CONCORD, NC – With a colorful heritage that spans the last 61 years, the Ford Mustang is among most celebrated American automobiles of all time. That’s why there are no less than three different museums in America that are dedicated to Mustang and its glorious history. Perhaps the most notable of those is found just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, called “The Mustang Owner’s Museum.” As its name implies, it’s the focus on Mustang owners that sets this museum apart from the rest. Here, the displays are all about Mustangs owned by enthusiasts who happily loan their own personal car and their memorabilia to the museum to show fans from around the world who come to visit. The museum was founded by the late Steve Hall, who was well-known from his work with the Mustang Club of America and in the Mustang owner community as a whole. What’s most incredible about this place is that it is primarily being driven by Ford enthusiasts to help the Hall family keep Steve’s dream alive. You could call it a museum for Mustang owners, powered by Mustang owners.
Walking through the main corridor of the museum, located in a business park just down the road from the Charlotte Motor Speedway, you can quickly get a taste of all seven generations of Mustang spread throughout the building. There are several rather unique examples of the car here, and all of them have a special story. One of the first cars you’re greeted by is a Bullitt tribute car, a beautiful ’68 Fastback wearing Dark Highland green paint and featuring a cardboard cutout of Steve McQueen himself behind the wheel. Speaking of Bullitts, the one-and-only red prototype 2008 Bullitt was on display here – one rarely seen at shows. With most production Bullitt Mustangs green (and some blue or black), the Ford prototype is bright red (likely to throw off spies during its testing and development). The only other Bullitt to be featured in a one-off color was a 2019 Bullitt Mustang painted in Kona Blue for a JDRF charity raffle.
There was also a very specific 1966 Mustang here that we couldn’t take our eyes off of – called the “Golden Anniversary Mustang” with 50 only ever being built. This one was owned personally by Henry Ford II who had gifted it to his butler for his years of dedicated service while working at the Henry Ford estate in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.
Ford Motor Company has provided a unique and historically significant display for the museum. Not only did Ford Design offer up a downsized scale S550 clay model that was hand carved and used during the development if the sixth-generation Mustang, but also one of the full-sized S650 clay models! What’s more, along with the full-sized S650 exterior clay model on display, Ford also provided a full-sized S650 interior buck as well. To the untrained eye, the car and interior look as though they’re the real things. Ford also provided numerous paint sample models called either “speed forms” or the more fun color “turtles.” These color samples came from different years of the S197, S550, and S650 programs. There’s also an array of performance prototype parts from those models on display, such as an original 2020 Shelby GT500 Carbon Fiber Track Pack 7-spoke wheel.
The mix of all 7 generations of Mustangs touches many special models, from one of the most notable S550s produced in the GT350R to some rather rare Fox Body Mustangs. There were multiple Saleen SCC editions, a couple of retired state Highway Patrol Foxes, and even a McLaren edition Fox Body. Two of the oldest Mustangs on display during our visit are also among the rarest ones of all. One of the two is a black 1964-1/2 Mustang that was used at the 1964 New York World's Fair where Mustang was officially unveiled to the world. Ford had a large pavilion during the fair for a big exhibit and a “skyway” ride in new Fords. There were 12 convertible pre-production Mustangs for the attraction. This black one is specifically No. 4 of the pre-production cars used for the amusement park-style ride. It was called the “Magic Skyway” attraction where fairgoers could actually experience sitting in a moving Mustang for the first time. Ford worked with Walt Disney to create this attraction where convertible Mustangs and other new Fords were pulled along a conveyor belt. Underneath the Mustang at the museum, there is a mirror on the floor where you can still see the brackets that attached the chassis to the Magic Skyway.
The second Mustang rarity here is a source of much controversy in Mustang forums and social media with a longstanding debate on its age and numerical rarity. This specific 64-1/2 Mustang is a barn find and carries serial number 211. That means this car was built on the first day of Mustang production (March 9, 1964). That dates this car as one of the earliest Mustangs produced and oldest barn finds for Ford’s legendary pony car.
Something very impressive to see inside is the “signature walls” between some of the corridors in the building as you’re passing through archways to go to other parts of the museum. You step back and can see how many enthusiasts from around the world have come to visit and have signed their name on the walls – some completely filling the space from floor to ceiling. It’s cool to see how many fans Mustang has from all around the globe who wanted to leave their mark here!
One interesting story we uncovered during our visit was one about an S650 on loan to the museum from a gentleman in the armed forces who is currently on deployment. He didn’t want his pony to just sit locked away in his garage for 8-9 months while he was away. So he contacted the staff at the Mustang Owner’s Museum and asked if they would be interested in displaying his new car while he was away. The staff loved the idea and happily accepted. His thinking was, if it’s going to sit for a period of time why not have other enthusiasts appreciate it while he’s not around taking it to different car shows or on spirited drives?
There was one Mustang we noticed that wasn’t like any of the others – it had an all-carbon fiber body, a roll cage, different aero packages, huge brakes and slick wheels, as well as sponsorship logos and number graphics, with stickers for headlights and taillights. This was no ordinary street Mustang – this was a NASCAR cup race car! RFK (Roush Fenway Keslowski) own this particular race car; stickered-up in the Fifth-Third Bank paint scheme this racer was piloted by none other than the #17 Chris Buescher. Rarely is such a car seen this close up – more often viewed from behind a safety catch fence while normally screaming around a speedway at 150 mph or more. We asked the museum’s own Mischelle Hall how she was able to achieve getting a beast like this into the museum. She said they’d been trying to contact one of the Ford racing teams for months on end to see if they could get a car for display but hadn’t heard back. One morning she came to open up the museum for the day and the race car essentially just showed up out of the blue, with RFK dropping it off to give museum visitors and NASCAR enthusiasts a real treat.
If you live in or around North Carolina or ever find yourself stopping through the Charlotte area and are looking for something really interesting to do, head on over to the Mustang Owner’s Museum. Take a walk through all seven generations of Mustang history and owner stories and get a feel for the impressive amount of Mustang memorabilia on display throughout the museum as well. Mischelle and her family hope that a tour of the museum will help you feel the same Mustang passion that millions of owners have shared for more than a half century all across the world. For more info, visit the museum’s website here: https://www.mustangownersmuseum.com
FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY JOE DELADVITCH
