DEARBORN, Mich. – Mustang owners and clubs all across the nation – and the world, for that matter – have been celebrating April 17 as “National Mustang Day” for several years now, in honor of the car’s “official” public launch date back in 1964. But with this year’s date falling midweek and with the Easter holiday weekend directly after, getting out to celebrate had posed a scheduling problem for some folks. For that reason, many clubs decided to mark Mustang’s birthday the weekend before – most on Saturday, April 13^th – so that as many fans and owners as possible could get out together and party with their pony cars.

We know that in Detroit, staging a Mustang birthday celebration on the 13^th was exactly what the Mustang Owners Club of SouthEastern Michigan (MOCSEM) did, as well as their fellow Mustangers in one of the oldest and most prestigious Ford clubs in the Detroit metro area, SAAC-Motor City Region. The Motor City Region of the Shelby American Automobile Club has been hosting annual shows, track days and cruise-ins in the area for more than four decades now, so you’d certainly expect them to arrange a Mustang birthday gathering -- and they did just that on Saturday April 13, 2019, with an event that they dubbed, “National Mustang Day – Detroit Style.” It started off with a 10 a.m. Meet & Greet in the front Visitor’s Lot of Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn. Then everyone saddled up for the drive down I-75 to the Flat Rock Assembly Plant for another group photo-op in front of the production home of the current Mustang. Things wrapped up with a club lunch at an automotive-themed restaurant in nearby Monroe, Michigan, called “Pete’s Garage.”

There to document the day with his camera was longtime Shelby enthusiast and SAAC-MCR‘s longstanding membership and communications director, Rich Tweedle. Rich was kind enough to share with us the photos that he took, and we picked our favorites to share with you in the gallery below:

FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY RICH TWEEDLE