The saying goes “Waiting is the hardest part,” and if you ever doubted the truth in that aphorism, just talk to Natasha “Mustang Marie” De Melis.
Calling De Melis a “Mustang enthusiast” is like calling the Pope “an ardent Catholic.” The 31-year-old eats, lives, and breathes Mustang, both professionally – until recently, she worked for Ford’s social media team – and in her free time, running her own “Mustang Marie” website, Facebook, and Instagram pages.
She’s spent hours upon hours digging through Ford’s corporate archives; has met, interviewed, and befriended many of the big names in the Mustang world, including the pony car’s now-late stylist, Gale Halderman; and has even memorized the options and VIN-code breakdowns for most first-gens. Yes, give her the serial number of your ’66 hardtop, and she’ll tell you off the top of her head where it was built, and with what engine and features.
And yet, despite bleeding Ford Blue and having been presented over and over again the opportunity, De Melis made a conscious choice not to drive any Mustang until it was a car she owned herself, deciding she’d rather save that first time for, well, the one.
That made for a lot of drawn-out, torturous anticipation of the sort that proved waiting is the hardest part. Fortunately, De Melis is waiting no longer. A Mustang of her own finally showed up in her driveway October 2019, a 1967 GT fastback she’s nicknamed “Raven” for its Raven Black paint.
The car is not only basically the most desirable spec for a non-Shelby ’67 – with a gorgeous red interior to offset the black; red rocker panel stripes; and a 390-4V V8 underhood mounted to a four-speed Top-Loader manual – it’s also perfect for a Mustang nerd like de Melis since the car is entirely original.
With less than 50,000 miles on the odometer when she acquired it, Raven boasts the original interior upholstery, its original never-rebuilt drivetrain, and, yes, believe it or not, the original Raven Black paint all over, the very same lacquer laid down by Ford assembly workers in 1967. Every minor fix De Melis has had to make so far has been with factory or factory-appearing parts so Raven can keep those time-capsule looks up, too.
It may have been hard, but was it worth the wait? You bet. Unsurprisingly, De Melis is all but married to Raven and is looking forward to catching up on some of the missed miles from those passed-on opportunities in the gorgeous fastback. She’s now free to drive all those other Mustangs she turned down, too, of course. But why would she when has a black ’67 survivor of her own?
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December 17, 2020 at 07:49PM
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This 1967 Ford Mustang GT, 'Raven,' is an all-original survivor in the best spec - Driving
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