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‘Expect the unexpected’ with a Mustang
Photo
Kathy Miller in her 1964 Ford Mustang. Mustang recently celebrated the car’s 50th anniversary. Below, a 1964 photo of Miller, right, and her parents, who gave her the car as a high-school graduation gift. Miller and her classic car have been the subject of news reports on CBS News and in the New York Times commemorating the car’s golden anniversary.
Move over sally, here comes ...
By Kalea Hall
BOARDMAN
Expect the unexpected.
That’s what has happened to Kathy Miller, 67, of Boardman over the past 50 years that she has had her 1964-and-a-half, coupe Ford Mustang.
It was her high-school graduation present, and from there, it led her to Ohio State University, to her honeymoon, another state and too many other life events to name.
“I think it becomes a symbol of a historical look at your life,” Miller said.
Just last month, the Mustang celebrated its 50th anniversary, and Miller’s Mustang story premiered on CBS News. She also was a part of an extensive New York Times piece on the Mustang .
But she never dreamed her $2,600 car with no air conditioning or cup holders would be such a big deal.
“I just went, ‘Wow, are you kidding me?’” Miller said. “I worked really hard. I think it’s important to preserve the legacy of the car.”
And that she did, since she first saw the gleaming prairie bronze Mustang parked in her driveway with a “Congratulations, Kathy from Mom and Dad,” sign on the back after her June 3, 1964, Poland High School graduation.
“It was amazing,” Miller said of the gift that her mother did not know about at the time.
Miller was no car fanatic, but she knew about the recently-on-the-market Mustang, so she cherished her car. She used her graduation money to install a radio, but later uninstalled it to bring it back to its original state.
When she married her husband, John, the car was there to take her to her honeymoon.
Rice thrown at her wedding was still in the car 36 years later. She went on to become a real-estate agent and used the car to take potential buyers around to look at homes.
“I sold my very first home in that car,” Miller said.
She never thought about trading it in, but she also did not have a particular reason for keeping it.
Her Mustang needed restored after an accident in the 1970s. After it sat in storage for some time, she decided 10 years ago that she wanted to have it restored for the 40th anniversary.
Soon her interest in finding original owners such as herself grew. Miller wanted to hear the stories about their Mustangs.
“By the 50th anniversary, I wanted to find as many as I could,” Miller said.
Out of those 121,000 Mustangs, she has found 30 original owners and nine legacy owners.
Her next goal is to bring her car on the road.
“It has been to all kinds of national shows and won,” Miller said. “Now, it’s time to have fun,” even if that means using a small vent window as an air-conditioning unit.
Today’s Mustang has improved with the times, but the American symbol it is has not changed.
“Back when the Mustang first came out, it made history,” said Jim Beeman of Donnell Ford. “It’s an American classic car.”
A brand-new Mustang is in the $20,000 price range today and includes “new innovations and modern conveniences,” Beeman noted.
“[Ford has] taken that style and brought it to the future,” Beeman said. “It is kind of a legend of a car. Everyone knows what a Mustang is. It is a landmark.”