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The Scrivner's '78 Ghia is an 'Unrestored Beauty'
Cover story
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For Robert Scrivner, it was love at first site.
"I fell in love with the first Ford Mustang I saw in 1964 and things haven't changed a bit since."
The Owensboro, KY MCA member (No. 20411) had to wait three years after he was first smitten to get behind the wheel of his own Mustang, but he's had more than a few around since then.
"That first one in '67 was a new white hardtop with a 289 V8 and automatic transmission. I kept it until 1976, when my son bought it. Unfortunately, he traded it a year later. I still wish we had it around."
What Robert and his wife Betty do have around at the moment is an award winning 1978 Mustang Ghia hard top, which the couple uses as both a daily driver and a show car.
Robert spied the '78 sitting on a used car lot.
"It looked like brand new and the original spare tire had never been on the ground. It had a 302 V8, automatic, power steering, power brakes, air conditioning and an AM/FM stereo. It was a perfect car to drive."
Robert and Betty were in the market for a "driver" since restoring a 1965 convertible to be used as a show car.
"After that first '67 Mustang, it was some time before I had my second one. It was a 1976 Mustang II, which I sold in 1978.
"Then, in 1979, I bought a 1965 coupe that was in very bad shape and, not having any information or experience on how to restore a Mustang, I eventually got discouraged and sold it."
But the itch still wouldn't go away.
"All through the years I kept seeing Mustangs on the road and every time I saw one I wanted another for my own. I especially wanted a convertible."
In 1988 - a decade after he sold the '76 - Scrivner discovered a stable of six Mustangs in a barn "where they had been in storage since the death of their owner. I fell in love with a Caspian Blue '65 289 and bought it from the man's daughter."
Robert says he bought the '65 to use as a daily driver, but after taking it to a few Mustang shows, he and Betty decided to keep it primarily as a show car.
Thus the need for a Mustang daily driver.
The '78 Ghia he stumbled across on the used car lot turned out to be quite a find.
"The car lot owner gave me the owner's name and it turned out she had bought the car new and had the original window sticker and service records. With only 56,000 original miles on it, I was sold and decided to add the Ghia to our stable."
But it was too much of a temptation not to enter the Dark Brown Metallic '78 with Chamois viny roof in a Mustang show, and before lone, the Ghia was doing double duty - as a driver and as an unrestored show piece.
The Mustang has a console, tinted glass, wire wheel covers and rocker panel moldings as well as a deluxe Chamois interior.
And it has certainly made Robert and Betty proud during its short show career: first place trophies at MCA Nationals in Nashville and Indianapolis and first place Grand National trophies at Kingsport, TN in 1991 and Atlanta in 1992.
"We still drive it," Robert says, "but we love to show it, too. It's an unrestored original and we treat it with respect, but it's not ready for a museum. Then again, if it keeps bringin home those trophies I guess we'll find ourselves in the market for another Mustang daily driver - again."
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