Everyone from H.G. Wells to Robert Zemeckis has dreamed of traveling through time. Although I don’t spend much time worrying about the possibilities of time travel, I occasionally wish I could visit the 1964/65 New York World’s Fair for a day. To me, it was the last gasp of a truly optimistic America, one that painted a future filled with gadgets to make one’s life easier without once considering the potential ramifications of that goal. In the late summer of 2019, I considered making this Mustang my time machine.
I have no intention of recounting the history of the World’s Fair, or how it was not recognized as such by the Bureau of International Exhibitions, or how many people considered it a failure. I will briefly discuss how much I love everything about it. Instead of an exchange of world cultures, the fair was an exchange of manufacturing and technology, with corporations such as General Motors and Ford taking the place of the countries of the world. IBM, Dupont, and Coca Cola created vast pavilions in an unmatched display of American Exceptionalism. Even if you know it was arrogant, any fan of American industrial history, and cars in particular, can’t help but love it.
Of course, nobody thought much about the effect that all that easy livin’ might have on the environment, the earth’s resources, or our waistlines; but that’s a discussion for another day.
One of the central attractions at the fair was Ford’s “Magic Skyway,” a ride designed by Walt Disney to whisk fairgoers through an “animatronic” version of humanity’s past and bright future. The rides themselves were current model year Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln automobiles, specially prepared for the job of being pulled on a track for six months. A lucky few fairgoers rode in a new Mustang, a car that was famously introduced at the World’s Fair itself. Only four Magic Skyway Mustangs are known to still exist, including our feature car.
It was advertised on the Northern Michigan Craigslist last summer for $19,900. The seller is known for owning and restoring another of the four remaining Skyway cars, and he clearly stated in his advertisement that this car is rusty and will need a complete restoration.
The car itself is definitely a Magic Skyway car. The VIN matches the records compiled by “In Search of Mustangs.”
This undercarriage bracket that was used to pull the car along the Magic Skyway itself serves to authenticate the minor celebrity status that those in Mustang circles have bestowed upon these cars. There were actually two groups of Skyway Mustangs, 12 for each season. Those used for the 1964 season were 260-powered, while the 1965s got by with the base 200-cubic-inch six cylinder. This car is numbered among the latter.
It’s obvious that this Mustang was treated like a normal car rather than a collector vehicle. The stained carpet is evidence of time stored outside, and Mustang cowls rotted almost immediately; after all, they were left nearly untreated by the Rouge plant in 1965. A rotten floor on a Mustang convertible leads to one thing – body sag. Rusty Mustang convertibles are a problem.
As a guy with some experience with rusty Mustangs (see my family heirloom above, mid-refresh in 2009), I know what their repair entails. Therefore, there were a few strikes against my enterprise from the beginning.
- I am not a perfectionist and would probably not own a 100-point restoration even if I were rich.
- The Magic Skyway car probably deserves a full restoration.
- The asking price was attainable, but probably not when one considers the amount of money I’d spend on it.
- I don’t like doing ground up restorations. They take up a lot of time and, more importantly, space.
Even with those realities guiding my decision making, I continued to keep an eye on the car, which was also advertised on Hemmings. The price over the last six months was reduced to a far more appealing $12,900, which is still a lot of money to spend on a rusty six-cylinder Mustang convertible. The car either sold or the owner decided to pursue other avenues, because the advertisement was very recently pulled.
It’s bittersweet for me, because I considered buying the car as something to work on when I eventually retire and perhaps have more garage space for my growing collection. I could see myself frustrating the Mustang community by doing a driver restoration on the car and using it for fun. It wouldn’t be cheap, but I’d like it a lot better. I could even leave the things that make the car special intact, such as the leaded seams shown above.
Of course, when I was finished, I’d have another 1965 Mustang (but with a six-cylinder engine rather than my coupe’s 289) on which I would have spent $30,000 or more, perhaps much more, in total. That kind of money buys all kinds of Saab 96s, early Rivieras, Volvo P1800s, and who knows what else I’d love to own someday. As much as I love the history, it just didn’t make much sense.
Let’s face it. As of this writing, I could buy a decent one of these for not much more than the asking price of the Skyway car.
At any rate, I hope it finds a good home with someone who will bring it back so I can see it somewhere. Early Mustangs are great collector cars with a lot of charisma, and this one has a backstory that can’t be matched by most. The theme of the World’s Fair was “Peace Through Understanding,” and I hope I don’t beat myself up too hard for making sense this time.
I completely get it. I love the *idea* of doing a full ground-up resto on a really rough car. There is something noble about taking something so far gone and bringing it back to good as new. But I have not the time, skill or funds to do the job. It makes much more sense to pick up the car that someone else has done all the work to, or better yet, find a good original.
Even forgetting the World’s Fair thing, black early Mustangs were never common things. That black paint with the red interior would be a beauty. But the 6/auto would be my least favorite out of all the engine/transmission combinations out there. But a 6/3 speed (as I had in my 68 model) was a pleasant combination.
Oh come on JP just take the job on. You can either spend countless hours of your own time and a minimum of $30K doing the car yourself. You do know how to fabricate and weld don’t you? Or, you can turn it over to a professional restorer, save your countless hours, but pay out a minimum of $50K. Let’s see $50K plus $12K equals $62,000 when your all done. What do you think? Crazy enough? You like the black paint which is better than the overdone resale red for a vert.
Great write-up on this unique car and on the World’s Fair. While you’ll never find another one with a special provenance like this one, it sounds like you already have a great ‘stang with your own unique provenance.
There is something about fixing up an old classic that’s akin to turning back the clock. Since we humans can’t do that, it’s a bit of a vicarious transference in doing it for an old car. And just like aging humans with too much plastic surgery, there’s something disingenuous about a pristinely, perfecetly restored car. As a curbivore, I’m much more impressed by those who put the effort and life into a car themselves. So I don’t think a car like this one needs a frame-off show-car restoration to be properly enjoyed.
Decent ’63-’65 Rivieras can still be had for not much more than $12,900? Unless we have vastly varying definitions of decent, sign me up!
We probably do. I’m fine with average paint and a non-detailed undercarriage. The last one I almost bought was $9500 back in 2013, and it was a pretty nice #3 car, maybe a 3-. They’ve gone up a little since then (but not a tremendous amount).
Awesome, love the car but I’ve already dealt with a terminally rusty convertible. Older and wiser me bought the 2007 version of this car for less that half the ask for this 65. Sure it’s not as cool, but it didn’t need anything either.
I’d like to do another restoration in my retirement, but not on a really rusty car.
Wow, I wasn’t aware they used real cars in the ride, that’s a brilliant (perhaps) idea. I learned something new today. Very interesting car, the premium over a standard car doesn’t seem to be very great either in the grand scheme of things and would be a very unique point of ownership.
Cool find, thanks for sharing!
In the summer of 64 my oldest sister was traveling to Norway for a year as an exchange student. My family would drive to NYC, where we would see my sister off, and consequently also visit The World’s Fair. The day before my sister was to leave, my family FINALLY made it to Flushing. I had been dreaming about seeing the Mustang and hopefully riding in one (I guess I figured that half the cars on The Magic Skyway would be Mustangs) since finding out my sister would leave from NYC. We got to within sighting distance of The Ford Pavilion when my sister started to feel quite ill. It was, after all, a very hot day. Anyway, got close enough that we could almost see the cars but never got there. I was a bit upset, but the cars were in showrooms, and it was a hot day.
Thirty years later I would finally buy a Mustang, but would sell it back to the guy I bought it from when I realized that I didn’t have the funds to do a good restoration on it.
This reminds me of a cousin who bought and comletely renovated one of those old homes that you could mail order from Sears. It was a lot of work (he had to pore a new concrete basement wall and tore the interior down to the studs) and the effort turned out well, but it was still a small, old house that, honestly, didn’t seem that terrific, and the fact that it was a Sears house didn’t make it anymore valuable, to me.
This Skyway Mustang would seem to fall into the same category. Yeah, it was used at the Mustang’s introduction at the World’s Fair. Does that make it special enough to charge a premium? Maybe to someone, but not to me (particularly since it’s just a six/automatic drivetrain). At least it’s a convertible but for a weekend cruiser, as many others have said, it’d be a whole lot easier (and probably cheaper) to just hunt up an old Mustang convertible that’s already in decent shape.
But I must admit, I actually kind of like the old Falcon pointer-and-scale strip speedometer as opposed to the later, more sporting round gauges.
Instead of an exchange of world cultures, the fair was an exchange of manufacturing and technology, with corporations such as General Motors and Ford taking the place of the countries of the world.
That confirms you weren’t there. 🙂
Although the ’64-’65 NY World’s Fair wasn’t officially sanctioned by the international governing agency, still some 80 countries participated. I have vivid memories of us wandering through the international areas, going into numerous pavilions, including the Austria pavilion and the very moving Vatican pavilion, which featured the Pieta, which was a big deal to ship to the US. I can still see the Pieta in my mind’s eye.
Admittedly large corporations had the big exhibits, but then that was the stated real focus of the fair. But this was nothing new; the ’39-’40 NY World’s Fair was essentially the same, although corporations actually spent more (in adjusted dollars) in ’39 than ’64. The corporate exhibits in ’39 were completely unprecedented and over the top. And only 54 countries participated in ’39-’40.
In essence, the ’64 -’65 Fair was an attempt to repeat the ’39-’40 Fair, although not quite as ambitious: a grand display of technological and corporate feats, along with a reasonably healthy dose of international cultural exchange.
We were at the fair for only one day, which really limited the number of big exhibits one could see, since the lines were atrocious (in August of ’64). We got into the GM and IBM exhibits, but sadly, there was no time for the Ford. But I did watch the cars coming out of the building and on the track, including this black Mustang. I remember vividly. 🙂
Yeah, I missed it…just wasn’t born yet. 🙂
Since the IBE didn’t sign off on the ’64/5 fair, a lot of smaller countries decided to participate, and thus got more attention than if the larger countries would have participated. I have my grandpa’s old photo albums from the ’39 fair (he spent summers in New York with an aunt and uncle), and most of his pictures are from the industrial pavilions.
Regarding your comment on Michelangelo’s Pieta, I believe the World’s Fair was the only time it ever left Italy (or the Vatican anyway).
Great story. My friend had a ’64-1/2 Mustang when we were in HS in the ’70s. He bought it cheap from the original owner. Super neat car. But fast forward to now and I would also spend my pretend money on SAAB 96s and Volvo P1800s.
I once met the original owner of a “Fair” car. At the time he was a Ford employee. The car had visible Skway provisions beneath, but I can’t recall exactly what they were.
As I recall – he said the car was built complete as a typical production car. However, he said that there was no engine or trans in the car during Skyway duty. I’m not sure if the power train was never installed or if it was removed for the Skway conversion. After its Fair duty the car was returned to Dearborn and the (an?) original power train was then (re?) installed,.
Now powered and made roadworthy the car was offered for sale on Ford’s own private sales lot near headquarters, not a dealership. He said he bought the car from the Ford sales lot. It seems like he said he had some added employee privilege in making the purchase.
On another Fair note, in the years following I recall more than a few vehicles that carried the story “we bought it new before a trip to the Fair”
One I recall was a ’64 Cadillac convertible. Another was a motorcycle. After the Fair trip the motorcycle was hardly used again.
Interesting Mustang. My thought is that the days of folks who “get” The Fair are passed and that. the special provenance would no longer justify a cost-be-damned restoration. Again, my opinion – waiting here to be proven wrong.
I’m afraid you’re right. I would think that 20 years ago this car would have sold pretty quickly for the original asking price.
Yeah, that was my thought too. I think that this car needs a guy like Jay Leno. It just wouldn’t make financial sense for most of us.
The writing’s on the wall, or in the post counts:
Sighting of an ’86 Taurus wagon… 1352 replies.
Original World’s Fair Mustang… 16 replies.
LOL
Ha ha, I guess it’s time for me to finally join the ’80s. 🙂
The Mustangs are described as retaining their powertrains for use on the ride, unlike the bigger cars which did have that removed, also, the “radio” controlled a battery-operated 4-track player: https://performance.ford.com/enthusiasts/newsroom/2017/04/skyway-mustang-.html
Interesting details. Excuse my ignorance but presumably being “towed” for all that distance over the course of a season didn’t have any effect on the automatic transmissions? I might have assumed they would want manuals for that reason.
They may have removed the driveshafts, but I think they were only being towed along at a crawl, so they may not have bothered.
My first flight ever was to New York (from St. Louis) to attend the World’s Fair. I vividly recall riding through the Magic Skyway, and while I’ve always remembered the car as a Mustang to be honest I cannot be completely sure.
I do recall that the radio station buttons changed the language of the narration.
The radio language changer is a clever touch. Imagine if someone had a car with that apparatus still working. That, alone, would be worth something.
I went to the Fair in the summer of 1964 with my cousin and we had a wonderful time. I think we went for maybe four days and spent the rest of the week being tourists in NYC.
I did want to ride the Magic Skyway but the lines were always absurdly long.
Curious provenance, not really sure if it’s worth the premium but one could hardly call you a flipper Aaron.
Riv is my preferred, and that magic number 65 comes with hidden headlights.
The story of these cars and their extensive modifications is fascinating to me, and I found the following article by Googling:
https://performance.ford.com/enthusiasts/newsroom/2017/04/skyway-mustang-.html
I’d love to add this one to my collection (especially now that I have the garage space and shop facilities). Then I realize the same thing that Aaron did: The purchase price and the amount of restoration involved makes it an equation that doesn’t even come close to adding up. My hope is that someone takes it on as a labor of love – or as a curiosity – and that it’s not left to rot even further.
I remember the Ford Skyway, I wasn’t allowed to go near any of the transportation exhibits.
I can’t remember much about the international exhibits other than they were all so different from America at the time .
Not all who ‘get’ and/or visited the 1964 World’s Fair are gone yet .
-Nate