The Taranaki Mustang Club
After a preliminary meeting on 27 April 1975 at Peter and Jocelyn Brouwer’s home, the Taranaki Mustang Club was officially launched on 11 May 1975 at Barry and Mary Corbett’s farm. This makes it the oldest NZ Mustang club. We are very privileged to have 3 founding and Life member couples – Peter and Jocelyn Rich, Dennis and Eva Goble and Rae and Norma Simpson still very active in our club today.
In Oct 1978 the Taranaki Mustang Club wrote to Henry Ford II at Ford World H/Q in Dearborn, Michigan, informing him that “a motion was passed unanimously that we condemn the manner in which you fired Mr Iacocca, the Father of the Mustang”, and with a reference to Time magazine’s description of the action as a “stunner” describing our feelings exactly. We then wrote to Lee expressing our commiserations.
To our surprise we received a nice reply from Henry Ford II personally explaining his reasons for the changes in the management of the giant Ford Motor Co. Then, to top it off, we received a letter of thanks from Lee. We followed this up with a request for him to be our Honorary Patron. Lee Iacocca, the Mustang creator and now Chairman of the Chrysler Corporation, accepted! Needless to say, these original letters have been framed.
The 1978 combined Mustang and Cadillac show, hosted by the Taranaki Club, was the forerunner of all the subsequent national Mustang conventions, including the first Mustang Owners convention also hosted by Taranaki the following year. The format has been very successful continuing today with the Friday evening – registrations, Saturday “The Show” day, Sunday has an event for all to participate in with prize giving that evening and Monday has a formal brunch and farewells.
In 2005 Ford led the way again introducing the new ‘retro’ Mustang which inspired other makers such as Chevrolet to reintroduce the Camaro and Dodge, similar with the Challenger. This resurgence of the new Mustang has uplifted its public profile and it’s very noticeable how many are on the roads.
The Taranaki Club has around 60 members with ownership of about 85 cars ranging from a 64 ½ convertible to the very latest high performance Shelby. We try to formally meet once a month and regularly organise events to participate in with the aim being to have lots of fun. “Life’s great when I’m driving my Mustang”.