Had the world not been gripped by the COVID-19 Pandemic at the start of the 2020 car show season, Blue Oval fans around the world would have been out celebrating National Mustang Day on its “official” birthday of April 17. Do you know of any other automobile that is celebrated globally each year on a specific day? That’s the power of being an icon. What makes the Mustang so iconic is that it has had so many fans of all ages for so many years and from all walks of life and from all over the planet – there’s really nothing else like it. Anyone who doubts the Mustang’s lasting appeal need only to read the email we received below from 21-year-old Gelica Peralta, a young lady who just so happened to have found her dream car -- a 1967 Mustang Convertible -- at the age of 19 while attending a car show with her father:

“Hi, Ford Performance! My name is Gelica Peralta and at the age of 19, I got my dream car; A 1967 Ford Mustang. Let’s start from the beginning . . .

“During my childhood, I grew up with my younger cousin and younger sister, and we were all very close in age. One of my favorite memories is how we spent almost every day playing toys in our family room. We all shared toys growing up, so it was a mixture of your typical ‘girl’ and ‘boy’ toys. I wasn’t too much of a girly-girl growing up, and most of the time I found myself building Legos or racing Hot Wheels with my cousin. My cousin was obsessed with Hot Wheels to the point where he had bins filled with these cars. Distinct memories I have include days when my cousin and I would pretend we were race car drivers and race our cars across the floor of our family room. This would eventually lead us to memorize every car we had as far as the make and model . . . and this is how my passion for cars began.

“The story of how I fell in love with Mustangs is quite interesting. I grew up with a few car enthusiasts in my family. One of them was my dad, and the others were a few of my uncles. It’s pretty funny because most of them are Chevy guys and have owned or own Camaros, Chevelles, etc. Because of that you’d think I would be a Chevy girl, but as much as I like Camaros and all, there was something about Mustangs that drew me in -- specifically the first-generation cars. Growing up, I went to a lot of car shows with my dad. I would spend a lot of time walking around the shows and taking photos of my favorite cars. Looking back at my photos, I realized a lot of them were pictures of Mustangs. Maybe it was the way the car looked, the body lines, the story of how Mustang came to be, and everything in between. “That dream day came on March 24, 2018, and my life was changed forever. My dad and I attended the GoodGuys Car Show in Pleasanton, California, which is a big car show in the Bay Area consisting of about 2,500 cars and held four times a year. It was just another average day for us walking around and looking at cars. As we were leaving the show due to the rain, in the parking lot -- there she was. My dream car, with a ‘For Sale’ sign on the windshield. It was love at first sight. It was fate. At age 19, I didn’t hesitate; I pulled out a good amount of my savings, got a loan from the bank, and the rest is history.

‘So, a little back story on my car: It’s a 1967 Ford Mustang, red convertible, white top, C-Code with a 289 4-barrel engine. She was assembled in Dearborn, Michigan, on May 13, 1967. Her original color was Acapulco Blue. The previous owner repainted her red and had her mostly garaged for 10 years. He wasn’t too sure how many owners there were prior to him, but he knew the original owner drove her all the way out from Chicago. My guess is that I’m probably the fourth owner . . . and the last – Haha!

“Fast forward to today. I’m now 21 and have had my car for a little over a year and a half. To this day it’s still very surreal to say I own my dream car. This car literally means the world to me, which sounds super cheesy, but it’s true. To non-car people it’s hard to understand; all they see is a car that takes them from Point A to B. But for me and many more car enthusiasts, it’s more than just that. It’s hard to put into words but I truly believe we can essentially develop relationships with these cars and they’re basically an extension of ourselves.

“Moving on to future plans, I haven’t done anything too major with the car, besides putting in a new carburetor, adding a brake booster, replacing the spark plugs, etc., just to get her running smoothly and safely. I would eventually like to be able to do a full restoration on it – including new wheels/tires, cleaning up the engine, restoring the interior -- the list is never ending! “As much as I love seeing different modifications on classic cars, there’s nothing better than seeing an all classic/stock car. I guess you can say I’m a traditionalist, but I plan to keep my car classic and as stock as can be, with a few modern touches but nothing major. Until then, I’m in no rush and I’m just enjoying my time cruising her!”

How YOU can Get In The Spotlight: For the past decade, 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. 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!