Road-trip warriors who are familiar with driving in “The Mitten State” – or even billboard spotters who travel up and down the I-75 corridor – have likely either been to or have seen signs for Frankenmuth. This Bavarian-themed little town in The Thumb area of Michigan is well-known as the home to Bronner’s, “The World’s Largest Christmas Store” as well as the mega family-style restaurants Zehnder’s and Bavarian Inn, where you can get their “World-Famous Chicken Dinners.” But for enthusiasts, the big attraction is the yearly Frankenmuth Auto Fest, held on the weekend following Labor Day.

It’s actually a three-day event full of food, fun, music and cars that draws some 2,500 vehicles and 150,000 people. It began nearly four decades ago as a main-street fundraiser for the Frankenmuth Rotary Club, Lion’s Club, American Legion, VFW and the Michigan Heroes Museum, but has now grown into a huge event managed by over 500 volunteers and now spilling into and filling the town’s sprawling Heritage Park.

If classic American Iron and pre-1987’s are your favorites, then you’ll want to head to town on either that Friday or Saturday. If you’re more into modern-day muscle, the show field opens up to all makes and model vehicles up to current model year on Sunday. If you can manage to pull yourself away from the car show, downtown Frankenmuth offers plenty of shopping, dining, and entertainment for the whole family. With a population of just over 5,000, it’s small-town quaint with big-time appeal. In addition to Bronner’s and the chicken dinner restaurants, there a local brewery, specialty stores and even a wine-tasting shop.For show-goers, the Big Block Party is held Friday from 5-10 p.m. on Main Street. Saturday is the BIG car show, and on Saturday night there’s a live band under the pavilion with dancing, food and beverages. (Frankenmuth is the home of rock band Greta Van Fleet.) On Sunday they have another car show concluding with a 1 p.m. people’s choice awards ceremony where some 60 German Steins are the “trophies.” The event closes with a tribute to Veterans.

In this episode, John and Mike take us through the Mustang photos from the event taken by noted Ford car-show photographer Bill Cook. We couldn’t help but notice that this fall’s Mustang show-car footprint was dominated by the 1971-73 “Big Horses” – more and more of which seem to showing up on the show circuit. So check out the Stangs seen at the Auto Fest – without having to walk miles to see the Mustangs or gain all the calories from eating one of Frankenmuth’s world-famous chicken dinners!

👍Please Like this video and Leave a Comment 🔔 Subscribe to the Mustang Owner’s Podcast 📢 Share with fellow Mustang enthusiasts. Plus, show that you’re a true Mustang insider by wearing Mustang Owner’s Podcast branded apparel, available on TheSVTstore.com. Please support our other sponsors: www.IconicGlobalSports.com / The Mustang Owner’s Museum / The Halderman Barn Museum (@Haldermanbarn) / Zero Given Garage / Gateway Classic Cars Detroit (Dearborn) Showroom #FrankenmuthAutoFest #1971Mustang #1972Mustang #1973Mustang #FordMustang #MustangOwner’sPodcast #FirstGenerationMustang #MustangII #FoxBodyMustang #SN95Mustang #S197Mustang #S550Mustang #S650Mustang #MustangGTD #MustangDarkHorse #MustangRTR #SVTMustangCobra #MustangMach1 #MustangBullitt #ShelbyGT350 #ShelbyGT500 #MustangDarkHorse

Ask any Ford fan about their favorite Mustang Pace car and they’ll say it’s the 64-1/2 Indianapolis Pace Car, the 79 Indy Pace car or the 94 SVT Mustang Cobra Indy Pace Car. But Mustang Pace Cars have paced many other races beyond the Indianapolis 500 and one man – Marty Mieras – has a collection of them whose rarity and pedigree will amaze you. Marty also happens to be the president of the West Michigan Mustang Club, and likely the hobby’s most well-versed expert on Mustang Pace Cars.

In this episode, John and Mike ask Marty to reveal the amazing stories behind his one dozen Mustang Pace Cars – wait, make that a Baker’s Dozen, as Marty admits to recently chasing down yet another ultra-rare pace car! Listen in until the end of this educational interview, and you’re sure to learn more about Mustang Pace Cars than you ever thought possible!

👍Please Like this video and Leave a Comment 🔔 Subscribe to the Mustang Owner’s Podcast 📢 Share with fellow Mustang enthusiasts. Plus, show that you’re a true Mustang insider by wearing Mustang Owner’s Podcast branded apparel, available on TheSVTstore.com. Please support our other sponsors: www.IconicGlobalSports.com / The Mustang Owner’s Museum / The Halderman Barn Museum (@Haldermanbarn) / Zero Given Garage / Gateway Classic Cars Detroit (Dearborn) Showroom #MustangPaceCar #IndyPaceCar #WestMichiganMustangClub #MustangOwner’sPodcast #FirstGenerationMustang #MustangII #FoxBodyMustang #SN95Mustang #S197Mustang #S550Mustang #S650Mustang #MustangGTD #MustangDarkHorse #MustangRTR #SVTMustangCobra #MustangMach1 #MustangBullitt #ShelbyGT350 #ShelbyGT500 #MustangDarkHorseSC #MustangDarkHorseSCconvertible

The Woodward Dream Cruise is billed as North America’s largest one-day automotive event celebrating the classic car culture. With the Motor City’s famed Woodward Avenue known as the birthplace of the American auto industry, it only makes sense that this annual summer mega-event takes place in the metro Detroit area. Held on the third Saturday of August each year, the Dream Cruise attracts some 1 million people from across the globe and 40,000 classic, custom and collector vehicles of all kinds – from hot rods to muscle cars and everything in-between.The cruise route itself covers a 16-mile loop along Woodward Avenue just north of Detroit through multiple suburbs starting in Ferndale, heading 8 miles up to Pontiac and returning 8 miles back. For Mustang fans, the big attraction is Ford’s Mustang Alley along Nine Mile Road in Ferndale, where hundreds of Mustangs and Ford performance vehicles are on display. Podcast co-hosts John Clor and Mike Rey walked the alley in a recent episode to introduce you to some of the people who you’ll meet there and to hear their Mustang stories.But many of you have asked for a closer look at the cars both in Mustang Alley and out cruising along Woodward, so in this episode John and Mike offer a glimpse at some of the Mustangs you may have missed seeing at this year’s Woodward Dream Cruise. It’s all thanks to the photos we received from Bill Cook, a Ford retiree and superfan whose Mustang and Ford car show event photojournalism helped make John’s Enthusiast Section on FordPerformnance.com so immensely popular before Ford Racing’s pivot to motorsports only website content. Take a look at the some of these cool Mustangs Cook spotted both in the alley and actively rolling along Woodward on cruise day.

👍Please Like this video and Leave a Comment 🔔 Subscribe to the Mustang Owner’s Podcast 📢 Share with fellow Mustang enthusiasts. Plus, show that you’re a true Mustang insider by wearing Mustang Owner’s Podcast branded apparel, available on TheSVTstore.com. Please support our other sponsors: www.IconicGlobalSports.com / The Mustang Owner’s Museum / The Halderman Barn Museum (@Haldermanbarn) / Zero Given Garage / Gateway Classic Cars Detroit (Dearborn) Showroom #WoodwardDreamCruise #Mustang Alley #FordMustang #MustangOwner’sPodcast #FirstGenerationMustang #MustangII #FoxBodyMustang #SN95Mustang #S197Mustang #S550Mustang #S650Mustang #MustangGTD #MustangDarkHorse #MustangRTR #SVTMustangCobra #MustangMach1 #MustangBullitt #ShelbyGT350 #ShelbyGT500 #MustangDarkHorseSC #MustangDarkHorseSCconvertible

Well, it seems lots of Mustang people liked our recent announcement that the Mustang Owner’s Podcast was planning to sponsor the official re-launch of the International Council of Mustang Clubs (ICMC) with a Club Summit Meeting at the Halderman Museum this fall. So many, in fact, that invite requests and event expansion ideas quickly filled our inboxes! Some of that interest came from attendees at Mike’s annual Midwest club seminars held just outside of Frankenmuth, Michigan each winter. But with the additional interest from so many other clubs registered in the ICMC, we now HAVE TO RESCHEDULE the event to accommodate everyone and their ideas.

As in previous years, this important annual seminar will be a highly productive gathering of Mustang and Ford club leaders from across the globe to share information, challenges and best practices that can help make our efforts in the hobby more successful. With Ford Racing taking John’s Club Connect program ‘in-house” for a revamp, this is the perfect time for the ICMC and the Mustang Owner’s Podcast to take the lead in mapping the future of the Mustang club experience.

In this episode, Mike and John explain the reasons for moving the summit meeting from this October to next May, and some of the challenges involved to expand this event to make it even bigger and better!

All interested parties are invited to attend this unique Mustang seminar, with a Show & Shine, museum tour, informative presentations and special guests. You can join us for this one-of-a-kind gathering in the Club Room of the Halderman Mustang Museum in Tipp City, Ohio (located about 15 minutes off I-75 just north of Dayton), on Saturday, May 1, 2027. Can’t be there in person? You can also participate online via ZOOM!

Whether you plan to join us in person via ZOOM, we simply ask that you email your request with the name of your organization and the name, email and cell number of your participating representative, and if you plan to attend IN-PERSON or via ZOOM. Send your response to ICMC President Mike Rey @ aces16@aol.com. Those who RSVP with plans to attend via ZOOM will be sent the ZOOM link by National Mustang Day, April 17, 2027, so that you can log in at 12:00 Noon Eastern Time on Saturday, May 1.

In the meantime, make sure you stay tuned to the Mustang Owner’s Podcast (on YouTube or Spotify) for updates on the inaugural ICMC Summit at the Halderman Museum set for Saturday, May 1, 2027. For more info, see www.MustangCouncil.com or check out Mike Rey’s Facebook page or email him at Aces16@aol.com.

👍Please Like this video and Leave a Comment 🔔 Subscribe to the Mustang Owner’s Podcast 📢 Share with fellow Mustang enthusiasts. Plus, show that you’re a true Mustang insider by wearing Mustang Owner’s Podcast branded apparel, available on TheSVTstore.com. Please support our other sponsors: www.IconicGlobalSports.com / The Mustang Owner’s Museum / The Halderman Barn Museum (@Haldermanbarn) / Zero Given Garage / Gateway Classic Cars Detroit (Dearborn) Showroom #InternationalCouncilOfMustangClubs #MustangClubSummitMeeting #FordMustang #MustangOwner’sPodcast #FirstGenerationMustang #MustangII #FoxBodyMustang #SN95Mustang #S197Mustang #S550Mustang #S650Mustang #MustangGTD #MustangDarkHorse #MustangRTR #SVTMustangCobra #MustangMach1 #MustangBullitt #ShelbyGT350 #ShelbyGT500 #MustangDarkHorseSC #MustangDarkHorseSCconvertible #HaldermanMustangMuseum

What could be better than a road trip for a late-September getaway weekend surrounded by hundreds of Mustangs from across the Midwest in a picturesque setting along the Mississippi River at the Treasure Island Resort and Casino in Welch, Minnesota? Well, if you add in 35-plus hours of pure pony-car fun activities leading up to a spectacular Saturday All-Mustang Car Show, the answer would be that it can’t be beat – unless you could keep some pesky rain showers out of the weather forecast.

That’s precisely what Podcast Co-Host John Clor experienced recently by attending the Mustangs At The Island Show that featured a poker run, cruises, entertainment and dinners, plus a Mustang show with everything from classics to late-models and just about everything in-between, as well as vendors, food trucks, raffles, charity fundraisers and music. John set up a Team Mustang Meet & Greet display with a free Mustang poster giveaway at the show. He shared a booth with his longtime SVT friend Tim Stieve, who was there representing Team Shelby Great Lakes (which had a group of members participating in the event). John also served as the event’s Keynote Speaker offering a fun-filled “61 Years of Mustang” presentation and a free keepsake at the Sunday brunch.While the on-and-off morning showers did keep the car count down a bit, by the time the clouds cleared, the crowd began to grow for a grand show with some interesting Mustang owner stories and lots of really nice cars. In this episode, John shares some of his photos from the event, and reveals that Team Shelby Great Lakes plans to team up with the host Lake Country Mustang Club to put on next year’s Mustangs At The Island show August 27-29, 2027.👍Please Like this video and Leave a Comment 🔔 Subscribe to the Mustang Owner’s Podcast 📢 Share with fellow Mustang enthusiasts. Plus, show that you’re a true Mustang insider by wearing Mustang Owner’s Podcast branded apparel, available on TheSVTstore.com. Please support our other sponsors: www.IconicGlobalSports.com / The Mustang Owner’s Museum / The Halderman Barn Museum (@Haldermanbarn) / Zero Given Garage / Gateway Classic Cars Detroit (Dearborn) Showroom #MustangsAtThe Island #TeamShelbyGreatLakes #LakeCountryMustangClub #FordMustang #MustangOwner’sPodcast #FirstGenerationMustang #MustangII #FoxBodyMustang #SN95Mustang #S197Mustang #S550Mustang #S650Mustang #MustangGTD #MustangDarkHorse #MustangRTR #SVTMustangCobra #MustangMach1 #MustangBullitt #ShelbyGT350 #ShelbyGT500 #MustangDarkHorseSC

On any given weekend in or near major metro areas all across the country every summer, you can find local Mustang clubs hosting their big annual car show. Mustang fans need to know that you don’t have to be a club member to attend, so if you see a gathering of Mustangs in your area, you’re encouraged to stop and check out the show.

Podcast hosts John Clor and Mike Rey have been personally involved in this part of the hobby for decades – with John serving a variety of on-site Meet & Greet functions for Ford, and Mike actually hosting shows when he was president of the Mustang Owners Club of South Eastern Michigan. They still attend many of these regional shows yearly.

When John was invited to set up his much-traveled 10x10 Mustang Meet & Greet display at the North Coast Mustang & Ford Club of Ohio’s annual show, he loaded up his Ford Club Connect Transit van with posters and headed to the Lorian County Community College in Elyria to mingle with hundreds of Mustangs and fans at the club’s 20th Annual All-Ford & Mustang Show on a sunny Sunday in late July. At the last minute, Ford’s Special Vehicle Registry team asked to join in, and the club accommodated with double the display space. And a bit more to make room for a special display car that SVR drove there – a prototype Dark Horse SC right out of the Ford Racing garage, as it was before any of the SC’s had arrived in dealer showrooms.In this episode, John tells the story of how the Dark Horse SC wound up at the show and shares photos that he took of some of his favorite Mustangs he saw on display there. Beyond the North Coast Mustang & Ford Club of Ohio providing all the bells and whistles of a great club show, it all just goes to show why attending your regional Mustang Club show is always a good idea: You never know what you’ll see there!

👍Please Like this video and Leave a Comment 🔔 Subscribe to the Mustang Owner’s Podcast 📢 Share with fellow Mustang enthusiasts. Plus, show that you’re a true Mustang insider by wearing Mustang Owner’s Podcast branded apparel, available on TheSVTstore.com. Please support our other sponsors: www.IconicGlobalSports.com / The Mustang Owner’s Museum / The Halderman Barn Museum (@Haldermanbarn) / Zero Given Garage / Gateway Classic Cars Detroit (Dearborn) Showroom #NorthCoastMustangClubOfOhio #FordSpecialVehicleRegistry #FordMustang #MustangOwner’sPodcast #FirstGenerationMustang #MustangII #FoxBodyMustang #SN95Mustang #S197Mustang #S550Mustang #S650Mustang #MustangGTD #MustangDarkHorse #MustangRTR #SVTMustangCobra #MustangMach1 #MustangBullitt #ShelbyGT350 #ShelbyGT500 #MustangDarkHorseSC #MustangDarkHorseSCconvertible

With the explosive growth in the fan following for 3rd generation Mustangs over recent years, it’s no surprise mega Fox Body Mustang shows would become must-see events. So, in the wake of the annual success of Foxtoberfest (check out our Podcast from the 2024 gathering at the Charlotte Motor Speedway), a group of Fox enthusiasts from the Detroit area decided to put together a Motor City version of a FoxFest and hold the show at the recently decommissioned Ford World Headquarters. It was patterned after the popular Mustang Memories shows hosted by the Mustang Owner’s Club of SouthEastern Michigan on the back lot of Ford’s famed “Glass House” HQ.But after 3 years there, the Motor City FoxFest was forced to find a new venue with the closure of that property due to the Ford World Headquarters move to an ultra-modern massive new facility on the automaker’s Dearborn engineering campus. While the new Ford HQ does not have a wide-open paved area to host a big car show, the Ford Experience Center (internally dubbed the FXC) located just across the street does. So event organizers negotiated with Ford to host its 4th annual Motor City FoxFest on the three large parking lot next to the FXC and adjacent to the Henry Ford Museum’s expansive Greenfield Village grounds and parking area.

John and Mike visited this year’s FoxFest to check out the new venue and all the great Fox Body rides and SN95 Mustangs that were on display across the three show areas. Enjoy this episode’s visual tour as the boys talk you through the great photography by Ford Marketing retiree Bill Cook, a longtime contributor to John’s FordPerformance.com “Enthusiasts” section. Our thanks to Bill for these exclusive Motor City FoxFest photos.

👍Please Like this video and Leave a Comment 🔔 Subscribe to the Mustang Owner’s Podcast 📢 Share with fellow Mustang enthusiasts. Plus, show that you’re a true Mustang insider by wearing Mustang Owner’s Podcast branded apparel, available on TheSVTstore.com. Please support our other sponsors: www.IconicGlobalSports.com / The Mustang Owner’s Museum / The Halderman Barn Museum (@Haldermanbarn) / Zero Given Garage / Gateway Classic Cars Detroit (Dearborn) Showroom #MotorCityFoxFest #Foxtoberfest #FordWorldHeadquarters #TheGlassHouse #FordMustang #MustangOwner’sPodcast #FirstGenerationMustang #MustangII #FoxBodyMustang #SN95Mustang #S197Mustang #S550Mustang #S650Mustang #MustangGTD #MustangDarkHorse #MustangRTR #SVTMustangCobra #MustangMach1 #MustangBullitt #ShelbyGT350 #ShelbyGT500 #MustangDarkHorseSC #MustangDarkHorseSCconvertible

Any true Mustang fan knows about Ford’s long-running “Mustang Alley” gathering every year during Detroit’s massive Woodward Dream Cruise. Technically on a street and not in an actual alley, Mustang Alley stretches a few blocks down East Nine Mile Road where it intersects Woodward Avenue at the very spot the Dream Cruise begins in the suburb of Ferndale, Michigan. While it’s sweet to see 700-900 Mustangs angle-parked on both sides of the “alley,” what’s even sweeter is to experience the Mustang-loving vibe that this popular event gives off each and every year. It doesn’t just come from the cars – but from the owners and fans you’ll find there from all corners of the globe. As John and Mike always say, “Everyone has a Mustang Story,” so for this episode, walk along Mustang Alley 2026 with them as they get you the stories behind some of the Ford insiders, known players in the hobby and dedicated owners that they found there on that warm August day. Sit back and follow along to see if you recognize some of the people and the cars that made Mustang Alley 2026 so much fun!

👍Please Like this video and Leave a Comment 🔔 Subscribe to the Mustang Owner’s Podcast 📢 Share with fellow Mustang enthusiasts. Plus, show that you’re a true Mustang insider by wearing Mustang Owner’s Podcast branded apparel, available on TheSVTstore.com. Please support our other sponsors: www.IconicGlobalSports.com / Mustang Owner’s Museum / Halderman Barn Museum (@Haldermanbarn)#MustangAlley #WoodwardDreamCruise #FordMustang #MustangOwner’sPodcast #FirstGenerationMustang #MustangII #FoxBodyMustang #SN95Mustang #S197Mustang #S550Mustang #S650Mustang #MustangGTD #MustangDarkHorse #MustangRTR #SVTMustangCobra #MustangMach1 #MustangBullitt #ShelbyGT350 #ShelbyGT500 #MustangDarkHorseSC #MustangDarkHorseSCconvertible