Mustang Club of Maryland

This story comes from the 02/25/08 issue of AutoWeek magazine.
Mustang No. 100001

Depending on your definition of "first," the first Mustang that rolled off the line at Ford Motor Co.'s Rouge plant in March 1964 is either residing at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, or is up for sale at a used-car dealership outside Chicago.

Some say the first Mustang is the one with serial number 100001, a Wimbledon white convertible with black vinyl interior that was sold through a dealership in Newfoundland, Canada, in the spring of 1964 ("Pony Car Progenitor," AW, June 16, 2003).

Not so fast, says Randy Paddock, general manager of www. classicmusclecars.com, based in Wauconda, Illinois. He has what he says is the first "production" Mustang, also a white convertible, which bears serial number 100212--and a price tag of $5.5 million.

"There were between 185 and 211 preproduction Mustangs built," Paddock says, and "all those preproduction cars, including Mustang 100001, were not supposed to be sold. They were supposed to go to dealers for promotional purposes or to shows, including the World's Fair, but none of them was meant for retail sales.

"First, we are not saying anything derogatory about the car at the museum," says Paddock. "But those preproduction cars all have a build date of '05C,' which means they were built on March 5. The actual date for the first production cars was March 9, signified by '09C' on the build plate.

"In our opinion, and I think we've got the facts on our side, we have the first production car. Those others were all preproduction and were not intended for sale. This is the last untold story of the muscle-car era," Paddock says. "We do tremendous research on everything we sell, and when we get all done with our research, we're going to prove our point."

Bob Casey, curator of transportation at the Henry Ford Museum, says he doesn't want to get into a debate with Paddock, but the car in the museum has serial number 1. And typically, preproduction cars don't necessarily receive vehicle identification numbers.

The VIN plate from No. 100001
"To say that our car wasn't built for sale is not quite right," Casey says. "Serial number 1 went to Newfoundland, and the car with serial number 2 went to the Yukon. Those were the two farthest places away from Dearborn, and they wanted to be sure all the dealers had a car for the official on-sale date. Our research shows that Ford did not intend to sell car No. 1, but they forgot to tell the dealer that."

Mustang 100001 was sold to Stanley Tucker, an airline pilot who snapped up the car from his local dealer. Shortly after the sale, Ford wanted the Mustang back, and after a couple of years of negotiations, Tucker agreed to trade his 100001 for a 1966 model that was the one-millionth Mustang built. Think about it: Ford sold 1,293,557 Mustangs in two years!

With just a little more than 10,000 miles on the odometer, the Mustang returned to Dearborn, only to go into storage. The museum had a policy of not displaying anything that was not yet 20 years old.

In 1987, the Mustang was displayed in the Henry Ford Museum as part of the permanent exhibit "Automobile in American Life," which included many historically significant automobiles. But the car had not been in running operation since shortly after its return to Dearborn in the mid-1960s.

All of that changed before the Mustang's 40th and Ford's 100th anniversary in 2003. Museum officials got the car back in working order so it could take part in the museum's annual Motor Muster of historic cars. After having a new water pump and battery installed and getting filled up with a tank of new fuel, the Mustang started right up.

The Mustang remains one of the top automotive attractions at the museum, Casey says, adding that he gets many requests for the car to appear at car shows around the country. He declines most of those, he says, because museum visitors want to see the car.

Not to throw fire on the flames, but Casey says he's seen research showing that maybe even Mustang No. 1 wasn't the first car down the line.

Mustang No. 100212
"The owner of Mustang serial number 2 has done exhaustive research on this subject, and he makes a strong case that his car, a coupe, might actually have been the first car to come down the line. It would make sense; a coupe is easier to build, less complex than a convertible. So what I like to say is that the first production Mustang may be different from the first Mustang produced."

Drew Alcazar, founder of the Russo and Steele auction, says that the car with the lowest serial number usually wins.

"Either you have a car with a one and a bunch of zeroes in front of it, or you don't," Alcazar says. "All you've really got [with Paddock's claim] is an early production car. And in terms of cold, hard cash value, being an early production car doesn't really mean that much."

As for the $5.5 million price tag, Alcazar says good luck.

"Hey, it never hurts to ask, I always say. With a well-restored '65 Mustang convertible going for the mid-$40,000s range, I just don't see it translating to hard dollars."

Paddock says his company purchased the first production Mustang--or Mustang 100212, depending on your point of view--from a broker late last year. The car was originally purchased by a couple who had preordered it through Powell Ford in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The bill of sale shows it was sold on April 16, 1964, one day ahead of the official on-sale date for the Mustang.

"Cars are not necessarily always built in the order of their VIN," Casey counters. "But if this guy [Paddock] can prove his car is first, more power to him. But I would think that if that is the case, his car's serial number would be closer to No. 1 than No. 212."

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