Same Guy, Same Car

In 1965, I was seven years old and our family was living in Winnipeg, Manitoba. That year, my Dad was posted to Toronto temporarily working on a special project for the railway. One weekend, on the spur of the moment, he popped into Elgin Motors on Bay Street and purchased a new 1965 Mustang convertible for the grand sum of $2,800. He didn’t tell my brother or I and late in the year he showed up in Winnipeg with the new car. I was ecstatic, pumped up by all of the media hype surrounding that year’s hottest new car model. After going for my first ride, I ran over to our neighbour’s house and yelled “We got a Mustang, we got a Mustang”. Our neighbour, Mrs. Goodwin, didn’t know what I was talking about and thought we had purchased a horse!

Dad babied that car for years and he never did drive it in the harsh Winnipeg winters. In 1972, we moved to Edmonton and Dad was given a company car. He had little time for the Mustang and the car sat up on blocks in the garage for years. All the while, I was growing up and getting more interested in the car. In 1991, with Dad’s blessing, I confiscated the car and I now have it in North Bay, Ontario. My son and I drive it the odd weekend when the weather is nice. The car has only 35,000 miles on it, it still looks like new in its original paint, and the Elgin Motors sticker is still on the back of the trunk. In 2004, while visiting us in North Bay, Dad decided to take the car for a spin. He has aged a few years, but the car still looks the same.

December 1, 2005