Some More on That First Ford Mustang-- Part 1

From April Hot Cars "The first Ford Mustang sold in the U.S. still belongs to the original owner" by Paul Stadden.

**  The first Ford Mustang sold in the United States went to owner Gail Wise on April 15, 1964, two days before its official release.

**  Despite being based on the Falcon, the 1964.5 Mustang was designed to be sporty and option-heavy, making it a hit on the market.

**  After a 27-year hibernation in the late 1970s, Gail's beloved Mustang was restored to its former glory in 2008, solidifying its historical significance.

The 1964 Ford Mustang launch was a major event in the car world, and Ford sold 121,538 Mustangs that year.  

--MusDog

Who Bought the First Ford Mustang?-- Part 7

When she and her husband, Tom Wise, who served in submarines in the Navy, were living in Charleston, South Carolina, in the late 1960s, the car stayed garaged with her parents in Chicago, rather than piling up miles on the road.  

And when Tom Wise decided he could no longer drive the aging car to work in Bellwood in 1979, he simply stashed it away in his garage in Park Ridge until he was ready to restore it 27 years later.

The Mustang has just 68,000 miles on the odometer.

Tom Wise said the fastback Mustang was introduced in the fall of 1964 along with a souped-up engine with a more robust than his 168-horsepower model.

--Cooter

Who Bought the First Ford Mustang?-- Part 5: Driving a Classic

In contrast to today's cars, the Mustang had simple features.  The dashboard had only a few instruments in addition to the AM radio.  The right passenger seat does not adjust backwards, and only the front seats have lap belts, shoulder harnesses arrived later.

The historic car has called Park Ridge home since 1977.

First of a series of distinctive models brought on by automotive impresario Lee Iacocca, the Wise's "pony car" has already gone through a complete body and mechanical restoration after rust and aging engine woes threatened its existence.

Saving wear and tear on its piston strokes and tire treads, the Wises put it on a flatbed to travel to the Mustang's 50th anniversary at Ford's headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, to its designer's Gale Halderman's personal museum and to Midwest car shows.

Gail got to rub shoulders with Ford family scion Edsel Ford on stage.

--DaCOOT

Who Bought the First Ford Mustang?-- Part 3: 'Felt Like a Movie Star'

Said Gail Wise when she drove her new Mustang: "I felt like a movie star.  I didn't go looking for attention.  Everybody was happy to see this car.  Everybody was waving, asking me to slow down."

One time she was following a Chicago police car, "He waved me to drive up next to him so he could see the car up close."

She arranged for her $5,000 rookie teacher's salary to be spread out over 12 months so she could enjoy a leisurely summer.  That enabled her to take trips to the beach where the car attracted even more attention.

--DaCoot

Who Bought the First Ford Mustang Sold in the US? --Part 2: It Cost $3,447

No convertible was available on the floor, but the salesman did have something of interest in back.  There was a Ford Mustang covered with a tarp and not supposed to be for sale until two more days until Henry Ford II unveiled the car at the New York World's Fair.

But, Cleadis Brown had $3,447 sale price cash (as a loan to his daughter) plus a 1958 Chevy Impala worth $400 in a trade-in as incentives, so the salesman opted to jump the gun with Gail so long as she did not take the car for a test drive.  He could have cost the Johnson Ford dealership dearly.

"If Ford had found out he had sold the car early, they might have taken the dealership away," said Tom Wise.

No American could have missed the publicity over the Mustang in the spring of 1964. The car was fodder for news magazine cover stories.  As the then Gail Brown drove the car from her teaching job in west-suburban Berkeley to her Northwest Side home, bystanders gawked at her and the car.

--DaCoot

Twenty Things You Might Not Know About the Movie 'Vacation'-- Part 1

From the May  29, 2015, Today by Matt Murray.

Earlier this month, I wrote about the Family Truckster car from the movie 'Vacation' being at the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois. This is one of my favorite movies.

Here are 20 more things about the movie:

1.  Anthony Michael Hall, who played Rusty Griswold,  was going through puberty during the shooting and grew three inches during the shooting..

2.  The film was written by  John Hughes (who went on to write other 80s classics like  "The Breakfast Club" and  "Sixteen Candles" and was based on his story "Vacation '58."

3.  Shooting for the movie required a real-life road trip for the cast and crew and the film was shot in more than 15  locations across four states.

4.  "Vacation" is the only R-rated movie in the series.  There was some semi-nudity, plus the scene supposedly from East St. Louis, which director Harold Ramis called the most politically  incorrect sequence he ever shot.

5.  There were five Wagon Queen Family Trucksters made and used in the production of the film allowing each to be  altered in certain ways for the wear and tear of the drive.

--Cooter

Just In Time for Halloween: A Short History of Hearses and Those Who Collect Them-- Part 1

From the Oct. 30, 2019, Chicago Tribune "Honk, but only if you're macabre" by Christopher Borrelli.

This is an article about people in the Chicago area who collect hearses.There are even clubs devoted to collecting hearses named Hardcore Hearse Club, Grim Rides Chicago and the Las Ryd's Hearse Club.

I've seen the occasional hearse as car shows.

SOME HISTORY OF HEARSES

The hearse, or "funeral coach" as the industry prefers, is actually a custom car  When a fleet of hearses are ordered it is not likely that any two will be 100% identical.  The traditional hearse is essentially a single luxury vehicle that has been split in two, outfitted with a long chassis to extend the length and then sculpted back into shape.

Hearses were initially pulled by horses, but the first one to use a standard combustion engine appeared in 1909, a year after the Model T was introduced.  The hearse industry, like the larger car industry, began in the Midwest, except the car-makers did not have hearse divisions.

The first motorized hearses were made by Crane & Breed of Cincinnati and advertised being able to travel at "fifteen miles-per-hour faster than any hearse should have to go."  About a decade later, the president of the company, Austin Breed, poisoned himself to death and they switched to caskets.

--Riding Out With Style.  --Cooter

Wayne Huizenga-- Part 5: Back to Waste Management and Then to Car Rentals and Sales

Wayne Huizenga sold Blockbuster to Viacom in 1994 for about $8 billion.

Still not satisfied to retire and live on all that money, in 1995, he got back into the trash hauling business by buying Republic Waste Industries Inc. for $27 million.Mergers and acquisitions soon followed.  He renamed the company Republic Industries as it branched out, buying Alamo Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental.

Republic, under Huizenga's leadership, then started AutoNation, a national chain of auto dealerships.  At its peak, it had 375 dealerships in 17 states.

Republic Services was spun off in 1998 to control the waste management portion of its portfolio, a sector that had grown to about $1 billion in annual sales.  he remained its chairman until 2002.

Quite a Man.  A Real American Success Story.  --Cooter

June 6, 1944-- D-Day: Other Events That Happened on June 6 Through the Years

Today marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day here in the United States.  In most of Europe, June 6 was yesterday because of the international dateline.

From the June 6, 2019, Chicago Tribune "On June 6."

Here are some other events that took place on June 6.

1918--  The World War I battle of Belleau Wood, which resulted in a U.S. victory over the Germans in France.  This was a great day in the history of the USMC.

1925--  Walter Percy Chrysler founded the Chrysler Corporation.

1933--  The first drive-in movie theater opened in Camden, New Jersey.

1942--  Japanese forces retreated in the World War II Battle of Midway, regarded as the turning point in the war in the Pacific.

1944--  Allied forces launched their invasion of Europe, landing on the beaches of France in what became known as D-Day.

--Cooter

Arthur Taylor, Nash Dealer in DeKalb and Sycamore, Illinois

From HavrKost Nash Dealerships in Illinois and Indiana.

Continuing with more research on one of the previous entries on today's earlier post.

Shows three Nash dealerships in DeKalb, Illinois:

1940--  Felton Motor Sales
1941--  Taylor Motor Sales
1952--  Wagenseller Motors, Inc.

Sycamore, Illinois:

1939-1941--  Art's Garage at 124 W. State Street  (Probably Arthur Taylor
1948-1956--  Taylor Nash Sales at the same address.

--DaCoot