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We’re covering the biggest birthday party in automotive history, the Mustang 50th Anniversary from both coasts. We’re in Las Vegas, Nevada for the West Coast show, and all that goes along with it. The weather is beautiful, and thousands of Mustangs have descended upon sin city for this once in a lifetime event. Keep checking here through Sunday for our latest coverage, huge photo gallery, and info on all the cars and events going on at the birthday bash for our favorite pony car. 

In Case You Didn’t Know

On April 17, 1964, Ford unleashed upon the world a car that they knew would be a hit. At the time however, they had no inkling of just how massively popular this new car would become, or that it’s name would last for over 50 years.

The pet project of Lee Iacocca, the Mustang became the car to have. Baby-boomers were coming of age, and looking to set themselves further apart from their parent’s generation. The Mustang was an exercise in some of the best targeted marketing, at exactly the right moment in history. Appealing to this burgeoning youth’s desire for individuality and a car that would stand out as an expression of themselves.

Affordable, powerful, and stylish, the Mustang was THE car to have. Ford’s competitors were left reeling, scrambling to come up with a car to compete with this new segment on their own. Those rivals would come and go, with only the Mustang remaining in continuous production.

For the last 50 years this American icon has seen it’s share of ups and downs, but it’s faithful followers have always been true. The Mustang brand is stronger than ever, recognized the world over as a symbol of style, performance, and personal luxury. It’s a statement about who the owner is, and what’s important to them.

To celebrate the Mustang’s 50th Anniversary we sent StangTV editor Don Creason to Las Vegas Motor Speedway to cover the official celebration there. We also sent StangTV contributor, and Team Mustang Girls founder Courtney Barber to Charlotte, NC to cover the East Coast party.

Viva Las Vegas

Friday in Las Vegas brought a day of mostly overcast skies, and a slightly lower spectator count than on Thursday. We showed up early and made our way through the several hundred cars looking for unique standouts and rare examples. We couldn’t help but notice that there were tons of classic 1964-1970 Mustangs everywhere. These represented the bulk of the cars in attendance and there was everything from restored, preserved, and patina’d examples, to drag cars and Restomods.

There are a lot of SVO Mustangs on the grounds in Vegas.

This GT350 was in a gated area, but that didn’t stop us from getting above it for a picture with our long lens.

There was an utter lack of the Mustang II. We saw only a pair of the often maligned pony cars. One was in the Ford garage, an either well restored or preserved example of a ’78 King Cobra. The other a Mustang II wearing EFI and Capri valve covers? We’ll have to dig deeper into that one, we suspect the parts may have been borrowed from various vehicles to make one unique look.

When was the last time you saw one of these with T-Tops?

Ford is of course on the scene here, showing off it’s entire lineup with an emphasis on performance vehicles. While the east coast show in Charlotte got the white 50th Anniversary, Ford brought a Kona Blue example for display at the Vegas show. We also got a glimpse of a silver 2015 GT. We tried our best to pry any more information from Ford officials, needless to say they were tight lipped except to say that it’s going to be an exciting time to be a Mustang fan. We also couldn’t nail down an on-sale date, or even a press drive date where we’d get our first chance behind the wheel. 

The Vendors midway was loaded with spectators, and fans looking for deals. The hottest items were 50th Anniversary merchandise which was nearly sold out by lunch time. Parts were flying off the tables as well, and the line for Ford’s ride and drive sign ups was about 100 people deep all day long. We took some time to catch up with several StangTV sponsors who made the trip to Vegas. Bill Tumas and the crew from CJ Pony Parts were on hand, as well as Chuck Schwynoch from Maximum Motorsports, Gabbi Baer from Baer Brakes, the crew from Mustangs Unlimited, ROUSH, and Chris Alston Chassisworks were all also in attendance.

Vaughn Gittin Jr took time to sign autographs for fans before taking to the track for a little demonstration.

Friday ended with Vaughn Gittin Jr and some of his Monster Energy RTR Co-horts making smokey laps in Gittin’s Formula Drift machine, and Gotta Have It Green RTR GT. Fans flocked to the fences to watch the cars in action, and get a whiff of tire smoke. No west coast Mustang event is complete without some antics from Gittin and this was definitely a cool way to close out our day.

We’ve loaded over 100 photos into our gallery, be sure to check out the gallery page for more from Friday, and then check back on Saturday for the rest of our coverage of the Mustang 50th Anniversary Celebration in Las Vegas.