All in the family
Alyn Edwards tells the story of a ’65 Mustang and its proud owners
Winnipeg’s Roy Schatzley was in dental school at the University of Toronto in 1964 when Mustang fever hit hard.
It was the start of the pony car era and the sporty new Ford was all the rage. Roy paid regular visits to Elgin Ford on Bay Street to see the car that everyone wanted. More than half a million Mustang cars would be sold in the first model year wildly exceeding anyone’s expectations. Roy had to have one. In the fall of 1964, a few months after starting his dental practice in Winnipeg, he ordered his Mustang at Dominion Motors. He selected performance options including the A code 225-horsepower V-8 engine coupled to a four-speed transmission.
His mother-in-law’s Christmas present would be cash to help pay for the high-performance upgrades.
It would be his first car and it would carry his son Paul home from the hospital three years later.
In 1975, Schatzley bought a dental practice in Thompson, Man., and used the car for weekend trips to see his family in Winnipeg. That Mustang would fly with its high-horsepower engine.
Severe winter weather would take its toll on the old Mustang however, and after 15 years it was time for a body restoration. But Schatzley almost lost his car when the body shop in Thompson went broke and the bank seized the partly disassembled car.
The Mustang was ultimately rescued from the repo lot and went into storage for 10 years.
In 1991, Schatzley gave his treasured Mustang to his son Paul, who transported it in pieces to Boyd Auto Body in Winnipeg to have it put back together and painted.
In the fall of 1991, the Mustang carried Paul west to attend the University of Victoria.
Flash ahead more than half-acentury after Schatzley bought this Mustang. Son Paul is backing the freshly restored Mustang out of his North Vancouver garage for a drive with wife Samantha and seven-year-old daughter Livia.
Samantha and Paul had their first date in the Mustang so it has extra sentimental value.
Paul had driven the car to California where his father was attending a dental seminar to reunite the original owner with his car. Schatzley toured a parking lot in the Mustang that he bought new and relived some of that experience.
And so the Schatzleys made the decision to have the Mustang completely restored to keep as a family heirloom. It would be an extensive and expensive year- long restoration. The results are spectacular.
“I like the car because it has horses on it,” Livia says from the rear seat. Her passion is for fourlegged ponies.
When Paul, an information technology project manager for a helicopter company, took his first ride in the restored car, his passenger was his mother Colena who was visiting from Winnipeg. It was an emotional trip back in time for both.
“She has known this car since before I was born,” Paul says. “She was excited for me to have the car back in new condition. She also likes the colour change from the original Caspian blue.”
True to its heritage, the first edition Mustang gleams with its X-code vintage burgundy paint job complimenting the black bucket seat interior. The hot V-8 engine performs like new and the pony car has lots of power as Paul shifts through the gears.
Paul’s father, who died before the restoration got underway, had been a Shelby performance fan and had added custom touches. So the Shelby engine valve covers and a cobra snake on the rear panel have been retained in his father’s memory.
“It’s not about getting a return on an investment,” Paul says, referring to the $32,000 restoration. “It’s really about passion for the car and a tribute to dad.”
A plus is the rear seat that is a perfect size for seven-year-old Livia. That’s where her dad sat when he was her age.