11-20-08: Ford has been building up to this moment for a long time. We have all been part of the rising tide of excitement about the new 2010 Mustang. The huge reveal party at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California was the waves finally breaking and washing ashore on Tuesday night, November 18th.
The special event was open only to invited guests that included Mustang club members, car media, VIP’s, and several Ford racing legends. We arrived early to watch the set-up process that involved the arrangement of hundreds of Mustangs from 1964 to 2009. A line-up of cars stretched a ¼ mile that represented at least one of every year of Mustang. Behind them, several more ponies from clubs all over the Western states were on display.
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At the hangar doors were four covered 2010 Mustangs that would be unveiled later in the night. Those doors opened at nightfall and excitement began to build as the crowd saw a collection of displays and a lighted arena for the reveal. In the middle of the hangar was a big-screen with a stacked display of legendary racing Mustangs.
Guests filed in and seated themselves as music pounded and the lights dimmed. Ford’s Jim Farley opened the evening, rousing the crowd with Mustang short films and stories. The emotions ran high as the winner of the Mustang Stories contest, Army specialist Kory Chesher, was presented with the keys of his 2010 Mustang. The young man had written the story that America voted #1 for the contest held through October, and the finalist of over 9000 submitted stories.
Shortly thereafter a grabber blue 2010 Mustang drift car rumbled into the hangar, sliding across the floor toward the crowd. Now we know why that lady had come by with all the free earplugs. The dance of cars continued as four more 2010 Mustangs joined in the arena and eventually came to a synchronized pose. Out of the grabber blue Falken drift car emerged Ford President of the Americas, Mark Fields and race driver Vaughn Gittin Jr.
Fields gave some rousing words about the new Mustang before the long list of Ford celebrity guests were brought out and introduced. The A-list included Carroll Shelby, Jack Roush, John Force, Ashley Force, Dorsey Schroeder, Parnelli Jones,Scott Pruett, and many others.
The crowd went wild for the new redesigned 2010 Ford Mustang as they were invited to come down and check them out. Out on the floor was a drag race simulator with two new 2010 Mustangs. One of the new cars was mounted on a rotisserie so close up views could be seen of the undercarriage and interior. The display showed off a number of new Ford Racing parts including a suspension kit, high flow exhaust and shaker hood scoop.
The evening went long as the celebrity guests signed autographs and visited freely with the crowd of nearly 1500 Mustang fans. Speed Channel televised the event on live television while a portion of the event had been simulcast to various locations across the country where Mustang clubs were invited for the reveal.
It was an electric and memorable event that we were blessed to be a part of and will long remember. Best of all, attendees were each given a commemorative 2010 Mustang die-cast car. Only one of 4000 promotional die-casts made for the event, it included special packaging that said “don’t open til November 18th”. Too cool. If you could not be there, don’t fret, you can buy the new die-cast cars in standard packaging from our friends at SteedShop.com
We invite you to check out the rest of our photos of the event in the photo gallery.
