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The third day more than made up
for any disappointments of the previ-
ous two. A general car show was
scheduled, including the early Shelbys
that Hovander had wrangled. The
large spacious parking area of the
Bellevue Community College was
nearly filled to capacity with Mus-
tangs and a few other Ford specialty
cars. The center of the exhibit was a
section devoted to 1965-1970 Shelby
Mustangs. Since this was the primary
reason for me making it to the
Roundup, I felt like a young kid on
Christmas morning. No offense to
later Shelby and other Mustang own-
ers, but I have more in common with
older Shelby owners. I have met sev-
eral of these people in the past.
There were 44 immaculate early
Shelbys present, with a number of
very unique models. John Atzbach
owns two of the original four ‘66
GT350 convertibles that were pro-
duced at the end of the 1966 produc-
tion run and he brought both of them.
In addition, one of the original four
1965 drag cars was present, as was the
final 1965 GT350 manufactured. The
1965 Paxton Prototype was also on
display. The 1966 GT350 originally
owned by Gary Lewis (son of Jerry
Lewis and lead singer of the 1960s
rock group “Gary Lewis and the Play-
boys”) was brought to the meet by
present owner Dave McDonald. Lyle
Cigler brought his holdover 1966
GT350 all the way from Bozeman,
Montana to be part of the meet. Allen
Cheng of Vancouver, British Columbia
attended the Roundup with his award
winning GT350 Hertz (6S2127). The
car used to be owned by Lyle’s father
Lee Cigler.
Several other ‘66 GT350s were on
display both, Hertz and regular mod-
els with various unique features. In
addition there were numerous ‘67
through ‘70 Shelbys, meticulously re-
stored with a number of unique fea-
tures. Although there were some
problems with weather and driving
conditions, everyone had a very enjoy-
able time. If you ever have the oppor-
tunity to attend the Mustang
Roundup, I would highly recommend
it.
The origin of the International
Mustang Meet dates back to 1979,
when Lee Cigler of the Great Falls
(Montana) Mustang Club attended the
World of Wheels car show in Alberta,
Canada. At the show he met with Art
Shealer, president of the Calgary Mus-
tang Club and Bob Clark, president of
the Edmonton Mustang Club. The
three agreed to have an annual car
show dedicated to Mustangs and for
the site to alternate between the
United States and Canada. The first
I.M.M. was held in Lethbridge, Al-
berta in 1979 and attracted 33 cars.
The meet has grown nearly every year
and now approximately 400 or more
cars attend. This year’s meet was held
in Missoula, Montana over Labor Day
Weekend. I noticed a little old man
loading animals onto an ark and
thought that we might be in for some
inclement weather. The rain took its
toll on attendance with the number
cars down by approximately 100. The
early Shelby total was also only about
half of would ordinarily attend. I per-
sonally knew four early Shelby owners
who came to the I.M.M., but left their
cars behind (including myself). De-
spite the numbers being down, there
were some outstanding examples of
early GT350s and GT500s. Lyle Cigler
brought his ‘66 GT350. Lyle’s dad, Lee,
was one of the original organizers of
the International and Lyle has been to
virtually all of the meets over the past
36 years. Rod Campbell of Athol, Idaho
was in attendance with his maroon ‘67
GT500 (#01839), as was Mark Hooper
with his blue ‘66 GT350 (6S2156).
Karl Gocksch of Great Falls, drove his
red GT350 to the meet along with
Owen Kelly of Missoula in his green
‘67 GT500. There were several other
early Shelby Mustangs including one
that was driven all the way from Cal-
ifornia to attend. There were a large
number of late model Shelby Mus-
tangs including 3 of the 500 20th an-
niversary ‘06 Hertz models, plus an ‘07
Hertz convertible.
As feared, car show day turned out
to be windy, wet and cold. Early on,
many of us spent our time in our cars
with the heaters on high. The weather
improved by the afternoon, allowing
participants to bail out of their cars or
other shelters and talk to other atten-
dees. The evening festivities had to be
moved indoors, but other than that the
day’s events were salvaged.
By the next day the rain moved
out and the sun reappeared, bringing
with it more pleasant temperatures.
This happened just in time for the
cruises. There were three in all, short
sprints compared to the Roundup
cruise, with the drive to a mico-brew-
ery in a small town outside of Mis-
soula being by far the most popular,
requiring designated drivers.
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Winter 2016 69
INTERNATIONAL
MUSTANG MEET