By the time the ‘65 Ford Mustang officially went on sale on April 17, 1964, it had been rolling off the assembly line at the Rouge factory in Dearborn, MI, for about five weeks. Thousands
of Mustangs had been shipped to dealers throughout North America so they would be
available in showrooms on opening day. However, not all of the cars on display were
actually meant to be sold to customers.
Among those was a Wimbledon White convertible with serial number 5F08F100001 that had been delivered to George Parsons Ford at the far eastern end of Canada in St. Johns, Newfoundland. That car, along with about 180 other early examples, was not meant to
be sold. These pre-production models were supposed to be used only for factory
testing and promotional purposes.
The next day, however, Eastern Provincial Airlines pilot Capt. Stanley Tucker saw the sleek new convertible and knew he just had to have it. Tucker convinced Parsons to sell it to him. As more than 22,000 orders and sales had poured in opening weekend, no one at Ford Division in Dearborn at first realized the significance of that particular sale.
Once it became known a couple of weeks later that Mustang number One had been inadvertently sold, Ford officials reached out to Tucker to try to buy it back. Tucker was having so much fun with his new car that he initially declined to sell it back to the company. Eventually, they struck a deal.
On March 2, 1966, less than two years after Mustang production began at the Rouge assembly plant, Tucker brought the first Mustang back to Dearborn, right, and turned in the keys for a brand-new example. For an encore, Tucker got the One-millionth Mustang produced – another Wimbledon White convertible!
Ford Motor Company later donated Mustang number One to the Henry Ford Museum, where it resides to this day. Ford has launched Mustang Countdown, an online video series to throw the spotlight on the legendary sports car and the culture that has formed around it all across the globe, and to continue the celebration leading up to the 50th birthday of Mustang on April 17, 2014. Check it out, http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh_g4AJrndncJto0t1Tu4TiFKY5rXJsZS