DEARBORN, Mich. – To help put a big, Blue Oval exclamation point on the annual Woodward Dream Cruise weekend in The Motor City, the Mustang Owners Club of SouthEastern Michigan (MOCSEM) hosts a mega Mustang and all-Ford show behind Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn the day after the big cruise. The yearly “Mustang Memories” show put on by the nation’s largest regional Mustang club is always a first-rate venue for Ford fans from across the nation, and this summer’s 2018 edition didn’t disappoint.

For Mustang people in the know, MOCSEM’s yearly Mustang Memories show is that one, extra-special enthusiast event to attend each and every summer. Not only is it one of the biggest Mustang & Ford shows (regularly up to and beyond 900+ vehicles) in the country, it’s hosted by MOCSEM, who prides itself on being one of the biggest and most active Mustang clubs in the USA. Better yet, because it’s all held in Ford's own backyard, you’re apt to see Ford execs and notable retirees in attendance each year, plus special feature cars that you’d need to know somebody-who-is-somebody to see outside of this venue.

This year’s annual "Mustang Memories All-Ford Show & Swap" was held on Sunday, August 19^th, and yes, it was the day after Ford Motor Company had dominated headlines at Detroit’s annual Woodward Dream Cruise. MOCSEM’s big show this time around featured the “Team Shelby Dearborn Invasion,” where Shelby fans and owners had attended a variety of insider events in the week leading up to the big Mustang Memories show. One of them was the reveal of the long-lost Shelby prototype known as “Lil Red,” which was first shown at an exclusive Shelby dinner inside The Henry Ford Museum on Friday night. But you didn’t need a high-dollar ticket to see Lil Red in all of its “barn find” glory on the Mustang Memories Show field.

Other notable Mustangs on display at Memories included Sean Kiernan’s original Bullitt movie car (yes THAT same car which shocked the enthusiast world earlier this year during Detroit’s North American International Auto Show), plus the First Retail Sale Mustang – a beautifully restored pale blue 65 convertible still owned by Gail and Tom Wise, as well as the 10 Millionth Mustang that earlier in August was celebrated during special Ford events. And oh, there were some 900-plus other Mustangs and collectible Fords on display at the show that were also worthy of daylong admiration. And yet Memories is so much more than just the cars.

Signing up for Memories includes awesome goody bags for pre-registered cars, special judging, custom trophies, a huge vendor midway, an old-fashioned swap meet and collector car corral, a variety of great food trucks, 50/50 drawings, as well as many specialty feature vehicles and celebrity guests on-site all afternoon.

This year, a “Best of Show” trophy was added to the long list of class awards, aptly named the “Gale Halderman Award.” Yes, it was named to honor the famed Ford stylist who penned the original Mustang. Better still, Gale had again made an appearance at the show and he himself picked out the “Best of Show” winner. That top prize went to the spectacular black 1965 Mustang Fastback built and owned by young Bradley Belcher. Bradley is president of the Millennial Mustang Registry (MMR), which had pulled in more than a dozen cars as part of an MMR Mini-Meet. Also taking place at the show were special owner gatherings that included the “50 Year Celebration of the Mustang Bullitt” (with both a 2019 Bullitt and that original 1968 Bullitt movie car at the show), an “SVT 25^th Anniversary” gathering (where you could meet and talk to former Ford SVT staffers and engineers), plus “50 Years of the California Special,” as well as “60 Years of the Edsel.”

The weather was cloudy and warm and the Ford World Headquarters’ big back parking lot was packed with more than 900 Mustangs and vintage Fords, all in the shadow of Ford’s “Glass House” corporate headquarters building. Club President Mike Rey and VP Sarah Cassette, as well as the veritable army of MOCSEM members who worked the show as volunteers, pulled off yet another memorable experience for owners and attendees alike.

As we love to do at shows this magical, Ford Performance sent out our staff photographer, Isaac Ireland from the Ford Performance Info Center and Tech Line (1-800-FORD-788), to capture all the sights of MOCSEM’s “Mustang Memories 2018.” We chose our favorites to share with you in the gallery below:

FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / ISAAC IRELAND