David Livian Vice President report for August and September 2022
28th September 2023
Last meeting we had a special guest address the members. In my June Vice Presidents report I wrote about a young Mustang enthusiast in his teens whose mother would bring him to our shows, in particular the All American Day and Anniversary Pony Round Up at The Vineyard Hotel, and admire our cars, especially my Concours 1967 GT500 Shelby. Well, Daniel is all grown up now and is a fire fighter in Denver, Colorado and works as a volunteer in the Shelby American Collection in Boulder. He was coming to Sydney for a friend’s wedding and asked me what events we have on. Unfortunately, he just missed our mega show at Linnwood House but was flying in on the morning of our September general meeting. Fighting jetlag, he and his father, Bruce, joined us at the meeting and told the assembled members of what was going on at the museum, and the US classic car scene in general. He rattled off rare and collectible VIN’s of Cobra’s, GT40’s and Shelby’s that he worked on and made us all envious of the fantastic machinery he fettled. And we had a hand in this by fueling his passion for Mustangs at our shows. Speaking of Linnwood and what a great event that was.180 Mustangs and 18 Shelby’s joined us to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Mustang Club, NSW and the 60th Anniversary of Shelby American, and we picked up 13 new members on the day. The Daimler Club was there with 10 cars and that display was organised prior to ours and we were happy to share the crowd with them. In fact, Pat and I just got back from the CMC meeting and the delegate from the Daimler Club stood up to address the room full of other club delegates and said he was very impressed with the manner the Mustang drivers came in and were parked with no damage to the already wet grounds. An unexpected and appreciated comment by a peer from another club. Thank you to all who helped organised the day, parked cars on the day, and who attended the day. I hope you like your collectable goodies. Finally, thank you to David Hogg for his many years of service looking after our membership database, and his wife Freya for helping with stock at Linnwood house. Unfortunately, they are both standing down from the committee and we thank them for their past efforts. Check out the calendar as we have many and varied events coming up.
August 2023
Hi all, With the Mustang Owners Club of Australia, NSW Branch turning 40 years old this year we reflect on what the club is all about. Obviously, the members are all like minded with their appreciation of the Mustang and all its variants; be they the top-of-the-line GT500 Shelby or 6-cylinder Coupe, 2021.5 S550 Mach 1 or 1964 ½ Convertible, they are all special to their owners and we love to mix with other people who feel the same. Back when I had my 1967 Shelby GT500, a vehicle I restored and owned for 20 years (and if another “friend” tells me I should never have sold it you will be reading about me in the news!) often when I took it to a show there was a young man, taken to the show by his very patient mother, waiting for me. He was very polite and waited off to the side as I did whatever I had to do to get things at the show organised, then when appropriate, he would come over and talk to me about Mustangs generally, and my Shelby in particular. I always gave him what ever time he wanted to chat, and he, and his mother really appreciated that. As usual in life, time moves on and I hadn’t seen him for many years. Out of the blue, 2 weeks ago I received a message through the MOCA NSW Website: Hey David! Just wanted to reach out and thank you, many years ago when I was a teen I was obsessed with your GT500 and used to drag my Mum to car shows to see it. The whole time you were super patient and happy to share the hobby with me. As luck and life would have it I actually immigrated to the US a few years ago and am currently working as a Firefighter in Denver. I drive a ‘19 Bullitt to work year round, spend my spare time working at the Shelby American Collection in Boulder Colorado where I’m lucky enough to get my hands on a multitude of Cobras, Mustangs and GT40s including CSX2128, P/1015, CSX2000, CSX3029, 6S051 and the first production GT500 #0100 and I’m currently SLOWLY but surely working my way to my own 66′ GT350. Needless to say your patience wasn’t for a lost cause. A few years back I saw you sold your 67′ did you ever replace it? Do you still have your Boss? Hope you’re all doing well, if you or your family are ever in the US definitely reach out 🙂 All the best Dan 14 I was thrilled to hear from him and responded with an update on my garage and he sent some photos of his volunteer “workplace”. Coincidentally we were in the US at the time but didn’t have time to go to Colorado. We’re back there in February ’23 and will try to see Daniel and the collection. Like Daniel, I was impressed as a 6-year-old seeing my first Mustang, a white Coupe cruising the streets of Schofields (when it was primarily farmland) which manifested as an automotive obsession that led me to 36 years in the Mustang Club, 35 of them on the committee. Through the club we meet all sorts of people, and some become life-long friends. On September 11 this year we are celebrating 40 years of the Mustang Club of Australia, NSW Branch and we invite you all to join us at Linnwood House in Guildford. Please make the effort, be it from Sydney, Newcastle, Canberra or anywhere else, join us for this celebration and enjoy the company of like-minded people, and their cars. Enjoy those Mustangs
David Livian