2008 Silver Springs Ford & Mustang Roundup - Bound & Determined

In a surprise ceremony on Saturday afternoon, Larry Dobbs, well known for creating Dobbs Publishing and Mustang Monthly magazine, was awarded the Lee Iacocca award for dedication to promoting our hobby and the American-car tradition. Here Rick Schmidt begins the ceremony.

Jeff Ford, former editor of Mustang Monthly as well as Mustang & Fords, speaks of the inspiration that Larry's work was for his future career at the magazines

Mustang & Fords editor Mark Houlahan was also full of praise for Larry. It was Mustang Monthly's sister magazine at the time, Super Ford, that inspired Mark to take the journalism classes needed to get away from his mechanic job at the local Lincoln-Mercury dealership.

Donald Farr, the seecond employee of Dobbs Publishing, spoke of how he threw caution to the wind and moved from South Carolina to the middle of Florida to work on a fledging magazine that helped create the restoration movement and industry we love and enjoy today.

Larry spoke of how he mortgaged nearly everything to start Mustang Monthly. Larry now spends his time with charity and mission work.

Shown in the photo from left to right is Rick Schmidt of NPD; Donald Farr, Editor of Mustang Monthly; Larry Dobbs; Mark Houlahan, Editor of Mustang & Fords; and Jeff Ford, past editor of Mustang Monthly.

Our Factory Five Cobra replica project made it back to Florida just days before the Silver Springs show. The guys at KR Performance and Restorations (www.krpandr.com) did an outstanding job on the paint work, and we thrashed throughout the week to get the project in near-finished form to display at the show. We have the interior to finish and a punch list to tackle, but we're almost done.

Rancheros were the original "crossover," and for more than two decades Ford made them on one model line or another. One of the most popular model runs was the Falcon-based Ranchero, and Howard Weber of Plantation, Florida, made a nice low-buck restomod out of his '64 by painting the engine compartment, valve covers, and air cleaner body color. Other upgrades during the resto include dual-reservoir power brakes, a dual exhaust, a custom color-matched steering wheel, and '57 Ford hubcaps.

Paintucation's Kevin Tetz--now probably more known for hosting Trucks! on Spike TV's Powerblock (www.powerblocktv.com)--was on hand to do several seminars on panel replacement techniques. It was a great opportunity to learn from one of the greats.