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2003 Ford Centennial Celebration
Four couples from SIMA cruised to Dearborn, MI. & the Ford Motor Company 100th birthday party. Len & Deb Goff of Robinson, IL and Ollie & Judy Schwallenstecker of Bunker Hill, IL left their homes early Wednesday, June 11, and arrived at their motel about 5:30 PM. They had excellent accommodations on Michigan Ave. just west of the Ford World Headquarters. Wednesday travel to the show was cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. Thursday would be different, with a steady drizzle lasting until early Friday morning. Ollie had submitted his Nordic blue 67 Cougar XR-7 hardtop coupe for display at the centennial. After receiving approval by e-mail, he was required to pick up his windshield parking pass and Ford Headquarters gate pass at the Fairlane Mall for admittance to the show. Of course the girls thought going to the mall was an excellent idea.
Across from the Ford World Headquarters is the Fairlane Mall shopping complex. It's a three level enclosed mall with all of the major shopping stores. Although built in the late 50's, it's as modern as it was built in the 90's. At one time a Monorail connected it with the luxurious Hyatt Regency Hotel across the parking area. In the 80's Ollie & Judy stayed there and rode the tram. The mall is privately owned by Ford. Ford had registration lines set up in the Food Court area. After picking up the documents, the rest of the morning was spent shopping and lunch in the food court. Display vehicles were scheduled for early arrival Thursday after 2:00 PM in the afternoon. Everyone returned to the Motel and Ollie did a wash job in the rain. The rain slowed down enough to take the Cougar to the Ford Headquarters front lawn where it was displayed with other Lincoln and Mercury vehicles. Ollie bumped into Virgil Brown who was displaying his 68 XR-7G, Dan Gurney 6.5 litre special. Over 20 years had passed since Ollie had see Virgil and sold him two 67 Cougars.
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| Next was a walk around the approximately 200 acre show site. Ford
vehicles were everywhere. Everyone was required to wear a lanyard with a passport
booklet for security reasons. Some times its better to be lucky than smart. While walking by the Ford Credit building an early Ford vehicle was brought by and started up. It seems that William Clay Ford, President of Ford Motor company was due for arrival. Sure enough while watching the Ford being started and running, a motorcade arrived. Before we knew what was happening Bill walked by to the Credit building. He was arriving to preside over the opening ceremony scheduled for 4:00 PM. |
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Next to come was visiting the Ford Racing display.
GT-40's, Indy cars from the 20's to the 90's, 60's & 70's drag and muscle cars,
sprints, midgets, NASCAR racers, Mexican road racers, you name it and it was there.
Ford NASCAR drivers were giving autographs inside the tent as autograph seekers stood
outside in the drizzling rain. Dale Jarrett's line looked to be the
longest. Beyond the Racing display was the SVT area. Carroll Shelby motors, Roush vehicles, Saleen modified Mustangs, T-Birds and Focus, and Specialty parts manufactures displayed their new machines. There must have been at least a couple of thousand of individual owner Mustangs and T-Birds in the SVT parking area. |
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Across the road was the Enormous Ford Display with Concept vehicles. Both the 2005 Mustang coupe and convertible were there. Most noticeable on all the concept vehicles were the enormous wheels and tires. Tires and wheels as large as 20" were common. Its easy to note that most 18 wheel trucks have had 20" wheels for over 50 years. The 7 litre V-10 was featured in the full size Ford sedan. Concept SUV's were everywhere. Next was the Centennial of flight tent with a working replica of the 2003 Wright flyer. Ford and the EAA are sponsoring a Centennial reenactment flight on December 17, 2003, at Kill Devil Hills, NC of the first successful manned flight. After the flight, the replica will go into the Greenfield Village, Henry Ford Museum. A computer flight simulator was available for a trial flight. Len and Ollie successfully got off the ground and flew the computer flyer. Landing was another event. We raised the dust on contact with Mother earth.
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| After the flyer crashed, Len & Deb and Ollie & Judy headed back to the Motel. On the way Marilyn Kell called on the cell to let Ollie know they had arrived at their Motel. Again, better lucky than smart, Len was only about a mile away and he the headed the F-150 in their direction. Jack & Marilyn Kell and Bill & Joyce Meyers were welcomed to Dearborn. The rain continued to fall. All agreed to check out some restaurants and go to dinner together. The group ended up at Wendy's, but only after missing a turn and having to go about 5 miles out of the way to get back. Some cities are impossible to go just around the block. Jack and Marilyn were in their beautiful Yellow Cobra Convertible. Bill & Joyce were in their PYT (Pretty Young Thing) Mustang GT convertible. |  |
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