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At the risk of plagiarizing Charles
Dickens, this is the tale of two Mus-
tang meets separated by nearly 500
miles; but they are very similar in
many other respects. They were cre-
ated at almost the same time, over 30
years ago. They each cover three-day
time spans, and both featuring cruises,
special programs, vendors and the
obligatory commemorative t-shirts.
They are, however, somewhat different
in scope and target audience.
Last spring, SAAC member Mark
Hovander from Seattle began sending
out email notices to owners of early
Shelby Mustangs in the region. These
emails went to enthusiasts throughout
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western
Canada and as far away as Bozeman,
Montana. His goal was to break a
record for the most early Shelby Mus-
tangs gathered together by the Wash-
ington SAAC region. The meet was to
celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the
introduction of the Shelby GT350.
Ironically, Hovander’s pristine and
historically significant 5S003 was
being prepped for Pebble Beach and
was unavailable to make the meet. To
his credit, however, he was able to as-
semble a number of rare and out-
standing examples of the marque.
The early Shelby gathering was
held as part of the annual Mustang
Roundup and All-Ford Picnic, which
has been billed as “The World’s
Largest Annual Gathering of Mus-
tangs.” This year the event was held
July 16th through the 19th and per-
haps naively, I was expecting three
days of associating with like-minded
early Shelby owners and swapping
stories. Unfortunately for me, for the
first two days this was not the case.
Day One of the Roundup was the
cruise but it turned out to be more like
an automotive marathon. It started
from Bellevue Community College (in
Bellevue, Washington), proceeded
through the Cascade Mountains over
the pass to Leavenworth (a replica of
a Bavarian village) and culminated in
the historical and scenic town of
Roslyn, where the opening scene of the
television show “Northern Exposure”
was filmed. In Roslyn, group photos
were taken and everyone made their
way back to Bellevue individually. The
tour was about 150 road miles and
took about three hours (not including
stops). Of the 200-plus cars involved in
the cruise the only early Shelby to par-
ticipate was Lyle Cigler (6S137).
Whether it was the heat, the length of
the cruise or some other factor, it was
disappointing not to have more early
Shelby Mustangs on the scenic cruise.
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Winter 2016 67
– Text & photos by Mike Wright
MUSTANG ROUNDUP