Janis Cyrus introduces us to Hannah, her 1969 Mustang Mach 1
Article and photos submitted by Janis Cyrus
First a bit about the Mustang 50 year Celebration in Charlotte, NC:
The Mustang 50 Year Celebration in Charlotte, North Carolina lasted 5 days and it was unbelievable. There were 3,800 Mustangs registered in advance and they continued to pour in all the time! I heard there were between 4,000 and 5,000 Mustangs and 9 nations represented. When my husband and I checked into the registration at the Embassy Suites the line was all the way around the inside of the hotel and took over 2 ½ hours. We were behind the Italian Mustang Club and in front of a Mustang man and family from Ohio who became our friend all weekend long! I got up at 5am Thursday morning to get in line at 6am for the entry into the infield. I have pictures of the row after row waiting for that excitement but I was so worried I wouldn’t make it in. You have no idea how exciting it was to pull through the tunnel into the Charlotte NASCAR infield. They sent me over to the 4th turn inside on the grass, which put me facing the Charlotte turn 4 and right beside the visitor’s tunnel entry. There is no way it could have been any better! John came in through the tunnel and walked directly to my Mustang named Hannah. She couldn’t have had more attention with people stopping constantly to see her.
As you walked past our position you walked directly into a huge Ford metal tent where they showed the history of Mustang as well as all the Ford vehicles. There was also a car covered that was at the end of the tent. When we attended the opening ceremony held on the race-track one of the Ford executives drove the Mustang out for everyone to see. It was the Mustang 50 Year Celebration car with only one thousand nine hundred and sixty four being produced – 1964.
After the ceremony John and I slipped out back to the Embassy Suites to volunteer to assist with registration. We were assigned to give out the Goodie bags with were the bags with the 50 Year Celebration on the front and they included a participation plaque, a small Mustang toy car, a Mustang poster, and the CD shown at the opening ceremony. While handing these out I met people from everywhere including Canada, California, Oregon, Alabama, and Georgia just to name a few. Everyone of them talked about their Mustang, how far they had driven, and how excited they were. After about 4 hours of volunteering we left and went back to the speedway to wrap Hannah up for the night – we left her there the entire weekend so I wouldn’t have to get up at 5am every day and stand the chance of not making it in.
Now this was the first day of the Celebration and I was already give out from all the excitement.
Here’s a bit about our Mustang:
Hannah is a 1969 Mach1 Windsor 350 4 speed that was bought brand new off the lot by Dickey Reno in Alabama. He was the only owner prior to deciding to let her go 2 years ago at a car show in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and she was meant to be mine. I am the only other owner.
It has an original interior, wheels, transmission, motor (which has been rebuilt once), and the car repainted once to the original color.
My Baby Hangs with the Big Boys! The Mustang was photo’d at Talladega and the Big Boyz Show many years ago while she was on the infield of the Charlotte Motor Speedway 4th turn at the Mustang 50 Year Celebration this past month. In addition she has one Best Pony at the first Wake Forest, NC Car Show 2013 along with 10 other show awards within the last season.
Restoration – The first work was on the dash interior – John removed the dash and sent the radio and clock off to be redone. The horn on the steering wheel and the entire steering wheel was restored while John reworked all the dash instrumentation then when everything was complete it was reinstalled.
This past winter the hood was removed so that the fire walls could be sanded, cleaned, and repainted. In addition all the lights wiring was replaced along with the turn signals on the hood and the paint colors for the engine were verified then painted. The decals were purchased and placed as originally installed then the hood was reinstalled.
And I still love my life! When I was a baby I hung out the door of the car and today I still do the same – love my Mustang!
I did one of your trunk car photos for fun too!
[We like getting stuff like this. If you have a cool car and a story to boot, send it our way! tbone@blacktopmagazine.com]