2024 Mustang - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

2024 Mustang

The 7th generation Ford Mustang was revealed last week in downtown Detroit to kick off the 2023 Auto Show. Watching the kick-off live-streamed on-line was OK, but I can’t wait to see the vehicle at the show and to check it out in person. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy this video of the car in action. And check out this article about all 7 generations of Mustangs.

The Detroit auto show used to be held during the dead of winter in January, a terrible time for the show, so it was wisely moved to the early fall at the traditional kick off each new model year. Back when my interest in cars began during the 1950’s, the fall introduction of new models was an annual tradition, primarily because car styling literally changed every year, which made things really interesting. For example, check out this series of styling photos of Chevy's during the 1950’s.

And this collage didn’t even include one of my favorites, the 1958 Chevy Impala.

Check out how the Mustang styling has evolved over the 7 generations since its 1965 introduction.

In honor of its heritage, a graphic on the back window of the new Mustang features a silhouette of every generation going back to 1965.

These days, vehicle styling might change only every 5 years or so. But when there is a major changeover like for the 2024 Mustang, interest peaks especially on social media, where the enthusiasts can make their statements like the following:

The new Mustang continues its racing tradition, including NASCAR, GT Series, NHRA , SRO and IMSA to name a few, with its debut at the 24 Hours of LeMans as featured in the movie Ford v Ferrari about the 1966 race.

Some of the more interesting innovative features of the new Mustang include an electronic drift brake to do spin outs like the pros, a key fob that remotely revs the engine, six driving modes, flat bottom steering wheel and higher roofline for taller drivers like me, twin digital touch screen displays, functional front hood scoop and grill vents, Dark Horse performance model, enhanced engine horsepower; bottom line, technology wrapped in tradition.

Ford Engineering retirees are invited to test drive the new vehicles each year on the Dearborn Test track, an event that makes us all feel decades younger as if we were back in our heyday again. Great fun; can’t wait to drive the new Mustang around the track!

Here’s our first Mustang, a 1968 yellow hard top that my wife drove as our second car. She loved it.

Check out these past blogs about Mustangs.

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Retirement - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Retirement

This week marks 20 years since my retirement from Ford Motor Company. At the time in May of 2000, the economy was doing well so retiring at a relatively young age was fortunately doable. Executives of the company were restricted from selling shares of Ford stock, so I had been able to accumulate a bunch of shares in my 401K that the company matched each year. On the advice of my stock broker, once the restrictions were lifted after retirement, all my Ford shares were sold.

So with our nest egg in place from the sale of the shares, we've been fortunately able to weather the subsequent financial storms so far, including the current problems, thanks to the stellar advice from our skilled broker, to whom we’ll be forever grateful.

Retirement allowed me to try several encore careers, such as teaching, private equity, politics, charitable boards and of course, blog writing, all which I enjoyed tremendously. But last fall I decided to retire for good. The run is over except you’re still stuck reading my blogs until the memories fade out. One such memory follows:

A position I held at Ford in the mid-90’s was heading up the Explorer program in the early days of sport utility vehicles.

We were trying to beat Jeep and Chevy to the punch with a 4 wheel drive vehicle designed for the highway, not just off-road. At the time, most of the SUV’s on the market had underpowered V6 engines and we concluded Explorer sales would double if the larger but smoother V8 could be squeezed into the vehicle's compact engine compartment.

I recall the day like it was yesterday when Paul G, an engineering supervisor who worked for me came up and requested $20,000 to have a supplier design and tool a thinner harmonic balancer, a flywheel-like device mounted on the front of engine crankshafts to improve smoothness. He claimed that with the thinner balancer, the existing powerful Mustang V8 could be packaged in the Explorer. That got my attention and the funds were approved.

Shortly thereafter we formed a skeleton team headed by Paul who contracted with Roush Racing (famous for the Roush Mustang) to design the Mustang V8 into the Explorer. The best part was testing the Explorer with the throaty Mustang V8 installed. What a rush compared to the sluggish V6!

1996 Explorer V8

V8 engines have a long tradition within the company, in fact the first was invented and patented by Henry Ford back in 1932 as documented in this video of the milestone.

Henry Ford and the 1932 V8

Once we figured out how to fit the V8 into the Explorer, the problem became finding an assembly plant to handle the expected volume increase, since the plant making Explorers was at capacity because the Ranger pick-up truck was also built on the same line. We concluded some of the customers for the existing Aerostar minivan built in another plant would likely switch to the sportier Explorer, so why not build both vehicles on the same assembly line so volumes could be easily adjusted to demand. So in less than six months, we were able to launch the V8 and double vehicle production, culminating eventually in the Explorer being recognized as the best-selling SUV of all time with over 8 million sales.

But what really upset us was the ugly Chevy Blazer beat out the Explorer for Motor Trend SUV of the year in 1996 even though we outsold them 2:1. Fake news!

However, the Explorer V8 team was recognized in Ford’s annual report that year for their nimble accomplishments. Paul G is on the far right in the brown shirt on this team photo taken at Roush surrounded by the V8 engine.

The added volume contributed to record company profits that in turn drove the stock price up dramatically, which eventually led to my retirement a few years later on the first day eligible, May 1, 2000. Ironically, shortly thereafter, NHTSA initiated a formal investigation into manufacturing defects in the Firestone tires used on the Explorer, that culminated in a costly recall of all the tires as documented in this wikipedia segment on the fiasco. Ford stock hasn’t been the same since. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky that good, that is if you have a wise stock broker!

Stay healthy, Fish Report readers.

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Woodward Dream Cruise - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Woodward Dream Cruise

The Original Woodward Dream Cruise

As a retired automotive engineer, the annual Woodward Dream Cruise here in Michigan each August represents the perfect time to reflect back on the cars and trucks that I had the privilege to work on as well as own over the years.

The 2018 Cruise was exceptional in that Debby & I were invited to the Roush Racing pavilion right on Woodward north of 13 Mile Road, literally at the epicenter pictured in the aerial photo below of the annual automobile pilgrimage.

We were invited by a fellow Ford retiree who now works for Roush. An informative blurb about the Company and it’s founder, Jack Roush, can be found by clicking on this link.

In addition to the ample food and refreshments that we enjoyed, Roush had set up elevated bleachers right on Woodward offering a perfect vantage point to observe the classic cars passing by. Most brought back some memory or another that I’d like to share with you in this blogpost.

An old Thunderbird was spotted which was like the first test car assigned to me upon starting work at Ford in 1973.

As a member of a team to develop an improved air conditioning system, Ford recruited me from Frigidaire in Dayton, which was the General Motors division responsible for GM's A/C system. At the time, Ford purchased many of their air conditioning parts from Frigidaire, and it irritated boss Henry Ford II that he had to pay his prime competitor for these parts. He directed our group to fix the problem, and after a couple years, we were quite successful. For example, the price of one part came down from from $110 per car to $55 while being 50% lighter. Plus we totally eliminated a $10 part, while also cutting the power draw from the A/C by 50%. I earned a patent on that idea!

To this day, Ford does not buy a single part from GM, or any other competitor for that matter. By 1977, I had moved into the management ranks at Ford so was able to lease my first Thunderbird, a two-tone red on white beauty like shown below that I recall driving down to Columbus for the Loramie Redskin State Basketball Championship game, which we fortunately won! To this day, we still have a Thunderbird; this 2004 model with only 6000 miles that we drove in the cruise this year.

Next to come along was a yellow Plymouth Satellite that looked a lot like a car my sister first drove, but when I texted her a photo, she said it was a yellow Plymouth Duster. I think she eventually totaled that yellow beast, if memory serves, but she was Ok! Her boyfriend at the time, now husband, had a really cool Plymouth Road Runner.

As a Ford guy, Mustang’s have always been one of my favorites, kindled by my first exposure to the pony car in the spring of 1964 at Eagle Park in Minster documented in this previous blogpost. We also had a yellow classic, our first ’68 Mustang, like this one that my wife drove. And Roush was exhibiting some really cool Mustangs in their corral, including one honoring their founder called the Jackhammer.

Probably the most popular vehicles in each cruise are the Corvette’s. The most iconic ‘Vette is the split window coupe, one of which I owned years ago. It sure was fast and loud with a big block engine and side pipes.

My favorite Corvette was a maroon ’65 convertible pictured below. This vehicle came into my hands after my brother-in-law married my wife’s sister and she wanted new furniture. So the Vette had to go, but on the condition that he could someday buy it back from me at the going rate. Whenever my brother-in-law and his family visited, he always gave his kids rides in the Corvette, but when it came time to give his wife a ride, for some reason the car wouldn’t start! Somehow it knew! Fast forward about 20 years, after babying that car for all that time, I received a call from my brother-in-law about a week before the Dream Cruise that he was ready to buy back the ‘65. Sad day for me; happy day for him! He’s since given the Vette to his son, who cruises around Russia, with his kids.

A blue ’59 Chevy came rolling past just like my first car, a hand-me-down from Dad. It even had the same black wheels and whitewalls. Hated that car!

A ’62 Chevy was also spotted, a lot nicer than my red Impala that I bought used from a high school classmate’s brother documented in this previous blogpost.

A gold ’69 Chevy Nova SS was my first new car, purchased for $1800 after trading in the ’62.

The Nova was special as I met my wife while driving that car. We had it for our first year of our marriage before a fraternity brother bought it. He eventually trashed it, then crashed it, so no classic life for that memorable car!

Look for more Dream Cruise photos and memories next week.

Friday Night Lights - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s.


Friday Night Lights

To continue my series of blogs on football memories, this edition focuses on high school football. But what does a photo of some pumpkins, a 64 1/2 Mustang and Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas have to do with high school football? Well, let me connect the dots. Because our high school did not offer football back in the 60’s, our play was limited to pick-up games and attending other high school football in the area. One of those schools was the Bradford Railroaders with a player who would eventually became my fraternity brother at college. But obviously I didn’t know him at the time. Some friends and I would go to a Bradford game in the fall, then attend the annual Pumpkin Show after the game. Beyond the pumpkins and football, there was always the traditional confetti being thrown around at the festival. Great fun; however, my mom would complain about finding confetti around the house for weeks afterwards!

Now for the connection to other two photos; the Minster Wildcats had a pretty good football team so we attended one of their games early in the ’65 season and then afterwards headed for the Friday night dance at Eagle Park. As a couple of friends and I were walking into the dance hall, a brand new 1964 1/2 Mustang convertible drove in loaded with several cute girls. As we began chatting with them, a group of guys approached the car lead by a good looking hunk with a perfect Johnny Unitas-type flat top haircut. Turns out he was Minster’s quarterback with his entourage. Needless to say, my buddies and I were relegated to the sidelines and it was at that moment we really regretting not having a football team. But I’m glad now in light of the concussion and injury problems associated with football. My bones are creaky enough without having played football; but thankfully no joint replacements so far! Regarding the quarterback, he’s since packed it on and weighs about 300 pounds! 

Auto Vue Drive In - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Auto Vue Drive-In

While my wife was visiting her mother this past weekend at the Landings Assisted Living Center in Sidney, I decided to explore the old Auto Vue drive-in located just down Russell Road from the Landings. It’s been about 55 years since my last visit to the venerable old drive-in way back in my high school days. Pictured above is the vintage marquis with the big screen and concession stand in he background.

Several cars parked next to the concession were surprising as I had assumed the old drive-in was abandoned and due for the wrecking ball. So curiosity got the best of me as I drove to where the cars were parked and went inside, running into Teresa Rees, who I was pleased to discover is the current owner of the drive-in. She’s pictured with Bill Smith, as both were preparing the concession stand for the upcoming season.

Teresa is the second generation owner of Auto Vue, taking over from her parents as described in the following blurb from their website:

The Auto Vue Drive In was built in 1956 by the late Russ Negelspach. Russ, along with brother Norm and sister-in-law Betty, ran the Auto Vue until 1987, when it was purchased by Sam (Kathryn) and David (Kelly) Rees. Many of you may remember Mrs. Shue, who met you at the ticket booth for years, working for Russ and staying on to work with the Rees family as well. Generations of the Rees family still operate the drive in today.

During the almost three decades our family has owned the Auto Vue, we have survived significant obstacles. December 1987 saw the drive-in lose the concession stand after a winter storm ripped off 1/2 of the roof and cracking walls, requiring the demolition and rebuilding of a new one.

In June 1994 another storm tore almost 1/2 of the all-steel screen away, with special made panels having to be trucked in from Georgia for the repair. A few years later, the neon sign and one of the marquis fell victim to yet another storm.

We are one of only about 310 left in the entire country. It is the love of the drive-in experience that keeps us working, year after year. We are committed to providing an affordable family-oriented experience to our communities and know you'll create those "special" memories. It's a night like no other!

Auto Vue will be opening soon for the new season, featuring wholesome family movies. During the off-season, Teresa sells the handmade items her mother makes as outlined in this video, which also gives you a sense of how the concession stand looks these days.

The movies are projected using a state of the art digital video projector pictured here. I found it interesting that the cost of the $60,000 digital projector was partially paid by GoFundMe donations from customers and supporters who wanted to make sure the drive-in survived the digital revolution. It’s a far cry from the old reel-to-reel projectors of the past, that as I recall could be readily seen when visiting the concession stand back in the day as the door was wide open. Likely the same person running the concession stand had to change the reels periodically. Made sense since the concession stand was mostly vacant while the movie was running, and during intermissions, an ad track always ran, with a big countdown to the end of intermission.

Having also worked at a drive-in along Salem Avenue in Dayton during summers while in college to earn some extra cash, I wrote this 2017 blogpost about those and other memories from the era.

After leaving the drive-in, I headed west on Russell Road having recalled a junk yard that Dad and I would frequent for spare parts. It was a fun place back in those days seeing all the wrecked cars and to scrounge around for whatever we were looking for. Lo and behold, it was still there just like the drive-in. About the only difference noticed were the junkers from the 2000’s rather than the 1950’s, plus you can scrounge for parts on-line instead of the muddy junk yard. That’s no fun!

Russell Road was a real roller coaster of a highway as I would go to work at Copeland's (now Emerson’s) the summer before college driving from Ft. Loramie to Sidney, usually running late. At the time, there were no stop signs the entire way, but since then several have been installed; maybe because of resident complaints about the noise from the Thrush mufflers salvaged from a junker and installed on my 1962 Chevy that I was driving just a little over the speed limit early each morning? My father-in-law-to-be always commented that he could hear me coming a mile away!

Speakers are another thing of the past, as now each customer simply tunes into the radio for the dolby sound broadcast by the new digital projector. So they gave away the old speakers to their patrons, and here’s one Fish Report’s Craig was given by Teresa's mother Kathryn back in the mid-90’s now on display at his place.

Teresa, thanks for the tour and renewing my drive-in memories.

No these are not junk yard dogs! 

PS: Here’s my favorite view of the old drive-in, with my bother-in-law Fred and his brand new Mustang Mach 1 in the foreground.

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