PONY XPress The Official Publication of the Garden State Region Mustang Club - May 2020
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
PONY
XPress
The Official Publication of the
Garden State Region Mustang Club
May 2020 Vol. 28, Number 5
1
the 1st or 2nd
President’s Message weekend in June. We
will need to practice
W
Social Distancing,
hat is this world coming to…I’m writing this wear face masks and
on May 8th and it’s going to SNOW stay in our cars, but at
tonight!!! I guess it’s all part of the new least we can see each
normal. First and foremost, I hope you and your families other! We will push
are well. Again, Rich and I are out and about almost every details via email,
day, so if you need anything or want to chat or Zoom, just website and
call. This month I can’t guarantee meat products. Facebook as soon as
When I wrote last month’s message every day finalized.
brought worse news. It is so encouraging to hear better July is also a
news every day. We need to focus on the number of guess. The
recoveries although we must grieve those who have lost Maywood 4th of July
their lives to this horrible virus. Thank you to everyone parade has been
on the front line. Social Distancing is hard emotionally cancelled and Ridgefield Park is likely to follow suit. Our
and financially, but keeping healthy is paramount. rescheduled Spring (although technically Summer)
April 19th was a perfect day for our Spring Roundup Car Show on the 12th/it better not rain date 19th
Roundup Show. It would have been great to bring out all is also pending. We have secured a food vendor. If this is
our beautiful cars, but our HEALTH is worth so much able to take place but you do not want to participate, we
more than a trophy. Our first Zoom Board Meeting was understand. If you were able to get gifts for Raffle/Door
successful and we will do it again for May. We didn’t Prizes, please bring them to the next meeting or arrange
have any illicit Zoom Crashers at the meeting for for us to pick them up.
entertainment. This month our son, Evan, is graduating from
The Governor has extended the Stay at Home NJIT with TWO Engineering degrees. All his hard work
order until early June, therefore our May 20th General and our money with no Graduation Ceremony or
Meeting is CANCELLED. celebrations. John and I are so proud, especially as he has
There is a slim possibility that we will get to landed a job with the Manufacturing Consulting
celebrate Mustang Day at our General Meeting on June Company he has been interning with since January.
17th. Rules change every day, so this will be a wait and Thanks Al.
see for now. However, we know that June was scheduled In May we celebrate Memorial Day. Going to the
to be a busy month for members with Carlisle Ford beach, parades and barbeques are not the point. I would
Nationals now postponed to July 30-August 2 and like to thank all of our members who put their lives on the
American Muscle cancelled. Hopefully we can persuade line to serve our country. WE SALUTE YOU!!!
some of you American Muscle guys/gals to join us at I would also like to wish Happy Mother’s Day!
Carlisle. So, we recognize the need to do SOMETHING Wear your masks and stay 6 feet apart. However,
in June. The Board will create a “Cruise with a Cause” for you don’t need a mask to hug your Mustang and spend
quality time detailing.
Welcome New Members
Stay well!
Frank Galioto Harrington Park ’20 Mustang GT
Daniel Nocera Hewitt ‘09 Mustang GT Dale, #733, GSRMC President
Francisco Rozo Fairlawn ’66 Mustang
Randy Baumann Nutley ’16 Mustang GT
2
GSRMC Contact Information
President Dale Favia
201-306-8127 dfavia@optonline.net
Vice President Rich Izenberg
973-769-7920 rizenberg@aol.com
Please note that all dates
Treasurer Jim Signorelli
201-845-7014 jimsignorelli@hotmail.com
should be considered tentative.
Secretary Pete Cullen
973-650-2957 oldcarz57@aol.com May 20 GSRMC Meeting CANCELLED
June GSRMC Cruise for a Cause. Date &
Board of Directors
Details to follow.
Past President Bill Chernack
973-214-4060 bluebyu2011@gmail.com June 13 18th Ann. Car show. Mount Holly.
Tom Addeo www.mainstreetmountholly.org/car-
973-229-7735 tomaddeo@yahoo.com show.html
John Gaschler June 14 GSRMC Cruise for a Cause
973-333-8882 c.gaschler@yahoo.com
Ken Najarian June 17 GSRMC Meeting & Mustang Day
201-666-9669 knajarian@gmail.com Celebration
Al Vizzone June 25-27 NMRA Ford Motorsports Nationals.
201-826-6071 Alfred.vizzone@gmail.com Drag Racing & Car show. Maple Grove
Maureen Yowe Raceway, Mohnton, PA.
973-398-4325 lefylady1@verizon.net www.nmradigital.com
MCA Nat. Dir. Helaina Semmler June 28 27th Ann. Tri-County Cruisers’ Car
856-642-0764 herpony68@gmail.com Show. Town Hall, Valley Rd,Wayne.
www.tricountycruisersnj.com
Membership Joe DeLeo July 18 NJ Fireman’s Home Cruise-In.
201-790-4372 r2stangs@aol.com https://njregionaaca.com/activities/
July 30-Aug 2 Team Shelby East Coast Grand Nats.
Newsletter Mike DeLiberto
Pocono Raceway, PA & Carlisle, PA.
201-933-6915 8550mustang@gmail.com
teamshelbynortheast@icloud.com
Website Bill Chernack July 31-Aug 2 Carlisle Ford Nationals. Car show,
973-214-4060 bluebyu2011@gmail.com swap meet, cruise & racing. Carlisle
PA. www.carlisleevents.com
Facebook Bob Acker
Aug. 8 Car Show. Keansburg Amusement
201-694-1325 purevnm@hotmail.com
Park. Meredith Peltz 347-528-5372
Sunshine Joanne Leser Sept. 20 GSRMC End of Summer Car Show.
973-865-7134 tag982003@yahoo.com Nielsen Ford, Rt. 23, Wantage
Hospitality Norm Leser
3
IMPORTANT
ANNOUNCEMENTS
A t this month’s Board meeting it was
decided to cancel Spring and Fall Car
Shows due to COVID-19. Things are too
uncertain regarding large groups for July and
many experts are predicting another spike in
the fall. This was a very difficult decision,
but was required for everyone’s safety. We
hope to donate some of the monies received
from Nielsen Dodge to the Boonton
Fireman’s Home.
On a positive note, we’ve chosen
June 14 (rain date 28) for “Cruise for a
Cause”. We will meet at Boonton Walmart at
11AM, take a cruise thru Morris and surrounding counties
and end at a facility to donate food. More specific details PONY PLACES
will be finalized in the next week and will be sent via
Working Space
email, Facebook and website. All appropriate social
T
distancing rules will be observed! Hope to see you and
his month’s featured Pony Place shows that not all
your Mustangs. garages are for displaying ponies & memorabilia,
We will also be making some type of donations some are for building and maintaining them. After all,
to those on the front line. More details in next month’s
who wouldn’t want a lift in their garage.
newsletter.
Norm Leser’s dad built this garage in 1976 so he
Stay well! would have a place to work on his dump truck. Since
Dale F. most dump trucks tend to be larger than Mustangs, the
building and overhead doors were little oversized
compared to a normal garage. He laid it out so that one
side would be for working on vehicles and the other
would be for parking. They did everything in that
building, from pulling engines to painting cars.
Norm’s Dad passed away 2 years ago but
fittingly a legendary car like the Mustang keeps his
legend alive in this garage. Norm & his Stang would like
to thank his Dad for that.
Do you have a Pony Place (Garage,
basement, he/she shed, underground
lair, etc.) you’d like to share? Send
pictures & a brief write-up to Mike D. at
8550mustang@gmail.com
4
MUSTANG DESIGNER GALE
HALDERMAN PASSES AWAY
Designer of the original Ford Mustang, and
member of the Mustang Hall of Fame, dies
at the age of 87. Halderman worked 40
years at Ford Motor Company.
T
his is probably the hardest story I’ve ever written.
It’s one I didn’t want to write. This one is
personal. But Gale Halderman, one of the last
remaining original Mustang legends, passed away After retirement, Gale turned his family barn and
suddenly from a short battle with liver cancer. property into a museum dedicated to car design. Gale,
Gale was a personal friend of mine. He, and his being the humble human being he was, didn’t center the
entire family, are like my family. So I’m typing this with museum around his career and his accomplishments, even
tears in my eyes. I’m sure many of you reading this also though that’s certainly worthy of a museum. Rather, the
have tears in your eyes reading this. Halderman Barn Museum was turned into a homage to all
Gale was one of the most interesting people I had things car design.
the privilege of knowing. I chronicled his entire life’s With a few Mustangs and other Ford vehicles
story in my book, Mustang by Design. I’m not going to inside the museum the primary focus is on the walls which
exploit this situation to sell a few more copies of this have sketches, designs and concepts that Gale collected
book. But I just wanted to be transparent as well. throughout his illustrious career. Many were from
He was the main designer of the original Ford designers that Gale helped hire or that Gale found to be
Mustang. It was his sketch that was chosen by Lee Iacocca very talented.
to become the 1965 (1964 ½ if you will) Mustang. Just Photos of Ford legends are scattered throughout.
being known for that alone makes Gale a legend. In short, the Halderman Barn Museum stands as a must-
But his legacy goes beyond that. Gale worked 40 see location for all Ford fans, and anyone with an
years at Ford Motor Company as a designer and design appreciation for automotive history, because Gale has a
executive. He worked alongside every single major name major spot within automotive history.
in FoMoCo’s history (Henry Ford II, Hal Sperlich, Lee There’s a giant Mustang logo emblazoned on the
Iacocca) he was even Bill Ford Jr.’s boss at one time. side of the barn. As such, the Halderman Barn Museum
Gale is beloved at the Blue Oval. Heck Gale is has been a mecca for many Mustang enthusiasts. The
beloved amongst backdrop of that giant Mustang logo on the barn makes
everyone in the Mustang for a great beauty shot and to showcase each person’s
community. This is a prideful pony car.
profound loss for every Likewise, the barn would host many car outings
Mustang enthusiast. and car clubs. It was quickly becoming a rite of passage
Every car club, every car show to take a trip down to Tipp City, Ohio to
every collector, every have a great day at the Halderman Barn Museum.
person that ever got joy Gale would speak to visitors with stories of his
from the iconic Ford time at Ford. I had heard many of the stories multiple
Mustang owes a thank times, but they never got old. The joy at which he told the
you to Gale for creating stories to the interested crowds was inspiring to me. And
such an amazing,
beautiful car. (contd. on pg. 10)
5
INSPIRED
I
n case you’re wondering if it has not gotten so bad
that I just keep running the same car on the cover of
the newsletter, it has not….yet. Our club just happens
to have several members with Candy Apple Red ’69 Mach
I’s. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. After
seeing last month’s Pony Xpress, the owner of this
month’s cover Mach was inspired to send me his story and
to keep working on his car. M.D.
I bought my car in 1986 with a blown motor and no
trans for $750. I had a 351C-2v with a toploader 4
speed from another car and I did the conversion. Between
1986-88, I sanded the car down to bare metal, bought as had a set of Magnum 500’s sitting in boxes inside the
much chrome I could find. It was different car that I bought only 12 years ago. Suddenly I
back then, as a 23 year old finding parts, but I realized it had been 20 years of sitting and the
got most of it together and after getting jerked time had come. (Plus, now I had some cash to
around a bunch of times, finally found a shop dump into her.) New tires and a tow up to
to cut the rust out, do the body work and re- Interstate Toyota where my buddy worked and
paint her. That was unbelievably 30+ years some techs wanted to work on something cool
ago! So she’s no longer original, but she’s instead of rice-burners got her running again.
mine and I tried to keep her looking as stock I had gotten all the water out of the
as possible. block back then, so it was not too bad to get her
I drove her for a while, then Hurricane running, but the rest of the drivetrain was a
Floyd came along in 1999 and flooded my mess. Little by little I started redoing the car so
house and my Mach right up to the windows. I could drive her again. You name it, I had to
That’s where she sat until about 3 years ago. address it, fuel tank and lines, carb, brake
Life, mortgage, kids, had all gotten in the way booster, brakes, fuel pump. Blower motor,
of her getting attention and cash. radio, new headers etc.
Then one day a buddy of mine said “Hey let’s I went the resto-mod route and put in a T5 trans
throw some tires on the Stang and get her going again”. I and a 2 ½”, stainless steel, Flowmaster exhaust along with
getting the torque box, floorpan and some small rust
holes remediated this past Nov/Dec.
I just finished changing the rear leaf springs and
replacing a blown rear bearing last week. (I did the
bearings on both sides to keep consistent plus I have
nowhere to go.)
Right now, I’m in the middle of getting the
power steering working again. I changed everything;
pump, control valve, cylinder, but still not working. I
also have all the parts to rebuild the rest of the front end;
upper/lower control arms, springs tie rods, etc. (Hoping
(contd. on pg. 7)
6
(Inspired, continued)
She needs new paint, looks good at 20 feet, but
up close the 30-year old paint job is showing some wear.
Also, needs a headliner, hopefully in the next couple of
years.
I still have a way to go and I was feeling a little
frustrated, but then I saw the pictures in the newsletter of
Mike Parent’s Mach and it inspired me to keep going.
She will never be a show car, and that is fine with
me, I enjoy driving her too much.
Text & Photos - Ed Fleischmann, #948
7
8
blue bars behind, signaling the
THE HISTORY OF
marque’s American heritage.
THE MUSTANG A second concept was made
in 1963, helpfully called Mustang II,
LOGO but the proportions of Clark’s logo
A
were too tall to fit in the grille.
llegro, Avanti, Torino and © Ford Clark’s original wooden Design studio modeler Charles
Cougar. These are not The pony logo. Keresztes was told to make a new
Real Housewives of South Miami—though version for the Mustang II and the eventual
I would watch that show—they’re the original production vehicle. The II was the first public
suggestions for a new car Ford was appearance of the pony in the
producing in the 1960s. Thankfully, “corral” in October 1963. The final
the Blue Oval settled on Mustang, logo had the horse in a sprinting
and like the galloping pony logo, it position with its tail out horizontally
was off to the races. instead of angled upward.
Fifty-some years later, we’ve Ford also considered a logo
seen a bunch of evolutions to this that looked like a profile view of a
particular equine, which is always knight from a chess game.
galloping west (left). According to © Ford The legendary Ford Mustang The red, white and blue tribar
pony logo was almost a cougar.
Lee Iacocca, “The Mustang is a wild treatment was ditched in favor of a
horse, not a domesticated racer,” which he said after Roman numeral 2 for the Mustang II production
the horse was placed the opposite way, to look the vehicle. The horse’s head also went more upright.
way it does on a horse racing track. The tribar returned for the 1994 SN95
Now let’s look back at the history of Mustang after it was on hiatus during
the famous trademark. the Fox Body years.
Of the four body designs, Ford Frank Thomas, who worked
picked Gale Halderman’s “Cougar,” on the name research, is quoted as
which featured a big cat sprinting in saying that Mustang rose to the top
the grille. That was the car that would “because it had the excitement of the
eventually be sold as the 1965 © Ford Mustang II concept
wide-open spaces and was American as
Ford Mustang. The Cougar name went on to all hell.”
the Mercury division, replacing the Cyclone marque Thank goodness Allegro wasn’t chosen: The
and using Mustang underpinnings. logo would have been a speedy
The Mustang name first musical note.
appeared on a 1962 concept called Jake Lingeman, Autoweek - 4/27/20
Mustang I, and the galloping horse
was made up by designer Phil Clark.
That summer designers gathered to
look at the sketches for the badge and
chose Clark’s version with the
galloping horse and the red, white and © Ford The Mustang almost had
a horse head logo.
9
(Halderman, continued)
the glean in his eye and that great smile he had, will be
etched in my memory forever.
His daughter will still keep the barn open for the
public to enjoy and as a car club destination.
The story of how Gale drew the winning sketch
for the Ford Mustang is quite amazing, in that it was quite
unremarkable. Late at night, in his home, on his kitchen
table, knowing there was a big meeting the next morning,
Gale sketched his idea for Iacocca’s concept car.
It had to be exciting and sporty. It had to appeal
to both men and women. It needed to have a long hood
and a short deck. Many designers at Ford Motor Company Thank you, Gale, for all you’ve done for the
were making submissions for this project, Gale, along Mustang community. But thank you also for being a role
with his boss Joe Oros teamed up to create their vision. model for everyone on how to be humble and kind. As
Joe Oros’s design ideas were displayed on the talented of a designer as Gale Halderman was, he was an
passenger side of their clay model and Gale’s was even better person. He will forever be one of the biggest
displayed on the driver’s side. Iacocca came around to role models in my life.
look at it. His cigar twirled in his mouth, which Gale Gale leaves behind three daughters, nine
said was always a good sign. grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. But for
Lee proclaimed that he liked Gale’s design the everyone who ever met him, they felt like he was part of
best and the still unnamed Mustang project was approved, their family too. And he is part of the Mustang family,
with Gale’s concept greenlighted. now and forever. I will miss you my dear friend.
Some of Gale’s concept can still be seen on
today’s Mustang. The side scoop, which was one of Jimmy Dinsmore, Torquenews.com, 4/29/20
Gale’s
biggest
ideas can
WE’RE LOOKING FOR A FEW
still be seen GOOD MUSTANGS
on today’s
Mustang.
Likewise,
the three-
F or the cover of the newsletter that is. Most of
you have at least one Mustang and some sort of
picture-taking device. Why not combine the two and
slashed send your photos to the editor so your car can appear
taillight is
on the cover of the Pony Xpress. Included in this
symbolic of the Mustang. And that was something that
issue is an information sheet to fill out and send in
Gale worked on.
Whenever I see Mustangs old or new, I see my with your pictures. You can either write your own
friend Gale in each one that rolls down the road. Mustang story or your trusty editor will put together
Now with his passing, I’ll think of my friend even a brief article based on your info sheet. So get out
more when I see a Mustang on the road, or hear the roar there and take a few shots of your pony from
and growl of the single most iconic car in American different angles, interior, engine compartment, etc.
automotive history. His spirit lives on in each Mustang on and send them in.
the road.
Mike DeLiberto – 8550mustang@gmail.com
1011
REAR VIEW
12You can also read
