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| (Note: Click on links above to visit previous Special Topic articles) 2003 Florida Pony Trail/Silver Springs Car Show
For those of you not familiar with what "Pony Trails" is, it is a Mustang drive sponsored by "Mustang Monthly" magazine. These drives occur in different locations in the US throughout the year and the first one for 2003 was in Ocala, Florida on January, 10th. For this drive, 140 cars met at the National Parts Depot (NPD) parking lot in Ocala and traveled about 60 miles to Daytona Beach and returned via the same route. "Mustang and Fords" editor Jeff Ford led the stampede in a red 2004 Mach 1 pace car. I was able to travel from Michigan along with my good buddy (and Boss 351 owner) Art Richardson to participate in this Pony Trails with my friend in Florida, Robert Myhrer. The pictures below will give some idea of what the Pony Trail was like. In addition, the photos at the bottom are from the annual Silver Springs, Florida Ford & Mustang Roundup (held on January 11/12).
(Note: Click thumbnails below to enlarge pictures.)
A total of 140 Mustangs and Fords gathered for the Pony Trail in the parking lot of National Parts Depot in Ocala where Jeff Ford gave out instructions to the drivers. Jeff drove the red 2003 Mach 1 pace car below.
The Pony trail went from Ocala in central, Florida to Daytona Beach on the East coast and wound through countryside and small towns. Check out the photos of the various Mustangs on the road!
Art and I rented a yellow Mustang convertible for the trail. Robert Myhrer rode with us. Jeff Ford's Dad and Uncle (gray van) photographed the Pony Trail along the way.
The Pony Trail cars met in the parking lot of Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach. From there, Jeff Ford gave us 2 hours for lunch and cruising before the trip back.
Art, Robert and I used our 2 hours to drive our Mustang on Daytona Beach followed up by a lunch at "Sonny's Open Pit Barbeque"
After lunch, the cars met for the trip back. We had just a little rain, but not bad enough to even put up the convertible top. We met back at NPD where we toured the Schmidt's awesome car collection.
(Note: Click thumbnails below to enlarge pictures.)
The next day was the annual Silver Spring Car Show. A total of 980 cars showed up for this event!
Jeff Ford's '72 "Lazarus" Mach 1 was on display. The girls from "Wing House" (like Hooters) stopped by to get their photo taken in front of the Lazarus Mustang!
Since the new 2003 Mach 1's were on display by the pavilion, Mach 1's from 69 to 73 we also on display up on the stage for the "Mach 1" theme.
All sorts of awesome Fords were on display throughout the grounds. We tried to get a sampling of photos of some of the cars on display.
I took one non-automotive shot. Here's the lagoon created by the famous Silver Springs. It is 60 feet deep and clear all the way to the bottom. Note the glass bottom boats which tour the lagoon and let you see all the fish, turtles, etc. that live there.
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