Guests: Gail and Tom Wise.
It’s truly a wonderful love + love story.
When Ford decided to make a small compact car to attract young women buyers they got it right. Right out of college and ready to be a school teacher a young Gail Brown walked into a dealership with her father to look at buying a new car. All she knew was she wanted a convertible.
At first nothing seemed to catch her eye. Then finally the salesman – who realized never let company policy get in the way of closing a deal – showed them what just came in from Detroit. It wasn’t supposed to be seen or sold until a major unveiling with Lee Iacocca. Then head of styling for Ford.
When the cover was pulled off revealing a brand-new convertible, Skylight Blue Mustang, Gail fell in love. (Love number 1) So much so – she convinced the salesmen to sale the car even before Iacocca had a change to introduce it to the world.
That day was April 15th, 1964. And that’s when history was recorded.
Gail kept the Mustang all these years through the persistence of her husband Tom Wise (Love number 2). He agreed with her that the car was fun and economical. After many years of using it as a daily driver and as the family grew the car was put away for a retirement project.
In 2007 Tom read about a guy who said he bought the first Mustang. He immediately remembers the story of his wife’s Mustang. They looked at the car’s bill sheet and discovered she purchased it two days earlier.
When you hear about a survivor car it usually means it’s been lost in the back of a barn covered under dusty tarps.
This story is about a young professional woman falling in love with a car and then falling in love with a young Tom Wise. Who together are preserving a piece of history.
Here is the family in 1979 just before they put the car into store for over 27 years.
Gail Wise with her well documented Mustang.
Programming note:
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