Growing up in rural Tennessee in the 1960s, Glenda Brown spent her childhood going to NASCAR® stock car races with her family.
Her father worked at the Ford Glass Plant. Her mother worked part time as a bookkeeper in a flower shop in their hometown of West Nashville. When the owner of the flower shop passed away, his widow decided to sell his 1967 Mustang. Brown’s folks jumped at the chance to buy it as a gift for their daughter. Hiding it in the barn, they kept the car a secret until her sixteenth birthday.
“Mom had it wrapped like a present,” Brown recalls. With wide florist ribbon, she tied a bow on the Mustang and wrote “Happy Birthday.” Glenda cried when she saw the car.
None of her friends had their own vehicle. “My friends and I expected to drive family sedans that our parents would loan us when we needed to go out.”
Not only did she have a car, but a Mustang. “I felt so lucky! I never dreamed I would own a car like this.”
Her Mustang was a coupe, automatic with a 200 6-cylinder engine. The Pony had a Vintage Burgundy Metallic exterior and a black vinyl top. It was reliable and safe, and delivered great mileage. Her father thought it was the perfect first car for his daughter.
Brown packed her friends in the Mustang and drove them to school and ball games, to church and school functions. After she left for college, Brown relished driving the Mustang on the long road trips back home.
The car stayed with her until 1977. By then, she was married with two kids. She and her husband, Bob, wanted a truck for camping and to accommodate their growing family. Brown’s father bought the Mustang and gave it to Glenda’s brother, who was just turning 16. The timing was perfect.
A few years later, her brother asked to trade the Mustang for Glenda’s Ford farm truck. She was thrilled and couldn’t wait to be gripping the wheel of the Mustang once again.
Today the couple owns an F-250 diesel truck, a ’99 Mustang convertible, and that first ’67. With more than 300,000 miles on it, the ’67 Mustang is still going strong. Brown saves it for days when the weather is sunny and mild and they can cruise through the Tennessee countryside. She notes, “It always takes me back to a sweet and simpler time in my life.”
