In 1965 Linda Madison didn’t have a car, and she wanted one badly.
But not just any car would do. After watching two or three of Ford Motor Company’s new sports car running along the streets of Philadelphia, Madison set her eyes and heart on a 1965 Ford Mustang.
“Mother and I lived uptown close to Philadelphia High School,” she said. “They (Mustangs) didn’t pass very often, but every time they passed I would tell my mama, ‘We need one of those cars, right there,’ And she would say, ‘Ok, honey we’ll go get one.’ And, get one they did because Madison said her mom was a gentle soul who was usually agreeable to most things Madison wanted.
The pair, along with Madison’s oldest daughter, took a bus to Jackson and purchased a hunter green 1965 Ford Mustang for about $3,500 plus tax. The payments were $78 a month and gas to fill it up cost about 25 cents per gallon, she said. Madison, at 78, remembers very clearly the day the car was delivered by the East Ford dealership to her workplace Wells-Lamont factory in Philadelphia .
“They brought the car to me at the glove factory,” Madison said. “I left work early that day when they brought it to me. It was a big event.”
And every day after Madison cared for that car and held on to never once thinking of selling it. Now, 57, years later her love of Mustangs is just as strong, but love of another creeped into her heart about 15 years ago.
“I love them (Mustangs),” she said. “I love them, but I decided I’ll soon be knocking the door down at 80 years old. I’ll be 79 in October and when you get my age, and my breathing’s not good, you never know what’s going to happen.”
Madison made the decision to give her ‘Pony’ to her grandson Sam Sanders, 15, of Hickory, on his birthday in May. Even though she has other grandchildren, she felt Sanders should receive the car.
“I just decided it was a good time to let him have it,” she said. “He likes the car shows, and I think he wants to take it to Cruisin’ the Coast. I thought it was just a good time to hand it over. Even though it stays at the house in a garage, he said that he was going to use it for car shows. Plus, his stepdad (Chris McLemore) works on cars, and it needs a little work here, there, and yonder.”
Nicknamed Mustang Sally, everything on the car is original except the steering wheel and the paint. Several years ago a neighbor’s house caught fire. Cinders from the fire fell on the Mustang damaging the hunter green paint, so Madison re-painted it red. A red that catches the eye of car show enthusiasts and the heart of 15 year old Evans.
While most kids his age are clamoring for the newest and fastest car on the market, Evans said this car is the only car for him. “I have an amazing, grateful chance to have a Mustang that’s been handed down by generations.”
Evans said he prizes the car more for the memories it holds. Something that he just couldn’t get from any car, even a brand new Mustang.
“Whenever I fell in love with cars, I didn’t know she (Madison) had the same affection so whenever she said ‘Here, you can have this car, but you’re going to have to take real good care of it,’ I knew that I am going to put all my money and all my time into it for us to start going to these car shows more often.”
That’s how Sanders and Madison ended up at the Neshoba County Fair car show. It was their first of many Sanders said he hopes to enjoy with his grandmother.
Sanders said he appreciates that his grandmother saw his love of cars and was willing to give him the keys with only one rule. “He’s a good boy,” she said as she grinned at him affectionately before turning and looking from her blue eyes into his matching blue eyes, “I told him you can’t hot rod it. Even though I did one time.” At that point the age gap slammed shut as they both broke into peals of laughter.
“I did one time, Sam,” she said. “One time was all. I drug it. I drag raced it.” Sanders’ eyebrows arched in surprise as he admitted he couldn’t imagine his grandmother drag racing.
At this point Madison launches with gusto into the tale of a co-worker, Bob Cumberland, that challenged her every day to race him. Madison said she repeatedly refused to race because the Mustang was her only means of transportation and Cumberland had a V-8 while her Mustang “Sally” was a V-6. She said at some point she had enough of the teasing, so she agreed.
“We put a guy (Richard Chapelle) in the backseat and he said, ‘Now Linda, when I say ‘Hit it!’ I mean hit it. And when he told me to hit I mean I took off, and I beat ole Bob a car length and when we got back the next day I told him I did not want to hear any more. He never did ask me to drag again, and I never did drag the car again.”
As she finished the story Sanders grins broadly at the idea of a hot-rodding grandmother. He thinks that car shows will be an opportunity to hear more of those types of stories from his grandmother. Perhaps he’ll get more of those stories as he and his grandmother go to car shows with the ’65 Mustang that they love almost as much as each other.
“I don’t think I like any other car the same as this ’65,” he said. “This car has a story behind it. New cars don’t have that. I have stories, and those are better.”
