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1964 1/2 - Job
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Click on a photo below to enlarge
Stanley Tucker and Ford Mustang
Serial Number One
It’s ironic – like, in the actual “opposite of what you’d expect”
way as opposed to the “merely coincidental” way in which the term is
often misused. The Ford Mustang is revered as one of the most
“American” of all cars. Its name conjures up images of the Wild
West. Its early logo incorporated red, white and blue stripes. The
car’s very look is based on our country’s obsessions with speed and
style. And yet Mustang Serial Number One, sold 50 years ago, went to
a Canadian. Yeah, that’s irony.
On April 14, 1964, Eastern Provincial Airlines pilot Stanley Tucker
walked into George Parsons Ford, a dealership perched on the eastern
edge of the continent in St. John’s, Newfoundland. It was love at
first sight. The sharp-looking Wimbledon White convertible jumped
out at the 33 year-old pilot, and he knew he had to have it. We
don’t know the name of the person who sold the car to Tucker – but
the pilot must have been quite a salesman himself. Somehow, he
convinced Parsons Ford to break street date and sell him the car
three days before April 17, when Ford officially released Mustang to
the world. He took serial number 5F08F100001 home and, for a short
time, was the general public’s only Mustang owner.
Mustang Serial Number One should not have been sold on that early
date. In fact, it shouldn’t have been sold at all. The car was one
of approximately 180 pre-production cars built at the Rouge between
February 10 and March 5, 1964. These initial cars served two
purposes: 1.) They eased Ford into full production by familiarizing
workers and supervisors with the build process, and 2.) They formed
a batch of physical cars that could be shipped to every major Ford
dealer in time for the April 17 launch. Logically, the first cars
built were sent to the farthest dealers – hence Serial Number One
wound up 2,180 miles from Dearborn in St. John’s. (Twelve of these
pre-production cars, incidentally, went to the New York World’s Fair
for use in Ford’s Magic Skyway ride.)
Being a pre-production or, if you will, “practice” car, Serial
Number One has a few quirks not seen in regular Mustangs. Careful
observers will notice that the hood’s fit is a little crooked. The
door lock knobs have no grommets at their bases. The front grille’s
color tends more toward gray than the bluish hue seen on regular
production cars. The engine block is painted gray instead of the
black on later Mustangs. Little details like these changed after
full production began on March 9.
Not long after Capt. Tucker made his purchase, Ford tracked him down
and asked to have Serial Number One back. Not surprisingly, Tucker
declined the request. He spent the next two years putting some
10,000 miles on his pony car. By early 1966, when nearly one million
Mustangs had been sold and the car’s status as a Ford landmark was
secure, the Blue Oval called again. This time, Ford offered Tucker a
worthy trade: in exchange for returning Serial Number One, he could
have the One Millionth Mustang, equipped to his specifications.
Tucker agreed and, when filling out the order, covered the entire
option sheet with single large “X.” The only extra he didn’t take
was the High Performance 289 engine – it carried a shorter warranty
period.
Tucker came to Dearborn on March 2, 1966, met Ford vice-president
(and Mustang father) Lee Iacocca, and posed for photos with his new
Silver Frost 1966 Mustang convertible. Meanwhile, Ford reclaimed
Tucker’s much-loved Serial Number One and soon donated it to The
Henry Ford Museum. Seventeen years after the trade, when Mustang
Monthly magazine caught up with Tucker, the pilot expressed some
understandable regret that he’d let go of Serial Number One. As we
celebrate 50 years of Mustang, though, we can be grateful that
5F08F100001 is preserved for all to enjoy. Many of its visitors,
upon seeing the car in Henry Ford Museum, get that same gleam in
their eyes that Stanley Tucker must have gotten all those years ago.
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