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LOGAN — This Mustang story flashes back to 1965, but began in Utah in 2012.
Larry Hoxer took his then-12-year-old son Carson to the Cache Valley Cruise-In car show in Logan. Young Carson was a Mustang fan and spotted a red 1966 coupe. Drawn to it, he noticed a small "For Sale" sign attached, which he remembers was about 1-by-4 inches, just a sticker on the back window.
When the owner, who was probably out looking at other cars, came back, the three started talking about the Mustang. The guy said he owned the car before serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And while he was gone, his parents got it painted for him. A few years after he returned home, he decided to sell the car to pay for college.
The small size of the sale sign was an indicator of the man's desire to sell, but he ultimately let it go to Hoxer and his son, who surprised Hoxer's wife when they brought it home.
The paint was nice, but Carson said everything else needed work. They got the 200 cubic-inch, six-cylinder engine in proper order. Carson believed Ford sold more I-6, or straight-six, engines than the famous 289 V-8s, but so many six-cylinder Mustang owners swapped out the economical engine for the faster V-8, that sixes are rare these days.
Larry Hoxer's dad had operated an upholstery shop, so he knew his way around the seats, carpet and door panels of cars.
The father-son team also replaced the "crusty, gross" window trim, and upgraded the sound system. On the outside, they worked on everything but the paint. The chrome, grille and wheels all got redone, or fully replaced. It was then ready to take back to the Cache Valley Cruise-In, where Larry Hoxer and his son displayed the shiny red Mustang under the shade of a Cache County Fairgrounds tree in 2022.
Flashback to 1965 — Scott McNair was racing Mustangs for Broadway Motors in Oakland, California. About the only thing that could overtake him was the responsibility of a wife and children, so he took a job at the San Jose Ford plant, which was actually in Milpitas. He worked building Mustangs from the last part of 1965 to 1966, before moving his way up at the Ford company.
Then, in July 2022, McNair was strolling through the Cache Valley Cruise-In, when he sees a red 1966 Mustang under a shade tree. He peeks under the hood and notices the fender bolts were put in with the head on top, the nut under the fender; a sign that the car was built in California. With the Hoxers watching, McNair looks at the VIN of the Mustang and determines it was built at the San Jose plant during the time he worked there.
McNair said it was nice to see a six-cylinder Mustang that wasn't modified. He confirmed that Ford sold far more sixes than V-8s. He kept all his old Ford sales and ordering forms, so he was able to say with authority that the MSRP in 1966 was $2,416.18 for the two-door hardtop (coupe) with a three-speed manual transmission. Add the Cruise-O-Matic transmission, for $175.80. Power brakes were extra.
It cost $105.63 for a V-8, with a two-barrel carburetor. Add another $52.85 for a four-barrel carburetor and $276.34 for a high-performance head. His order forms have lots of check boxes for features you'd want, not trim packages sold as a group.
There was one package he recalls: Ford couldn't keep up with demand for the V-8, so the company created a Sprint Special of the I-6 in 1966 that had things like special hubcaps and a chrome air cleaner. McNair said it was "fairly popular," and cheaper than the V-8.
Both the young Carson Hoxer and McNair each said their days were made by the other that day. The Hoxers were glad to meet someone who knew their car — literally inside and out — and McNair was glad to see a Mustang that looked so close to how it did the last time he saw it in 1966.
The Hoxers have no plans to sell their father-son car, and the ownership experience has had an added bonus for Carson. He said it helped him find the love of his life, after he was invited to bring his Mustang to a retro-themed photoshoot as a prop. His girlfriend, Hailey, was one of the models for the shoot, and he says he fell for her that instant.
