DETROIT, Mich. – If you were to write a history of Detroit, you’d certainly note that two of the most memorable things to come out of The Motor City during the 1960’s were Ford Mustangs and Motown music. So when a Detroit newspaper had reported that a Motown music video from 1965 that featured the Mustang had been remastered and released on YouTube a while back, it gave lifelong Detroiter Mike Rey an idea. Rey is the longtime president of the Mustang Club of SouthEastern Michigan (MOCSEM), one of the largest and most active Mustang clubs in North America. Rey and MOCSEM have built a reputation over the years of trying new things at new places just to make the club experience a bit more memorable. This latest idea was no exception.

The more than half-century old, black-and-white music video featured Motown’s own Martha Reeves & The Vandellas singing their smash hit “Nowhere to Run” while romping through Ford’s now long-gone Dearborn Assembly Plant as 1965 Ford Mustangs were rolling down the line. No kidding – look it up on YouTube and be amazed as Martha & The Vandellas dance through the factory, dodging line workers and moving parts -- even skipping in the paint booth and jumping into a partially assembled white 65 Mustang convertible as it moves along during the assembly process. All the while, the trio belts out their classic “Nowhere to Run” Motown tune behind the artful stylings of The Funk Brothers, Motown’s own in-house music masters.

So Rey began talks with Detroit’s Motown Museum at “Hitsville U.S.A.” – the nickname given the house that served as Motown’s first recording studio and headquarters after being purchased by Motown founder Berry Gordy in 1959. Located just west of Woodward Avenue near midtown Detroit, the house had been converted into a global tourist destination as a museum to honor the authentic legacy of the Motown sound and its emergence as a cultural phenomenon. So Rey thought, “What if MOCSEM and the Motown Museum could attempt to recreate that video memory of Martha Reeves & The Vandellas in the back seat of a 1965 Mustang Convertible – and host an event to celebrate that Motown Mustang moment?

While neither Rey nor the museum were able to book Ms. Reeves or other Motown stars for such an event, they were able to put together a cruise-in called the “Motortown Meet-Up: Mustangs @ Motown,” where Ford Performance Club Connect provided the star power. We invited former Mustang stylist Emeline King – Ford’s first black female car designer who had penned the 1994 SN-95 Mustang’s interior – to set up a meet-and-greet on Rocket Plaza in front of the museum and host a book-signing for her large-format paperback autobiography, “What Do You Mean A Black Girl Can’t Design Cars? Emeline King, She Did It!” (check out her website, www.EmelineKing.com, and order yourself a copy). Turns out Emeline’s family has a rich legacy tied to both Ford and Motown. Her late father, Rev. Earnest O. King Sr., worked at Ford as a specialist in the Design Center Fabrication Studio, and her sister, Eugenia King Hardaway, not only owns a 1966 K-Code hardtop but also just so happens to be a Ford engineer. What’s more, Motown also invited Michelle King, whose father sang with The Stylistics!

MOCSEM invited a limited number of members to help form a display of Mustangs out front and fill the back lot – all to enjoy a day of Mustangs, music, Mustang people and exploring the Motown museum and gift shop. MOCSEM suppled some commemorative car show awards picked by the museum staff and Emeline, while the museum raffled off a collection of Motown-branded gifts. We took the guided Motown Museum tour, talked with Emeline King and many MOCSEM members and Mustang fans in attendance and were even able to take some photos of this unique cruise-in experience on a gloriously sunny Saturday in Detroit. Check out our photo gallery below – and we’ll forgive you if you look up that “Nowhere to Run” video online just to rekindle that Motown vibe!

FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / JOHN M. CLOR