2009 Annual Silver Springs Mustang & Ford Roundup

We're quite jealous of tech editor Cook's '67 Fairlane Ranchero because we feel it's a great combination of our favorite year Fairlane body style with the cool versatility of the Ranchero bed. Richard Springer of Fruitland Park, Florida, must feel the same way about his ultra-clean 289 powered '67 Ranchero as well.

Like many shows these days the S197 Mustangs were out in abundance, but as we stated earlier, it's nice to see them mixed in with all the other year Mustangs and Fords. This '07 GT500 belongs to Jim Lamb of Folkston, Georgia, and has some pretty fine upgrades, including a Kenne Bell front and center replacing the stock twin-screw, rolling on a sweet set of polished 20s, and tuned by the GT500 expert Justin Starkey at VMP Tuning.

Cougars, and Falcons, and Mavericks, oh my! These owners are some of the most diehard car fanatics I've ever met. It's always interesting talking to their owners and the lengths they have to go to find parts and to modify their rides.

Anyone can build a Mustang with their huge production numbers, but our hats go off to guys (and gals) like these owners who dig deeper into their wallets and look high and low for the right project car.

Now here's an interesting piece of history we're laying eyes on for the first time. We didn't get a chance to meet the owner, David Pollard of Pinellas Park, Florida, but his signage did explain the car's history. It's a GT350 prepped by Holman & Moody for Trans-Am duty and currently uses a 351W putting out more than 600 hp and wearing a pair of side-mounted Holleys apparently designed and installed by Jack Roush when he still worked for Ford in the late '60s. This '65 is an interesting vehicle for sure and another great reason to come to Silver Springs--you never know what you'll see from year to year.

The '94-'95 Mustangs don't get a lot of respect in the Mustang hobby, but we're sure Rodney Alldredge of Lawtey, Florida, does with his wild '94 GT coupe. The carbed small-block is set for ¼-mile fun with a single stage shot of NOS nitrous, but we're sure Rodney sees a bit of street cruising with it as well as evidenced by the custom paint and slicked up interior.

When we saw Robert Fechtenburg walking away from our subscription tent wearing an empty holster we didn't put two and two together right away. It wasn't until we noticed his car a few hours later and the light bulb went on. Robert didn't just build a Bullitt clone with his '68, he made a clone of the actual movie car, with things like no side view mirror, police radio, rear mount antenna, and best of all, a 390 and four-speed to motivate it all.

As an owner of a '66 Mustang we'd love to have a '66 Bronco by its side in our dream garage. These early body styles, especially the half-cab, are amongst our favorites and Paul Bjelke, of Lady Lake, Florida, has a perfect example of the breed. It's perfect old-school Ford, too, with the 170ci inline-six, manual locking hubs, and more. Righteous!

Sunday morning we ran into John Knighton of nearby Ocala, Florida, and his interesting '86 SVO. The first thing we noticed was the T-tops, and remembered our recent Heasley Files column on a Rare Find SVO with T-tops as well. We struck up a conversation with John and found out he was the original owner. It still wears its original paint and interior and he bought the SVO sans T-tops and had the dealer install them. The SVO was already sitting on the lot with the dealer-added extra paint to the wing, mirrors, and wheels, so he had them paint the T-top frames as well. Great story and a great looking car!

Speaking of SVOs, we bumped into our longtime friend Dean Satterfield of TMI Products, who was there with several other select vendors who supply NPD its wares, and he showed us the latest late-model Mustang offering; the SVO seat foam and correct upholstery kit for it. So, if you have an SVO needing new leather and/or foam, or you want to convert your standard Fox sport seats to the SVO look, TMI can hook you up.

As is customary at the Silver Springs show each year, we scour the grounds for a ride that just makes us stop in our tracks and think "yeah, that's how I'd have built it too" and award that owner our very own Editor's Choice award. This year Dennis Payette's '64 Falcon drop-top out of Zephyrhills, Florida, did the trick for us. Dennis' ride features an amazingly clean 5.0L EFI conversion under the hood sitting on a Mustang II crossmember. Backing the mildly modified 5.0L is a five-speed manual and classic Torque Thrust wheels with four-wheel disc brakes make the blue bird a joy to drive. Custom pin striping tops off the immaculate paint too.

I started to take a photo of this S197 for my daughter when I glanced at the owner information card and noticed the owner's name was Barbie. Barbie Roberts of course, of Orlando, Florida, but a Barbie none the less (the car even had the official Barbie logo on the headrests). Later, when we found out Barbie's husband is really named Ken, we were thankful we weren't drinking anything at the time. When she picked up her award, you guessed it; Barbie was dressed in pink and white.

NPD is a sponsor of the Lee Iacocca Award, which acknowledges an enthusiast for his or her passion in helping the hobby grow and "maintaining an American tradition," with proceeds benefitting the Lee Iacocca Foundation, which helps fund type 1 diabetes research. This year Rick Schmidt presented the award to Bill Dillard, past president and charter member of the Mustang Club of America and currently a 2008-2010 MCA officer for his contributions to our hobby. Well deserved in our opinion.