Featured Car of the Month
Julie and Wayne Innamorato’s 1966 Coupe

When the first Mustang came out in 1964 I really thought they were cool. I'd talk with my friends and we'd talk about the different colors. I always wanted a yellow one with a black vinyl top. But since I wasn't old enough to drive in 1964 it was only a dream and so I'd talk to my girl friends on my Princess phone and we'd just dream. I was starting to not be so interested in Barbie dolls and more interested in Steve McQueen and Paul Newman and driving. As a kid it seemed one of the things we did on the weekends was take a drive somewhere. Those trips were fun when I was younger but as I got older they were a bit boring. One Sunday morning in 1966 my Dad said we were taking a ride to Half Moon Bay -- I really didn't want to go but he insisted, so Mom, Dad and myself piled into Mom's 1962 T-Bird. We drove for what seemed like an eternity and when we finally got to Half Moon Bay we pulled into Frank Laney's Ford dealership because my Dad said he wanted to look at the cars.

I was a little excited because I really liked the Mustang although the long boring drive home was on my mind. Anyway, in the center of the showroom was a 1966 Yellow Mustang with a black vinyl top that was the best looking car I'd ever seen. My Dad said what do you think of this car and of course I was so excited I don't remember what I said -- but what he said next I've always remembered and that was "how would you like to drive it home?" I stammered and stuttered and said huh? And Dad said it was ours -- he had ordered it a few months ago. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I’ll tell you this -- the drive home was anything but boring. What a blast!!! My Dad ordered the car pretty much as you see it today -- it is yellow with a black vinyl top, pony interior, factory air, front disc brakes and of course an AM radio. I got to drive the car a lot and on some of my trips I’d take my dog, Mandy (a French Poodle), which is a whole story in its own but anyway she’d sit in between the two front seat as smug as could be. I’m pretty sure she enjoyed the car as much as I did. It was a daily driver of my Dads until he passed away in 1985 at which time my Mom gave it to me. My husband, Wayne, drove it daily until about 1992 until he got company car and then it was garaged and driven occasionally. We’ve rebuilt the engine and transmission, replaced the front end stuff, replaced the springs, replaced the vinyl top and a couple of years ago replaced the original 2 barrel carb with an Edelbrock 4 barrel. We also changed the rims and tires to a more sporty version that was available in the 60’s. Within the past couple of months we had the seats reupholstered. The car was built in Milpitas, still has the original plates (you can see the stack of stickers on the rear plate) and I think the spare tire is the original. I don’t do any of the work on the car but I do still drive it and I have to tell you there is nothing better than driving my 1966 Mustang on a summer night with all of the windows down. It was recently one of the cars featured in the Hot San Jose Nights advertisement poster.

Julie Innamorato and Wayne