Restoring Mustangs one by one
CALGARY — The iconic Ford Mustang continues to gallop away after nearly half a century of production.
Interest in the pony car, introduced in 1964, has never really waned. There were some low points in the 1970s, but hundreds of thousands of Mustangs are still on the road.
And helping to keep them on the road since 1987 is The Mustang Shop, a Calgary-based business supplying aftermarket replacement components to performance and restoration enthusiasts.
“Dan Sawchuk started the business, and it was mostly a hobby for him,” says current co-owner Matt Mitchell.
Back then the shop was tucked away in a 750- sq- ft bay. Mitchell’s father, Bruce, was a regular customer.
Bruce had restored a couple of cars, and was at work on a 1967 Mustang. During one of his visits to Sawchuk, Bruce asked if the business might ever be for sale — and should that ever be under consideration, he’d be interested in buying.
When Sawchuk was ready to sell, Bruce was still working for Shell, and wasn’t ready to quit that job. Enter son Matt. “I was 17 at the time, and wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do,” he recalls.
The Mitchells bought The Mustang Shop in 1997, and Matt worked the shop pretty much solo for the first two and a half years.
Business grew rapidly, and the Mitchells moved two bays down to the end of the mall, doubling the floor space.
“Dad Bruce retired in 1999 and started working with Matt full time, and they moved into a 4,500-sq-ft industrial bay.
“The restoration market is massive, and we’ve had 15 record years in a row, with growth sometimes as high as 80 per cent, and sales now at more than $2 million per year.”