The scene: One of those sparkling celebrations at the Brandywine River Museum.

The dance band was set up outside the windows of the main lobby.  I looked up, recognized Lenny on tenor sax and gave him a little wave.

In a few minutes the unmistakable slow, driving, bluesy beat began to electrify the courtyard…

“Mustang Sally… guess you better slow your Mustang down.“

It happens a lot when your name is Sally and not Sarah.

I actually was “Mustang Sally” for a while, well sort of. My second car was a silver 1978 Mustang II. It was the last of the second generation of Mustangs to actually look like the classic before the designers got stupid in 1979 and turned the third generation of Mustangs into squared-off shoeboxes.

But 1978 was also one of the years when some models began to develop mechanical problems. Mine had the unfortunate quirk of only going forward. It wouldn’t back up. Really!  I had to take it back (or forward as the case may be) to the dealership several times until they finally fixed it.

“All you want to do is ride around Sally…Ride, Sally ride.”

A few summers ago I got together with two childhood friends at Ocean City, NJ. We were there the weekend of the Mustang Show. Mustangs parked up and down the boardwalk. Every model was present, and each one in pristine condition. It was like a walk down memory lane as we looked at the cars that had defined our youth. We compared notes about the songs we were listening to, what we were doing in school and who we had crushes on that year.

I bought you a brand new Mustang…a nineteen sixty-five.”

A few weeks ago I was driving through Chadds Ford and happened to glance over at Leader Sunoco - and there it was right out front... the bare bones chassis of an old Mustang. One of the good ones – not the shoe box variety.

Station owner, Jim Leader is restoring it.

“When I bought it,” Leader admitted, “I broke my major rule by not checking it out first. It’s turned out to be a lot more work.”

Leader bought it from one of his friends and said, “It was just sitting in his garage under a bunch of junk. He needed to sell the car to pay for an addition to his house.”
 
Ford named the original color of this classic 1965 Mustang Fastback, “Poppy Red,” which as Leader explained, was actually more bright orange.

Leader expects to be working on this project for another year.

The next time you’re in need of a fill-up, stop by Leader Sunoco, pump some gas, say “hi” to Jim and reminisce a while next to a real classic. (The car, not Jim.)
 
And despite its problems, I really loved my silver 1978 Mustang II.

I bought it during the years of the OPEC Oil Embargo, before locking gas caps were standard, so I had to order a special cap from the JC Whitney catalogue. It stayed with the car when I turned it in.

And somewhere on a shelf in a closet I still have the original gas cap with that classic Mustang logo on it.