Mustang 50th Birthday Party

Last Wed-Sat I had the opportunity to represent Ford at a huge Mustang gathering in Las Vegas.

Thursday April 17
Today was a lot of fun. It was the official 50th birthday of the Mustang. The Mustang Club of America put on a big event at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which Ford was invited to attend. We provided our "Mustang Garage", which showcased some of the cooler Mustangs out there. It included the original Mustang concept (which looks very little like what you think of a "classic" 'stang), the Green Hornet (a Mustang that was given to Carol Shelby as a prototype race car; it had independent rear suspension and electronic fuel injection way ahead of its time, which makes it one of a kind and worth ~$3M), and various Cobras through the years.

Because the 2015 Mustang is going global, we had a group of dealers from China in Las Vegas to hear how we market the car in the U.S. My boss asked me if I could present to them and take their questions. It was a lot of fun and because I used a translator I had ample time to think about what I wanted to say next. It ended up going really well and they're pretty excited to be getting the Mustang next year. Actually, we know of people who buy U.S. Mustangs and ship them to China where they get sold for ~$300,000. We won't be charging that much, but the Mustang's primary competitor in China will be the Audi S5. In fact, we benchmark the 2015 Mustang against the Porsche 911 and BMW M3, which typically cost twice as much as a comparably equipped Mustang. It's very interesting how brand perception plays into what people will pay for cars.

Later that day a coworker and I met up with Craig Jackson (the Jackson in Barrett-Jackson auto auctions). We wanted to show him a good time, so my coworker gave him the chance to drive a Shelby GTS Mustang around the track a few times. We had a bunch of Shelby's and Miller Motorsports race cars at the track to give Mustang fans a chance to ride along with a professional driver. The fans weren't allowed to drive, but rather to just ride. However, Craig Jackson took a turn at the wheel, which stressed everyone out, since he wasn't insured on the track. Luckily nothing bad happened and his employees thanked us for letting him take a turn. Apparently making him happy meant they could all enjoy the day a bit more.

During my free time at the track I had the chance to walk around the cars that people from all over the country brought in. There were some very nice ones. My favorite was this:

Later that night Ford held a party on the fake Brooklyn Bridge at the New York, New York hotel. Only a thousand people were allowed in and some of our top brass were there (Mark Fields - COO and next CEO, Hau Thai-Tang - previously VP of Product Development, and Henry Ford III). One of my responsibilities for the event was designing and coordinating the shirts for all the Ford employees there. This meant that everyone needed to wear the same shirts on the same day. Mark Fields needed one of my shirts, so I arranged to meet his PR assistant and handover the shirt. As it turns out Fields arrived a minute before I could get the shirt to his assistant. Luckily, I saw them walking through the hotel, so I caught up and presented the shirt. It turned out that he already had a shirt and didn't need mine at all. Since I was already with them, they invited me to join them for dinner at the hotel restaurant's private balcony. Actually, just Mark ate dinner while his assistant coached him on what to say at the party. It was fun to chat with him and I even made a few wise cracks. He's a bit of a celebrity at Ford, but he's also really down to Earth and easy to talk to.

After he was ready for the party we walked over to the Brooklyn Bridge where he was granted VIP access. I guess since we were both wearing the same shirt the bouncers thought it was OK for me to go in with him. I had a ticket to the party, but it still felt cool not needing it. At the party the executives presented our 50th Anniversary Edition Mustang. I won't go into detail, but it is quite nice...and expensive. I spent most of the time at the party chatting with lots of Mustang enthusiasts. It was a lot of fun and their energy was contagious. It was neat to see them get so excited and emotional about our product.

Some of the extra props Ford brought for the big reveal included 2 life size card board cut outs of me:

In case you were wondering what happened to the shirt that I was supposed to give to Mark Fields, but didn't... I found the main Chinese dealer at the party and with the help of our translator presented it to him as a gift. It was neat to see how much more friendly he became with that gesture.

Friday April 18

Today was another fun-filled day. To provide some background to what I was doing you'll need to watch this Youtube video:

Our advertising agency thought it was a great story, so they flew the couple (Rick and Sharon) and two of their daughters out to participate in the Mustang 50th Celebration. I was asked to show them around all our cars we had on display at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was a lot of fun and they were extremely nice people. Our ad agency wanted to get the entire tour on film, so hopefully I'll some video of it in the future. I showed them around our historical Mustangs with the help of some coworkers who knew a lot more about the cars than me. (I'm pretty good about the Mustangs after 1994 and before 1970, but everything else I'm quite clueless). 

After they saw all the Mustangs and the cameraman got all the shots he needed we headed to the infield of the track. Ford brought in drivers and cars from the Miller Motorsports track and Shelby America for spectators to get a hot lap with an experienced driver. Basically the deal was if a spectator drove three of our basic Ford cars out for a test drive on the track then they could jump in a Shelby or Miller race car as a passenger all for free. We thought it would be fun to treat this family to a few hot laps as well. Unfortunately, as were making our way to the pit I was told that Vaughn Gitten Jr. was going to do a drift demonstration on the track and that they had to shut the track down for everyone else while he did. For those not familiar with Vaughn here's an example of what he does: 

At first we were bummed that we had to wait for a while, but then we decided to ask Vaughn if he wouldn't mind taking Rick out with him. Vaughn thought it was a great idea, so we stuck some GoPro cameras in the car and Rick climbed in. Vaughn was really nice for letting us throw it on him last minute and Rick was pretty speechless about it. It was really a once in a lifetime opportunity for him.

After Vaughn was done on the track the track was reopened for hot laps. We shuffled Rick and his family to the front of the line and they all took a turn on the track. The guy running the hot laps told me I had to sign a waiver if I wanted to do a hot lap too. I wasn't expecting that I'd be able to go out, but I certainly didn't question him. I signed the waiver, grabbed a helmet and jumped in one of the Miller Motorsports Mustangs and one of their racing instructors took me for a lap. I couldn't believe how much grip those cars have. It was awesome!  I got to ride in the white mustang:

One of the Ford funny car drivers in front of the 50th Anniversary Mustang:

By the time I was done at the track I was super tired, so I went back to my hotel room and took a nap. Later that night I went to a party that we set up with Shelby America. The party was nice and the Shelby leadership team were very easy to get along with. It's clear that they love what they do. They have a museum with some of their more famous cars and I took a few pictures. Henry Ford III was there. I met him briefly and he's really a nice guy. He began his career by being born into the Ford family, but then became a salesman at a Ford dealership and worked up the chain to where is the regional manager for Southern California. 

All in all it was a great experience and a good time, but I was excited to go home and see my girls!