AIN’T THAT AMERICA

When you have an "old car" shop, you never know who will walk in. Just before Christmas a man walked in one evening asking if I could help find the Mustang toy that he wanted. I told him I could and bought a few on my next shopping trip. He did not like any of them and said he wanted one to use in a "Mustang barn find" diorama that he was building a friend for Christmas. By coincidence, I had seen exactly such a toy, so the next day I ran out and bought one. When he came back, he liked it and paid me. I lost money on the whole deal, but I had a happy customer.

Now, my shop is in a veryrural area. The man said that he had a couple of Mustangs and that one was a Shelby. I din't get too excited, because a lot of barns near the shop hold old cars that need lots of work.

Well, he kept after me and stopped or called repeatedly about seeing his cars. Finally, I went to see them. Guess what? They were beautiful. He has a dark green 1969 Shelby GT-500 with a 428 and an orange 1970 Mach 1 with a 351. Both are like brand new.

He also showed me the Mustang wall hangings that his son in law was making. They are fiberglass Mustang rear ends with full, remote-controlled electronics that play music, blink turn signals, flash brake lights and make engine sounds. The electronics in them come from Bosnia.

So what we have is a building out in the middle of no where in a rural area with two beautiful restored Mustangs inside and a Mustang memorabilia business that sources parts from Bosnia! And it's all three miles from my shop in a sleepy Wisconsin village.

Ain't that America?

They would like to sell the cars to finance the wall hanging business, so if you know anyone looking for a Mustang, just visit www.gunnersgreatgarage.com and we'll connect you up.