First Favorite

I have been a Mustang fan for the entire 50+ year history, and have developed many favorite models over the years. Several models come out as my all-time favorites, a few of which I have owned myself, like my 03 Terminator Cobra, and my 07 Shelby GT 500 for instance. But, for this blog post, I want to talk about my "first favorite".
Sometime in the fall of 1967, my brother Ken and I were on the Ford dealer lot in Rapid City, South Dakota, looking at the new Mustangs. We were delighted to discover they had several new Shelby GTs setting there. One was a just arrived 1968 model and the rest were 67 models. As we looked them over, I came to realize that I preferred the 1967 GT 500 over the 68. I liked the cleaner, simpler style of the 67 front end, more than the 68 models. I also liked the hood scoop and taillights better on the 67s. When we opened the hoods, we discovered the twin 4-bbl carbs under the cool oval air cleaners on the 67 models were replaced by a single carb on the 68 model. For many reasons, the 67 Shelby GT 500 has remained one of my all time favorite Mustangs.
Others have remained at the top of my list as well, the 69 BOSS 429 in particular. I used to see a beautiful black one on the edge of a parking lot in Phoenix we often drove past in 1970. The 1969 BOSS 429 might be my all-time favorite Mustang, but the 1967 Shelby GT 500 will always be my "first favorite".
That may be why I have such a problem with "Eleanor" Mustangs. They are a custom Mustang movie prop introduced for the movie "Gone in Sixty Seconds"  in the year 2000. A whole younger generation of Mustang fans now think that "Eleanor" is what a 67 Shelby GT 500 really looked like. On the Eleanor movie car, they changed many of the best styling features of the real 67 GT 500, in particular, the entire front end styling.  Enough said on that matter.

My first favorite Mustang, a 1967 Shelby GT 500, in my favorite color combination. (internet photo)