Fast Ford Fun Story and photos by John Gunnell
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’65 Mustang GT
Like an art gallery curator, Red Lewis had two things foremost in mind for The Automobile Gallery. First, he wanted it to tell the history of the automobile from the early 1900s to the current day. Second, he wanted the cars he put in the Gallery to be colourful and exciting. This bright yellow 1965 Mustang GT fit both criteria—plus it was fun to drive.
y first and only ride in a Mustang took place in the car you see on these pages. It was on October 15, 2015. At that time, a fascinating man named William “Red” Lewis was just getting started on creating a place called The Automobile Gallery (www.theautomobilegallery.org) in Green Bay, Wis. It was what most people would think of as a car museum and what Red made the rip from his home in De Pere to the Gallery in downtown Green Bay behind the wheel of a black 1959 Buick Red thought of as an art gallery featuring cars. hardtop. He had six ’59 Buicks and he loved driving them. He had me follow him in the yellow Mustang fastback, which had the high-performance 289-cid V8 and a four-speed gearbox. If Red was happy driving that big Buick cruiser, I was twice as happy behind the wheel of the stickshift Mustang 2+2. Though it was far from the fastest ‘60s car, the Mustang GT was a snappy ride and a model that played a big role in building enthusiasm for muscle cars. It’s a model that very rarely gets credit for its contribution to muscle car history. As Car Life magazine put it, “Ford started a round-up of its state-of-the-Total-Performance art to produce the Mustang GT.” Before getting into the go-fast details, let’s review Mustang history a bit.
The car is highly-detailed below the hood. 36 MUSCLE CAR PLUS MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2021
It is not often that a car comes along and gets to create its own market segment, but that’s exactly what took place when Ford introduced the Mustang. This sporty
