Fabulous Fords Forever—1999

Fabulous Fords Forever—1999
celebrating past and future Ford cars

Cobra Country’s Knott’s Berry Farm logo for feature-coverage articles

FabFords show
Buena Park, California
Sunday, 18 April 1999
This year’s FFF event celebrated “The 35th Anniversary of the Mustang.”

Judy and I attended this annual Ford mega-bash at Knott’s Berry Farm, as much for our own entertainment as to cover the event for Cobra Country. Ford bills it as “The largest all-Fords carshow in North America.” This was a titanic event, with nearly 2,000 FoMoCo products of every variety and vintage on display (from Model T’s to ’40 ‘Woodies’ to ’59 Skyliners to ’65 Mustangs to a 2001 Concept Car), approximately 30,000 spectators and over 800 photojournalists and media persons. There was no aerial tower available for me to fire off any panoramic shots, which would have provided you with some idea of the scale of the show [where’s that BPFD ‘cherry picker’ truck when I really need it!]. This photo montage includes a dozen or so shots I took as we meandered around the miles of aisles under an azure blue sky. It was 95°F (35°C) in the shade, the hottest day of the year in southern California thus far, with sunscreen in even greater demand than Michelob draft. Curt Scott

Ford Show

Above: One of several lineups of Cobras and Cobra replicas at the show

Ford Show

Above: … and there were several GT40s on display.

Ford Show

Above: Los Angeles SAAC’s booth at the event: inside, the Dynamic Duo of purveyers of Cobra memorabilia: that’s Shelby trooper Herlita Natividad on your right; on your left is the effervescent and ever-cheerful Bob Shaw of (Cobra replica parts & memorabilia outfitter) Operations Plus helping Herlita run LA SAAC’s booth.

Ford Show

Above: Hank Williams shows up at all the west coast Shelby gatherings. He purchased that original 289 “slab-side” Cobra in 1964… making his car one of a very select stable of one-owner original Shelby Cobras.

Ford Show

Above: That’s Michael Kahn (Northridge, California) alongside his 427 Contemporary roadster; beside him (in his trademark “Smokey the Bear/county mountie” headgear is Trigo’s Lynn Park (whose 1966 red 427 roadster is unfortunately just outside the photo). Lynn did ask me to observe that those are genuine Trigo wheels on Michael’s roadster…

Ford Show

Above two photos: Ford’s “2001 prototype” 2-seater Thunderbird was a hit of the show. It was displayed alongside the very first 2-seater T-bird, which rolled off the assembly line in September, 1954.

Ford Show

Above: A “Mach III” Mustang

Ford Show

Above: Ford’s “Special Vehicle Engineering” displayed some that unit’s 2-seater concept cars, including the Indigo Roadster, and (at the right) a white, 720.hp GT90 coupe, which in some styling cues hints of Ford’s GT40s of the 1960s.

Ford Show

Above: This showroom-condition 1963 blue Ford Falcon Futura convertible was a certified crowd-stopper.

Ford Show

Above: This 1953 Ford Crestline ‘Indianapolis Official Pace Car” was on display.

Ford Show

Above: FoMoCo’s most charming spokesperson Lindsay Wagner was there, cheerfully signing autographs, lookin’ good even in the sweltering heat du jour.

More than 24 car clubs were in attendance, including:

Lincoln Continental Owners’ Club

New Zealand Mustang Club

Fun Ford Sunday Council

 

Other bylines of the event: In addition to celebrating the 35th Anniversary of the Ford Mustang, 1999 also represents these anniversaries: 40th Anniversary of the Ford Galaxie; 60th Anniversary of Mercury, and the 75th Anniversary of Lincoln.

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