Treasure Valley Mustang and Ford Club

Member Car of the Month - March 2010

Janice' 2007 Mustang convertible

The electric top folds neatly into the trunk of Janice' 1967 Lincoln

I graduated from high school and college during a bad economy when teaching jobs were hard to find. Making a living in a place like western South Dakota is never easy, so I started looking for something else. I ended up going to HVAC school in Denver. At that time I drove a Chevy El Camino and one day on the way home during rush hour it died with an awful sound. No smoke, no water or fire in the sky, just died. This prompted the purchase of my first red convertible, a 1971 Ford LTD. I drove that car when I moved to Idaho in 1981. It now has nearly 170,000 miles on it and still runs great.

My Mustang experience started way back in high school when I visited the local Ford dealer and saw a new Mustang convertible on the showroom floor. With graduation nearing I approached Dad about a car for graduation. He just looked at me saying whatever reality my budget allowed was all right by him.

My high school car was a 1940 Ford my brother gave me after he stripped the parts needed for his 1939 Ford. I located and transferred the title for five dollars, then "borrowed" my brother's stock engine while he was away at college. With a little help from my friends we assembled the '40 Ford for a total cost of $30 plus the trade of a 1950 Oldsmobile radio. My friends and I tore around in the '40 Ford until spring break of our senior year when we totaled it by rolling it. I then bought and restored another 1940 Ford. When I moved to Idaho the Ford remained in South Dakota until sold.

While working in Meridian, I found my dream 1967 Lincoln convertible with four doors. Cool! It ran great, had a new interior but needed paint. It had a new top, but it didn't work. The top controls looked similar to heater and cooling controls so I started working on them and six weeks later the top was operating. It needed other work and when that was finished in 1993 I drove to Seattle and entered the Lincoln and Continental Owners Club Western National Meet. The Lincoln took third place in it's class the first time entered.

Getting back to Mustangs, remember, this is my Mustang story, I had a "living-the-past-all-over-again" moment while visiting the local Ford dealer. There it was, a 2007 Mustang convertible. I felt like I did that day back in high school, but this time I had my checkbook and drove the convertible home.

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