FORD FAN SPOTLIGHT – We got to meet Ford engineer Ronald Tallman after being invited to give a Ford Performance Club Connect presentation at a monthly membership meeting of the Ford & Mercury Restorers Club of America in Livonia, Michigan. While our talk centered on how to get young enthusiasts interested in the car hobby and club life, we noticed there was one young man – easily the youngest member at the meeting by far – who was sitting next to his father as we discussed the club’s youth marketing strategies. We determined right then and there that for coming to the meeting with his dad he deserved some special recognition, so we awarded him a Ford Performance garage banner. We got a nice thank-you note from dad Ronald, who explained that he and his son had recently completed a rebuild on his 1966 Mustang – this many years after he and his own father had done a restoration on it way back on Ronald’s 16th birthday! For the rest of this Ford family story that we are putting in our Spotlight this week, check out Ronald’s email to us below:
“Hi! It’s Ronald Tallman. Just a quick follow-up from the club meeting on Wednesday evening. I wanted to say ‘thank you’ for the banner given to my son.
“Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to build a few cars that are special to the family – and to be able to do it from a multi-generational perspective with both my father and my son has been a blessing. The ‘66 Mustang is a car I bought back in 1986 with newspaper money and ‘good grade’ funds from my grandparents which my father and I restored for my 16th birthday, and got a recent rebuild ending in 2018. We also did ‘Bandit Trans Am’ and ‘Buford LeMans’ builds that were just dreams that my son and I had while watching the movie nearly every weekend when he was a child. The most recent build was his 1993 F-150 that we built together, with him putting nearly every bracket and bolt back together in an effort for me to begin to pass the torch of working on cars.
“My love of cars started in 1977 when my parents took me to the Fort George Drive-in to see ‘Smokey and the Bandit.’ Growing up with ‘muscle-car-era’ parents has been a wonderful life. My mother recently purchased a 24CY Yellow Mustang GT Convertible as her summer car because she needed ‘that sound’ one more time. For me, I have four more vehicles to find or build for the rest of my family – a ’55 F-100 for my oldest daughter, a 75-78 K5 Blazer for my youngest daughter, a 87-93 Mustang GT or 1990 7-up Mustang LX, and my pinnacle pursuit of an AC Cobra.
“At that point, I might stop building and just enjoy some weekend drives.”
Here’s How YOU Can Get In The Spotlight: For more than 20 years now, one of the most popular features on FordPerformance.com and in our weekly Fast News e-newsletter continues to be "Ford Fan Spotlight," where readers can send in their own reasons why they're fans of Ford Motor Company and its vehicles. You know who they are: Ford "superfans;" grassroots Ford racers; unique Ford vehicle owners; loyal Ford enthusiasts; notable Ford club people; special Ford families; and/or any avid supporter of Ford, Ford vehicles, Ford motorsports or Ford Performance who deserves a little bit of special recognition.
All you need to do to get you, your car or candidate considered is to send in a brief description (200-500 words or less) and a few photos (in .jpeg format, preferably around 1 mb in size) with the owner’s full name and hometown, please. Just tell us about the vehicle(s) and why you think Ford Performance should feature it (them) in the "Ford Fan Spotlight" for an upcoming installment of Fast News as well as for posting on FordPerformance.com. Then email it to: ClubHub@Ford.com with your contact info. Your submission allows us the rights to use your words and images (along with any edits) for editorial purposes; we’ll choose one submission in random order to post online. We hope to see YOU and your Ford story in our Fan Spotlight soon!
