In My Own Words

I believe that my "Ford Mustang DNA" first started to evolve decades before I was born when both maternal and paternal great grandfathers purchased their own first ever cars — a Ford Model A – which ignited both maternal and paternal grandfathers' never-ending passions and fascinations with automobile engineering, design and performance.

Although they were unknown to each other, both of my grandfathers started to "tinker" with their own fathers cars (aka taking apart and trying to put back together before their father's came home from their out-of-town jobs) starting with Model A and then, later, with the Model T, each trying to teach themselves how they worked and how they could make them run better and faster.

Their unceasing curiosity is what drove them both to become engineers (and racers) — albeit in slightly different ways.

Old Daddy's first job after college was as a Junior Engineer at Packard and then steadily earning promotions until, ultimately, he became the Chief Engineer (after earning 9 patents for his automatic transmission inventions alone).

After Packard closed, Old Daddy became the Director of Advanced Product Planning for Cadillac.

I also heard many stories about Henry Ford II, Gene Bordinat, Lee Iacocca, Carroll Shelby, Roger Penske, Jack Roush, Robert Stempel, John DeLorean, Dan Gurney and countless others and I still remember meeting some of them, but, being so young at that time, I had no understanding of anything beyond them being Old Daddy’s friends.

Old Daddy – Watkins Glen – 1962

Grandpa's first job after college was, ironically, also at Packard where he started as a junior body engineer. However, he ended up quitting in 1940 to enlist in the US Army Air Forces Training School because he believed that the US would soon be dragged into WW2.

He said he enlisted in USAAF in order to be a pilot because planes flew faster than you could ever drive and, for him, the faster was always the better.

After returning from WWII as, ironically, a P-51 Mustang Fighter Pilot, Grandpa accepted a job offer from GM because the job was going to be based at the Milford Proving Grounds. For Grandpa, this was the perfect "office" because it was, in essence, a racetrack where he could practice his racing almost every day before racing in rally SCCA events on the weekends.

One of the first race cars he built for SCCA competition was what he called the 'Corvettillac' (a C1 Corvette body put on a 5th Generation Cadillac frame with a motor / drivetrain that Chevy's race team helped build), which he raced for several years before building and starting rally racing Monzas, Corvairs and Porsches, which he continued doing until he retired as the head of Milford's Proving Grounds.

Grandpa – WWII – 1943

My Dad told me that he always wanted to go fast from the first time he saw his Dad (Grandpa) race when he was a child. When my Dad was 10, Grandpa built Dad his first "Quarter Midget" race car so he could start learning to drive fast. I still have the September 1958 issue of Hot Rod Magazine with my Dad on the cover in his race car with his competitors.

When my Dad got his driver's license he started driving Grandpa's race cars down to Woodward to "cruise" and, as he ultimately admitted to me after my first speeding ticket on Woodward, for the occasional "stop light to light drag race."

To the day he passed, Dad never stopped trying to get me to believe that the reason he totalled Grandpa's Porsche 356 race car was because a "tree really did jump in front of him."

My Dad's passion for sports cars, racing and speed in general was the reason why he spent his entire career working at Ford.

Dad and his Quarter Midget Race Car – 1954

Some of my fondest memories with Old Daddy are when he would take me to work and let me explore and climb into all the cars in the basement beyond the executive garage to pretend and explore. One of my favorite pictures of Old Daddy with the Mustang I is when he took my Mom cruising Woodward in August 1963.

Some of my fondest memories with Grandpa were climbing into his race cars and pretending to race them and my begging him to take me for rides doing burnouts and drifting around corners.

Some of my fondest memories with my Dad were how, as soon as I was big enough to sit in the front seat, he would let me do all the shifting — making me anticipate his up & down shifts — double clutching and, of course, doing "test drives" of all the various cars to see how they performed.

When I was in middle school, Dad really started to introduce me to his car "world" by taking me to more and more car shows, events and races. From them all, I also learned that cars 'need to be driven' and that there are inherent responsibilities to owning and driving special cars — in that you need to not only be a steward to care for that car but also need to be willing to share it with others.

Most importantly, they all taught me to respect, appreciate and honor heritage.

Dad & I cruising Woodward Avenue in his 1957 Thunderbird - aka “Tweety Bird” - 1992

Over the years, I have attended thousands of car shows, events and races — whether small Cars and Coffee, regional and national car shows, various charities and events, racing of all types to just simply cruising Woodward Ave on a random evening or taking a road trip on all the back roads I can find.

My personal Ford vehicle history spans almost 40 years and includes:

My current daily vehicles are a 2006 Ford E150 van, a 2020 Fusion Titanium and a 2022 Ford Escape SEL AWD.

In fact, other than the Subaru STI, every vehicle that I have ever leased or owned was a Ford vehicle.

And, the only reason I purchased the Subaru is because I needed an AWD sports sedan for when I moved to the mountains of California due to the "Chain Control Laws" but Ford didn't make one. 

My garage is currently the home for:

All were purchased to honor my heritage and then built for specific purposes and designed to incorporate various DNA traits.

This is why, other than the GT350H RM which was purchased almost 30 years ago, I also still own all the others  after purchasing them new from dealers up to 25 years ago.

My first car - 1987 Lynx XR3 – 1987
Custom pinstripes by my Dad

My 1989 Probe LX – “Baby Eleanor” – 1989

I know that I am not what most would envision a Mustang GTD owner would be like.

I do not have millions of 'followers' on Facebook or YouTube. I am not a celebrity or race car driver. I am not TikTok famous or even have a TikTok account.

And, although my professional work has influenced the opinions of untold millions of people which resulted in billions of sales for some of the biggest corporations and brands in the world, you will not find a single photo of me on the internet.

I have no interest in being "in the spotlight" or collecting or flipping cars.

I would be a great Mustang GTD Owner.

I appreciate your consideration for granting me the opportunity to further my lifelong history with Ford and the Mustang.

Either way, I congratulate Ford and the entire Ford Mustang GTD team!