ORIGINAL 1964½ MUSTANG OWNERS HEAD DOWN MEMORY LANE, ALABAMA FOR PONY CAR’S 45TH ANNIVERSARY

Image by matze_ott via Flickr

• Several original owners of the 1964½ Mustang will attend the Ford Mustang 45th anniversary celebration with their beloved pony cars April 17-21 in Birmingham, Ala.
• The 45th anniversary celebration is expected to draw more than 2,500 Mustang enthusiasts and their cars as well as hundreds of thousands of spectators

When Phil Florio bought his 1964½ Wimbledon White Ford Mustang, he says it was “love at first sight.” Forty-five years later, the love affair is still going strong.

“I’m going to be 71 in May, but when I get behind the wheel of that car and turn the key, I’m 25 years old again,” said Florio, of Summerfield, Fla. “It keeps me young.”

Florio is one of nine original owners of the 1964½ Mustang – America’s first pony car – who will display and share stories about their beloved steeds at the Ford Mustang 45th anniversary celebration, which will be held April 17-21 at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala.

Florio says he cherished his muscle car from the start.

“I used to drive the car in New York in the middle of winter, and when I got home I’d get blue hands trying to wash the snow and salt off of it in the freezing cold weather,” said Florio. “I loved the car, and knew when I bought it that I was going to keep it for as long as I possibly could.”

For many original Mustang owners – like Florio and Laki Malamatenio, who owns a 1964½ Poppy Red Mustang 289 that he refers to affectionately as “Poppy” – the car is more than just a fast, fun and affordable means of transportation. It is an integral part of the fabric of their lives.

“‘Poppy’ took me to Las Vegas to get married. She took me to the hospital when both of my children were born, and she’s taken the whole family on vacation,” said Malamatenio, of Grass Valley, Calif. “My whole life flashes before my eyes when I get into that car.”

Malamatenio says his Mustang also has special meaning because he used it to buy his first home.

“We wanted to buy a house, but we didn’t have enough money for a down payment,” he said. “The car was paid off, so I took out a home loan using ‘Poppy’ as collateral.”

To Malamatenio, “Poppy” is part of the family.

“Sometimes when I’m working on her, my wife says ‘You spend more time with her than you do with me,’” he laughed.

Fred Glazier’s Rangoon Red Mustang coupe also brings back poignant memories, he says.

“I dated my wife in it. We took it on our honeymoon, and we brought both of our children home from the hospital in it,” said Glazier, of Souderton, Pa. “We are emotionally attached to this car, and I always tell me kids, ‘When I die, you better not sell it, or I’ll come back to haunt you.’”

Glazier says his 1964½ Mustang inspired him to leave a career as a pharmaceutical representative and start a new vocation restoring antique cars.

“I’ve specialized in the restoration of Mustangs since 1979,” he said. “A few years ago, I started working on my car, and today it looks like it did when I first bought it.”

Kathy Miller, of Boardman, Ohio, says she will never forget the day she received her 1964½ Prairie Bronze Mustang coupe as a high school graduation present from her mom and dad,

“I was so surprised that day, and I’ve had the car ever since,” she said. “It went to college at Ohio State with me, and it was the car that I drove for my first job selling real estate.”

Miller says she and her husband also drove the car on their wedding day.

“My son restored the Mustang five years ago, and there was still rice in the dashboard,” she chuckled. “There’s a lot of nostalgia surrounding that car.”

For Edgar “Alex” Alexander, his black 1964½ Mustang convertible was an impulse purchase he never once second-guessed.

“My first wife and I needed a car, and we had no conception of what we wanted,” he said. “There was a Mustang convertible on the lot, and my wife fell in love with it so we just ordered it.”

Alexander says the car garnered a lot of attention wherever the couple went.

“We would go to the store or to the movies, and when we came out there would be a half dozen people or more looking at the car,” he said. “It was really cool.”

He says the pride of ownership continued to grow over the years.

“At the beginning it was a car,” he said. “Now, it’s a treasure.”