2008 Silver Springs Ford & Mustang Roundup - Bound & Determined

Picking up the photo duty from Greg, I spotted Michael DeFrancisco's '64 Econoline pickup. The clean little truck from Inverness, Florida, took home the award for Best Truck 1948-'79.

Panteras are straight-out sexy--Italian coachwork with brute Ford Cleveland power under the rear lid. We've seen them in every form from GT5 clones to stone stock and even modular powered. However, we've never seen one dressed up in Gulf colors until we came across the shining example of this '72 Pantera owned by Ken and Laura Costa of Eustis, Florida. The voters agreed as well, giving the car the Best Pantera award.

The Falcon gang is always at Silver Springs in large numbers (as are the T-birds, Cougars, Mavericks, and other regional and national groups). The Falcon Club of America's current president, Chuck Beason, recently finished his '65 Falcon Sprint project and debuted it at Silver Springs. Nicely done, Chuck.

We don't see enough '71-'73-based restomod Mustangs, and that's a shame because these Mustangs lend themselves to great-looking projects. Just take a look at what Ronald Clifton of De Leon Springs, Florida, did with his '72 coupe. It sports a bright paint job, Shelby wheels, custom bodywork (including front fender vents behind the wheels), and "Super Coupe R" graphics on the rear sail panel. Ronald has more work to do underhood, but this '72 is a promising restomod indeed.

Every year, NPD brings out a few cars from its private collection (Rick and Jim Schmidt have been collecting cars longer than many of us have been in the hobby). This time, their collection of Turnpike Cruisers and Skyliner Retractables graced the Silver Springs mansion stage. My favorite was this '57 Turnpike Cruiser with the rare 368 8V engine, A/C, pushbutton chassis lubrication, and memory seats. Wow, now that's an option list!