang-hardtop/
Nice story, nice car. I wonder how the sales manager felt about that breaking of the rules. ;)
Money talks. If there’s one constant in auto sales, it’s that you can buy anything for the right price. I doubt that new Mustang went for less than MSRP (and probably a whole lot more).
My elementary school librarian had maybe a ’66 white hardtop with “Stratomist” Blue interior. Pretty car. At the time, for her, we all thought it to quite daring. In retrospect, it reinforced the stereotype and then some.
My aunt Betsy bought her 1966 Mustang new in February 1966 and drove it for 47 years. Aside from normal maintenance and minor repairs, it was completely original, right down to the decals in the engine compartment. She even saved the original window sticker, sales contract, and every maintenance record.
Last year, at age 91 she decided it was time to hang up the keys, and asked me to sell it for her. After a bit of discussion on various Mustang forums, I put it on eBay, where it sold to a loving collector in Sweden. It will not take much work to restore it to showroom condition.
Sadly, Betsy passed away six months later, but the proceeds from the sale of her Mustang paid 100% of the cost of 24-hour in-home nursing care for her last few months. A worthwhile trade, don’t you think?
“the sale of her Mustang paid 100% of the cost of 24-hour in-home nursing care for her last few months”
That is absolutely glorious. She lived into her 90s, enjoyed the car she loved for 47 years, was privileged to have a comfortable end in her own home and the car went to an appreciative owner who will continue to cherish it.
This thread is a happy story.
I’m sorry to hear of your aunt’s passing, I remember reading about Betsey and her Mustang over on the Lemons forums, IIRC. Another great story.
Off topic, but stories like this remind me why nursing home insurance is a GODSEND. My grandmother had it, and that saved two families from utter financial ruin when she had to go in a nursing home for Alzheimer’s for 13 years.
Buy it. Your kids will thank you for not bankrupting them. Or, in this case, they’d have had a classic Mustang to enjoy and keep in the family.
Thanks Ronnie, I always enjoy your stories; well-chosen, well-told.
Thank you for the writing and publishing the story. Nice break from doom gloom.
Eh, no thanks. Not the kind of car I would want to be in a wreck.
Viewed thru the filters that have accumulated during almost 5 decades. Bet you would have loved it then.
Noop. I knew right away when I saw a 65′ convertible taken apart in the Auto Body class I took in High School (back in the 70’s).
1. No seat belts of any kind.
2 The floor of the trunk is the gas tank. Plus the filler is dead center in the back. A moderate rear end collision would rupture the tank.
P.S. I had the pleasure to go through the photo archive of a small town newspaper. Of the pics taken in the mid to late 60’s there were numerous car wreck photos of torched Mustangs with light to moderate rear end damage. Some included bodies burned to a crisp.
Somebody took out the seat belts. Ford was a leader in safety. All their cars, starting in 1957, had at least front seat belts.
The ’65 Mustang had them standard in the front, optional for the rear. In ’66, full seat belts were standard all around.
Wow April, you must be a lot of fun at parties
You should be there when she lets her ears down…
In spite of Autism Spectrum my humor works reasonably well at parties.
See what happens when you make an assumption. I assumed you weren’t around when it was fairly new. I agree it is not very safe especially today.
My 57 chev did not come with seat belts and I still used it as a dd just a few years ago. Recently when I needed a car I did not put that back on the road but got another. I drove so defensibly that it was hard to enjoy it. Think it’s reserved for parades and special occasions now.
So pay attention to what you are doing, drive it only on the nice days it deserves to be driven on, and don’t wreck it.
When did people become such pansies??
Pansies?
How does one “pay attention” when someone rear ends you? And with that vintage of Mustang one will have the privilege to be immolated.
In fifty years, if this culture is still around, we’ll look back at 2014 and think, gosh, how did we ever let these people drive their own cars? That’s so dangerous! We let people climb ladders willy nilly without harnesses, we let them walk on ice with regular sneakers! Travesty.
So for now, enjoy your motorcycles and beautiful Mustangs that, it’s true, do not handle accidents well. Yep, if someone rear ends you, there’s a chance the car might catch fire if there’s a source of ignition. If it’s a bad enough impact, or if you’re just unfit and slow, you might burn to death inside.
You could also trip on the sidewalk while looking at your phone and die. I’ve seen people become different people because they slipped on some grease. So why avoid the wonderful, fun, enjoyable things that have an equivalent chance of killing you as something mundane? If so much of your thought is focused on mitigating risk of injury, I’m sorry, because that doesn’t sound pleasant at all.
Do you really think most mid-size American cars of 1964 were significantly safer than the Ford Mustang?
I doubt that it was much of a safety outlier in those days.
If you wanted a “safe” car in 1964, you’d be purchasing a Volvo or a Mercedes-Benz which would still be viewed as a damned deathtrap by 2014 safety standards.
@April – When you don’t “pay attention” to what’s around you, your chances of getting rear ended increase exponentially. It’s not just bringing your car to a gradual stop when ever possible, but also keeping what’s behind you lighter than you as much as possible. It means keeping a close eye on what’s behind you as much as what’s ahead. Not keeping close tabs on what’s ahead leads to abrupt stops and may surprise the drivers behind you.
I’ve driven over a million miles and been rear ended zero times. I knew a girl that had been rear ended multiple times before age 30. Permanent back and neck injuries. She was a mess, but I’m sure not the best driver. And “technically” never her fault.
I’ve spent much of my time driving an ’89 Mustang convertible that was a stick shift and I’d make sure I tapped the brakes when coasting or stopped at a light without a need for brakes.
There’s a lot of steps you can take to avoid being a sitting duck or victim.
Count your lucky stars you were never involved in a rear-ender. Not many people are clairvoyant to know where not to be. One dozen years ago I was stuck behind a line of stopped cars due to a collision up the Interstate. Somehow I didn’t have the foresight to physically pick up my 85′ Nissan King Cab and jump out of the way of a Dodge 3500 Dually (pulling a flat bed trailer loaded with a Ram 1500) that plowed into me at 40mph.
As the kids say, YOLO.
Correction: The ones in the arts. Or those who wear OBEY.
No bronies here…
Love these kind of stories, we did one recently where a guy found his 1959 TR3 48 years later in a want ad. We have a first-gen Camaro story owned by the same woman since new teed up for a future article. We also have a 1946 Jeep and 1946 Fargo in the same families since new. I would love to talk to them if the owners have any interest in the idea Ronnie.
This is such a sweet story. It gives off that nice, homey feeling. My mom and her siblings had a Mustang growing up, and she kind of wants one again, especially the retro 2005-present model.
“a 260 V8 (the 260 was the first version of what in time would become the 289”
Correction, Ford’s light-weight small block started out with a displacement of 221cid. A couple years later, the bore was increased to produce the 260. Two years later the bore was increased again to give 289. In 1968, the small block added stroke to bring it up to 302cid. Eventually the deck height of the 302 was increased to create the 351 Windsor, not to be confused with the 351 Cleveland which was a “small” big block.
Nice story…and can anyone imagine what that car would bring at Barrett-Jackson? I mean, FIRST MUSTANG SOLD, EVER? Wow. The mind boggles.