The first Ford Mustang owner kept the car. It's now worth $350,000 [View all]

Tom and Gail Wise disagreed about whether a broken-down car should be stored in a family garage for 27 years or sold for junk. He insisted they keep it because, he promised, one day he would find the time to fix the vehicle himself.

It was her skylight blue convertible Ford Mustang, purchased at age 22 in 1964, that their family of six drove for 15 years.

One day, it just stopped running. And there it sat until Tom retired. When he started hunting for car parts on the internet, he discovered a story about someone with a similar car who claimed to be the very first Mustang owner, with a purchase date of April 16, 1964.

“Tom came to me and said, ‘I think you bought the car a day earlier,’ ” Gail Wise recalled. “And, sure enough, he went down to the basement and found the receipt and the owner’s manual. Sure enough, I had purchased the car on April 15.”


Much more: https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2018/08/14/first-ford-mustang-worth/956784002/



The Wise family, Tom and Gail with their four kids, shot a Christmas card picture in July 1979 with the Ford Mustang. Shortly after, Tom pushed the car into the garage for 27 years. (Photo: Gail Wise)



Gail Wise, 76, of Park Ridge, Illinois, was the first buyer of a 1964 Ford Mustang. She and the car were at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn celebrating the building of 10 million Mustangs on Wednesday, Aug 8, 2018. (Photo: Kimberly P. Mitchell, Detroit Free Press)