DEARBORN, Mich. - Dana Fayette of Vancouver, Washington, doesn’t beat around the bush. He loved his first Mustang so much that he decided he wanted to replace it with something similar – only better. He also decided he wanted it to appear here in our Fan Spotlight – and straight-out told us why we should pick his car. After reading he email to us below, we had to agree:

“Hello, Ford Performance! My name is Dana Fayette. Here’s why you should pick my car to appear in your Ford Fan Spotlight: I’ve owned this 1969 Mustang convertible for about 12 years. It took me several years to restore it and I completed my work on it just two years ago. 

I had purchased it sight-unseen on an online auction website, and it didn’t take me long to regret that decision. It was a real rust-bucket, having lived some years in Michigan.

“For my restoration, I decided to model it after a 1969 Mach 1 that I had owned from 1970 until 1980, but sold because it was rear-ended by a truck and was pretty much totaled beyond my abilities to repair it. But that was my first Mustang, and I liked it so much that I decided I just had to make this convertible into a close match to that Mach 1.

“It’s the same color, and has the blacked-out hood, The interior was updated to look the same, too – the biggest differences come from the fact that this one is a convertible. Under the hood is an updated 408 Cleveland derived from a 351 Cobra Jet engine, bolted to a modern five-speed manual transmission. It kinda’ looks stock, but it’s not. There are also some changes under the car that make it better, such as subframe connectors, Shelby traction bars, a 3.25 Traction Lock differential and 4-wheel disc brakes. It’s better in many ways than that ’69 Mach 1 I’d loved so much. Thanks for the opportunity to appear in the Fan Spotlight!”

How YOU can Get In The Spotlight: For the past decade, one of the most popular features on FordPerformance.com and in our 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. 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 300 dpi) of a person (full name and hometown, please) and vehicle that you think Ford Performance should feature (and why) in the "Ford Fan Spotlight" for an upcoming installment of Fast News and posting on FordPerformance.com. Then email it to: ClubHub@Ford.com. Should you wish to send a video, you simply need to post it on www.YouTube.com (preferably 1-2 minutes long) and send in the link, along with a brief description, to that same ClubHub@Ford.com email address. We'll choose one submission each week. We hope to see YOU and your Ford in our Spotlight soon!