[JudisStang]

Wild horses wouldn't drag them away from this show



Ryan Bolton

Published on Jul 27, 2008

It is just one of those things that mothers shake their heads at.
"I like horsepower," said Steve Mason, 50. "The feeling of stepping on it and being thrown back in the seat and squealing the tires and boom, off you go."
Since he was 20, Mason has been fine-tuning, racing and collecting the "affordable muscle car" with the iconic horse emblem -- The Ford Mustang.



Mason is a member of the Golden Horseshoe Mustang Association (GHMA) which is hosting the No Borders InterNationals Mustang Show next weekend (Aug. 1-3) in Oakville.



BIG MUSTANG SHOW
The show is part of the Mustang Club of America's (MCA) national show series and, for the first time, will be taking place on the Canadian side of the border, hence the show's title.
"It's the largest Mustang club in the world (the MCA) and if it isn't, it probably rivals other car clubs, period," said George O'Hearn, vice president and show committee co-chair of the GHMA.
Being touted as the biggest all-year Mustang show ever held in Canada, the local GHMA club couldn't be anymore giddy.
"It's a big honour for our club to hold the first ever Mustang Club of America national show held outside the borders of the U.S. That's a really big deal," said Mason, a longtime Burlington resident and owner of a '73 Mustang Mach 1 and a 1994 Mustang GT, modified with a Vortech Supercharger.



Close to 500 'stangs ranging in years from 1964 -- their introductory year -- to the redesigned 2008 models will assemble from around North America to show off their muscle and be judged at Ford's central office facility in Oakville.



"So the 'no borders' obviously denoting (it's international), because of the number of Americans who are coming to the show," said Mason. "We have people coming from Halifax, Florida, Texas, all over the Midwest, Ohio, Michigan, New York State and Pennsylvania..."



It's going to be a big car show, according to O'Hearn who mentioned that three local host hotels are booked solid for the first weekend of August.



According to Mason, the local Mustang lovers are going to be the one's who are going to miss out, because with 370 Mustangs pre-registered a week in advance, many might be in trouble when they arrive to register the day of the event.



Having been a member of the GHMA for the past nine years, Mason got his start with Mustangs after buying a "really awful coloured" lime green '73 Mustang coupe. Over the years, he fine-tuned it, boosted its horsepower and eventually dropped in an $8,000 race motor - he bought the car originally for $2,000. He then raced the car competitively at Cayuga Speedway.



"You drive a car that's quick and six months later it doesn't' feel quick anymore because you're used to it," said Mason expressing the need to continually upgrade the car.



The best part of a Mustang and why there is such a vast number of Mustang-aficionados (the MCA has 11,000 members), Mason asserts, is the Mustang was, and still is, an affordable yet powerful vehicle.



"Mustangs for me was every man's car," he said. "These aren't expensive cars to buy... for a fast, convertible, sexy looking car."
Every June, the GHMA holds its Mustangs at Mosport event where the group members bring out their tuned machines to a 2.5 mile grand prix racetrack at Mosport International Speedway to see what their cars can really do. "It's like driving a country road with banked curves with no speed limit," said Mason.



The No Borders InterNationals Mustang Show is open only to Mustangs, however a Cruise Night at Hopedale Mall in Oakville Friday evening will welcome Mustangs as well as all makes of classics and cruisers from the 1940s, '50s, '60s and '70s.



A Friday night mixer is sold out and tickets are selling quickly for the show's grand banquet at Otello's Banquet Hall, where more than 200 guests will hear from guest speaker Jim Kenzie, automotive writer for the Toronto Star.



The show is free for spectators, as is parking on site.



On Friday, registration will begin at 8 a.m. and the day's events will include Mary Jean's Mystery Cruise, vendor set up, classification and the mixer. On Saturday, there will again be registration, vendors, judging and the banquet. On Sunday, the show will wrap up with judging and an awards ceremony at noon.
--With files from Angela Blackburn.