BOSS REUNION HELPS POWER MOCSEM'S 'MUSTANG MEMORIES' SHOW TO A RECORD
DEARBORN, MI (Aug., 2011) – We’re on the road a lot here at the Ford Performance Group. Ford Racing has us attending cool club shows and big events all over the country. But every once in awhile, we have the luxury of covering significant automotive happenings right in our own backyard. And thanks to the Mustang Owners Club of Southeastern Michigan (MOCSEM), at least one of them happens every summer.
MOCSEM has grown to become the largest regional Mustang club in the MCA, with 625 members! Each year, they host one of biggest one-day, single-marque car shows in the nation. For the second year in a row, MOCSEM's annual "Mustang Memories" car show had called the property behind Ford World Headquarters home, drawing nearly 800 Ford vehicles to the show field to celebrate the Blue Oval this year, making 2011 the club’s biggest show to date.
While the show and club focuses on Mustangs, any Ford or Ford-powered vehicle was invited to attend. We arrived early to the sight of a mostly empty parking area, but in just a few hours the vast lot behind Ford WHQ was filled with every Ford imaginable – from the Model T to the latest Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca.
We had the opportunity to snap some photos from the roof of the Ford World Headquarters building, and the sight of so many fantastic Fords in one place was astounding. In addition to the cars and their owners, thousands of Ford fans came to Dearborn to take in everything that the "Mustang Memories" All-Ford Car Show and Swap Meet had to offer.
We spoke with Mike Rey, president of MOCSEM, who told us what he thinks makes this event, and his club, so special. “Our event is the country’s largest Midwest regional car show, and our club is the largest regional club within the MCA,” Rey noted. “You come our event and we have Vaughn Gittin Jr. here, we’ve got (Mustang Monthly editor) Donald Farr here and (Chief Mustang Engineer) Dave Pericak and other Ford execs here. You don’t get that at your typical local car show. We also host the Mustang Dream Giveaway at our show. Our club works hard to host a big show that gives owners and attendees alike a great time. If you want to have fun with your car and enjoy being a Ford owner and a Mustang owner, we (MOCSEM) provide the setting to do that.”
It also turned out that Mustang Memories was deemed the perfect venue for members of the BOSS 302 Registry to hold their BOSS Reunion. Unlike some car clubs that have yearly national conventions, BOSS Reunions happen only periodically, so when one does take place, it’s a very special event. As one of the latest clubs to join our Ford Performance Group of enthusiast organizations, we were excited to help celebrate everything BOSS with owners.
The weekend reunion included a tour of the AutoAlliance International assembly plant in Flat Rock, MI, where BOSS owners even got to take laps of the plant’s test track in their own cars! The next day, the group converged on the Roush Collection museum in nearby Livonia, MI, to hold their BOSS Concours and to view Roush’s fantastic collection of rare Fords. There were a large number of BOSS vehicles seen at each event, and by the time the Mustang Memories show had arrived for Sunday, there were some 141 BOSS Mustangs parked at World Headquarters, including 10 BOSS 429s! And in case you missed it, click here to check out our coverage of the BOSS 302 Reunion.
While the sighting of any BOSS 302 is always a treat, there was one BOSS that was shown in Dearborn for the weekend that was extra special. It was the actual BOSS 302 prototype that was once owned by the car's Ford designer, the late Larry Shinoda. John Grafelman from Peoria, IL, now owns Shinoda’s BOSS prototype – the exact car that Shinoda pulled off of the assembly line to develop all of the special design cues which made the BOSS 302 unique.
The car was originally built as a 1969 Mach 1 with a 428 Cobra Jet engine before Shinoda converted it into a BOSS design mule. Grafelman and his family launched an exhausting effort to authenticate it as the very first BOSS! After showing it in its "barn find" condition, the car will now undergo a full restoration in preparation for it’s unveiling at the Mustang’s 50th anniversary in 2014. Keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming exclusive Ford Performance Group story on this car.
With 2011 also marking the 10th anniversary of the International Mustang Bullitt Owners Club (IMBOC), there was yet another group of specialty Mustang owners attending, helping to make Mustang Memories such a special show this year. Along with the MCA and SVT Owners Association, IMBOC was a charter club in our Ford Performance Group enthusiast outreach program, so we helped them celebrate the occasion by throwing a 10th anniversary party to kick off their weekend in Dearborn.
We hosted a Friday night dinner that featured presentations from Ford Performance Group communications manager (and published Mustang author) John Clor, plus former Bullitt engineer-turned-MRT business owner Scott Hoag, and Ford vehicle dynamics engineer Nick Terzes. Hoag and Terzes both played roles in developing the Mustang Bullitt, and they gave Bullittheads the inside scoop on what it was like to work on bringing the car to market. Owners capped off their weekend by joining MOCSEM and BOSS owners at the Mustang Memories show, with more than 20 of their Bullitts on display! If you couldn't make it down to Fontana Dam, NC for this year's Bullitt Nationals, click here to check out our coverage.
Ford Racing was one of the event’s primary sponsors, and joining them for the party was Vaughn Gittin Jr., the 2010 Formula Drift Champion. The Performance Tour trailer was also in attendance with the latest Ford Racing Performance Parts and Ford Racing catalogs, plus some special Ford Racing display vehicles such as a Super Cobra Jet, a Mustang Boss 302R and 302S race cars.
Again this year, the Mustang Memories show played host to the awarding of the grand prize of the Mustang Dream Giveaway. This yearly sweepstakes makes one lucky winner the owner of two amazing Mustangs. The 2011 sweepstakes, which benefited the Healing Heroes Network, featured a pair of Mustang BOSS 302s. One was a restored 1969 BOSS 302 in Calypso Coral, while the other was a 1-of-1 "Patriot Edition" Competition Orange 2012 BOSS 302. The winner was 24-year-old Thomas Barker of Effingham, IL, who was both ecstatic about winning the cars, and proud to be part of an effort helping our military veterans.
"The sweepstakes was a benefit for the Healing Heroes Network, which supports medical procedures for veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq," Barker told us, "and being able to contribute to that is what really drew me to this contest. When I got the phone call telling me I had won, I was speechless the entire day … totally blown away!"
With that and the myriad of awards that closed the show, the record-setting 2011 Mustang Memories All-Ford Car Show and Swap Meet was in the books as a resounding success. When nearly 800 Mustangs and Fords, special attractions and thousands of spectators gather to party in the shadow of Ford headquarters, this is certainly one event worthy of inclusion on our calendars year after year!
Photos Courtesy Mike Laney / Ford Performance Group
PHOTOS
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FORD WORLD HEADQUARTERS: HOME OF MUSTANG MEMORIES SHOW
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A SEA OF MUSTANGS, VIEWED FROM THE FORD WHQ ROOF
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LOOKING FOR PARKING AMONG HUNDREDS OF MUSTANGS
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Photo : John M. Clor
JOHN CLOR'S 1977 MUSTANG COBRA II WITH ITS FORBEARER -
FANTASTIC ATMOSPHERE ALL DAY AT MUSTANG MEMORIES
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A BIT OF EVERYTHING SHOWED UP AT FORD WHQ
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A PRISTINE MICHIGAN STATE POLICE MUSTANG SSP
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THE FAMED SVT MUSTANG SUPER STALLION CONCEPT
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Photo : John M. Clor
MCA'S MARY JEAN WESCHE AND HER WEEKEND RIDE -
MORE THAN 140 BOSSES IN ATTENDANCE AT 'MEMORIES' SHOW
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BOSS MUSTANGS IN FRONT OF FORD WORLD HEADQUARTERS
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THE LATE LARRY SHINODA'S ORIGINAL BOSS 302 PROTOTYPE
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FORD RACING SETS UP SHOP WITH PERFORMANCE PARTS & VEHICLES
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BULLITTHEADS CELEBRATE THEIR CLUB'S 10TH ANNIVERSARY
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SURPRISE APPEARANCE OF RARE 'RED BULLITT' PROTOTYPE
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FPG's JOHN CLOR SPEAKS AT IMBOC ANNIVERSARY DINNER
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VAUGHN GITTIN JR., 2010 FORMULA DRIFT CHAMPION
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THOMAS BARKER AND HIS PAIR OF SWEET BOSS 302s
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MELVIN BETANCOURT, MARK BREINER, DAVE PERICAK, THOMAS BARKER, DONALD FARR & PATRICK MEEHAN
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DREAM GIVEAWAY WINNER BARKER ALL SMILES IN HIS 1969 BOSS 302
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JOHN CLOR PRESENTS JOHN GRAFELMEN WITH BOSS REUNION AWARD