 | 55 years after a salesman sold the first Ford Mustang built he will be reunited with it at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Prior to the official launch of the Ford Mustang in 1964, car dealerships were sent a preproduction vehicle to display. They weren't intended to be sold to customers. But one mistakenly was, the very first Mustang was purchased by a pilot in Newfoundland. It was the salesman's easiest sale. Capt. Stanley Tucker saw it on the side of the road after it was unloaded. "He looked at it and said, 'It's mine.'" The car sold for $4,300 Canadian. |
 | The official launch date for the Mustang was April 17, 1964, but Tucker bought his on the 14th. Preproduction vehicles are basically practice cars for workers assembling them. Complete with crooked panels and missing details, the car was supposed to be returned to Ford. Tucker made a deal with the dealership that he'd buy it but let it stay on the lot for display for a couple of weeks. "We moved the car into the showroom that day," Phillips said. "He came in every day to check it out and make sure no one did anything to it." |
 | It took Ford two years of negotiating to get the vehicle back. In exchange, Ford gave him the one-millionth -- a fully loaded 1966 model. Phillips made a career of selling cars and retired in 1995, having never again seen the Mustang he mistakenly sold in 1964. This week he'll finally get the opportunity to see it again as a VIP guest. A 64 1/2 Mustang, a very early production car (perhaps pre-production) was given to the producers of the Bond film Goldfinger in 1964 for promotion purposes. It's the very first appearance of a Mustang in a movie. |
