How Many 1997 Woodward Dream Mustangs Were Really Built

What is a Woodward Dream Cruise Mustang, where did the idea originate, and when were these dreamers produced?

The Woodward Dream Cruise experience dates back to the 1960's. In the Motor City of Detroit/Dearborn, car enthusiasts would cruise Woodward Avenue from South Detroit to North Pontiac every weekend. Fifteen miles of cruising saw many impromptu street races along with some romance. Ford, Mopar, and Chevy burnout's occurred at nearly every traffic light during the cruising heyday. It is said that on weekends, after midnight, factory prototypes would sneak out and race down the avenue. But due to increasing gas prices and insurance rates, the late 1970's saw the disappearance of the weekend ritual.

  In 1995 the cruise was revived with the formation of a committee to host an annual cruise. Corporate sponsorships were sought out as the entire community supported this revival. Nearly one million observers lined Woodward Avenue to witness thousands of antiques, classics, street rods, and modern-day muscle cars line the avenue.

After a very successful first and second year, plans for a third cruising event in 1997 got underway. One of the ideas of the event committee was to have one of the automobile manufacturers produce a commemorative Woodward Dream Cruise car.
The Ford Dealers Advertising Group was contacted with this idea. Richard J. Bartus, the director of advertising, was very aware that the Woodwaqrd Dream Cruise gathering was a spectacular event. His thoughts centered around the fact that the Mustang had a 33-year history of cruising the Avenue. A special edition package was needed to commemorate the 1997 project. Gary Smith was put in charge. The idea was to build a Mustang that would be reminiscent of a vintage pony that cruised the Avenue in the 60's-one that made a powerful statement. The advertising group's thoughts turned to the 1965/1966 Shelby Mustang.

A.S.C. in Southgate, Michigan was contacted to see if they could transform a stock Mustang into a modern - day Shelby in appearance, and then produce 31-100 copies.

They were given from March 24, 1997 until April 4, 1997 to come up with a suitable proposal. Chris Dowdey was the designer who had the vision and drafted what would become the Woodward Dream Cruise Musatng. On April 2, A.S.C. finished their proposal and reviewed it internally. On April 4, the package was presented to Gary Smith and then to the Ford Dealers Advertising Group (F.D.A.G.). A.S.C. had 30 days to turn the idea into reality.

At A.S.C., Wint Goelz was given the reigns to make this project happen. This corporation is a fully independent facility, completely capable of taking a drawing through clay model stage and into the final version. Everyone here rallied together under the knowledge that they were producing a collectible vehicle with an awesome head-turning appearance.

On May 1, Huntington Ford delivered a 1997 GT convertible Mustang to A.S.C. to be transformed into prototype #00. On May 5, the dream began. ON may 9 #00 was completed and reviewed by F.D.A.G. On May 13, F.D.A.G.sent out press releases indicating that 65 Woodward Dream Cruise Mustangs would be produced. At the same time, the 31 Detroit metro area Ford dealers were placing orders. Within a week the orders were invoiced to Ford ordering systems. Only 57 Mustangs were on the list. From May 30 until June 6, the base Mustangs were produced and shipped from the Dearborn Assembly Plant by convoy to A.S.C., only 20 miles away.

One problem occurred, however. The Mustang, ordered from Tom Holzer Ford, destined to be #25 never arrived at the A.S.C. shop. It is believed that the car ended up at a Ford dealer in Toledo, Ohio.

Parts were procured from vendors, a suitable assembly line was established, and workers were recruited. Work began on July 5 and ended July 25 with the completion of #57.
Farmer Jacks Supermarkets, based in Michigan, has given away several Mustangs in the past. The chain was about to open a new store and planned to give away one of the special Mustangs as a part of the grand opening. Coca-Cola and the local oldies FM radio station WOMC 104.3 got together for the promotion. Bill Stedman from Oldies WOMC 104.3 and Paul Coleman from Farmer Jacks were the geniuses behind the campaign. On June 10, photos of #00 parked in front of a Farmer Jacks store were received by Coca-Cola for posters. Farmer Jacks ordered the give away Mustang (#58) on June 18. The advertising campaign ran for one month beginning on June 20 with over one million entries received.

Placed in all of the Farmer Jacks stores was a three foot tall poster which read "Win This Official Woodward Dream Cruise Mustang" with a photo of the prototype in the middle of the poster. It also read "One of only 58 commemorative Mustangs produced:. Patrons were encouraged to "See this Musatng only at your participating 31 Metro Detroit Ford Dealers." Fifty posters were printed.

A.S.C. received the base Mustang for #58 on July 28.Transformation was completed on August 6 and the drawing was held on August 21 at the radio station. The winner of #58 held on to it for a few short weeks before trading it in on a Ford Windstar in Battlecreek, Michigan. The dealership placed the special Mustang on the used car lot.

Participating Ford dealerships also had posters promoting the Mustang. Ron Barry created a reflections-type poster which depicted a 1997 Woodward Dream Cruise Mustang on one half and a 1966 Shelby on the other. The wording was Ford Dreamers "97" and Ford Dreamers "66". This poster was hand painted, not commonly done in today's world of advertising.

Each of the Woodward Dream Cruise Mustangs started life as a 1997 GT painted (ZR) white.since the Dearborn Assembly Plant is not set up to do these type modifications, A.S.C. was brought into the picture. There was a mixture of coupes and convertibles, standard transmissions and automatics. A few of the convertibles had black tops while the rest received white. All but one car had leather interior and the Mach 460 CD sound system.

The Woodward package included dual Razor Blue stripes that ran down the hood, deck lid, and around the rear spoiler, and the roof of the coupes. The hood had a set of chrome hood pins with attaching cable. Borla side exiting exhaust was housed in SVO side exhaust covers.The 17" aluminum rims were painted body-color inside and out with the center painted Razor Blue. The quarter panels received a Shelby-style air intake, and the front fenders bore a special commemorative badge.

The interior received a numbered plaque, placed on the dash, which stated the car's number and year of production.

Convertibles received a unique "Wind Stop" made in Germany. This wind screen rested above the rear seat and prevented a whipping motion of the air when the top was down.

The production figures are as follows-- 32 convertibles and 26 coupes. Of the coupes, 14 were five-speeds, 12 were automatics. Of the convertibles, 23 were automatic, 9 had a manual transmission. There were a few odd balls when it came to interior and top combinations. Two were built with black interior (all others were Graphite); one was a five-speed convertible, the other an automatic coupe.There were seven black-topped convertibles (five automatic, 2 five-speed) leaving 18 automatics and 7 five speeds with a white top. The only car that was very different was #58; It did not have leather interior, nor did it have the Mach 460 CD sound system. However, it was one the nine five- speed equipped convertibles.

If #25 (slated as a convertible with automatic and white top) had been produced, the total count would have been 59. Wint Goelz still has the dash plaque for # 25 as well as the plaques for numbers 59-65, which were never produced.

The 1997 Woodward Dream Cruise Mustang was advertised as the first in a series, but nothing materialized for 1998.

Article Submitted By Stew Jones And Terry McCoy MCA Gold Card Judges.