Gloria and Dave Carroll’s shared passion for the Ford Mustang brought them together.
Fifty-some years later, they belong to the “oldest” Mustang club in the United States, if not the world.
The Southern Arizona Mustang Club is also older than the Mustang itself; it formed in 1963 with continuous support and sponsorship by Holmes Tuttle Ford.
The club had been founded two years earlier as the Ford Falcon Owners Club, according to information from Ford that Gloria Carroll provided. In 1965, the club quickly switched to Mustangs, with many members trading in their Falcons. The club’s initial focus was classic Mustangs, but today it is open to all model years.
For all that the mid to late 1960s are known for, those years also ushered in the era of the muscle car.
In the summer of 1967, anyone with a Mustang would be cruisin’ Speedway and stopping at Johnnie’s Drive In at Speedway and Craycroft, Gloria Carroll recalled in an email. Back then, she worked the dealership’s switchboard.
Everyone would open their hoods and admire each other’s cars.
“If they were on a date, a Coke and fries would be ordered and delivered by the car hops,” she recalled.
They would hop in their Mustangs and cruise to one of Tucson’s three Johnnie’s locations.
“Some would rev their engines at the lights, but only a few dared a race between the lights,” Gloria Carroll said.
The Mustang Club was very active in 1967, she said.
“Summer was a fun time to cruise up to Mount Lemmon for a picnic, and almost every month there would be a road rally,” she said. “In the summer, the rallies would usually be held in the evening when it was cooler.”
The Tucson Mustang club stays plenty active, with shows of all sizes throughout the year. It’s easy to draw a couple hundred vehicles of all makes and models. The club also holds the Fords on Fourth on North Fourth Avenue every March.
Last month, the club headed down to Tombstone to take part in the parade and festival that celebrates the 132nd blooming of the World’s Largest Rose Tree. Thirty-four Mustangs drove down Tombstone’s main street.
In the fall, members take their pristine, colorful cars on the road to San Diego.
The Carrolls aren’t the only ones brought together by Mustangs. Not only did Don Griess meet his future wife, Karen, because she also had a Mustang, but their son met his his future wife because she drove a Mustang.
