While there is rarely a time without car shows in Florida, as spring breaks there seems to be extra incentive to kick the tires and light the fires. Enthusiasts spiff up their rides and head to caffeinated morning meets, informal evening cruise-ins, and myriad local car shows. There is no shortage of options, but we focus on those gatherings dedicated to Mustangs.
InApril, Jarrett-GordonFord in Davenport,Florida, hosted its 4th Annual Mustang & All-Ford-Powered Car &Truck Show. While it is open to all Blue Oval machines, the show attracts a strong turnout of Mustangs from all eras. This year’s show benefitted Honor Flight, which helped send a local veteran to Washington, D.C. to “share in a day of honor at our nation’s memorials.”
While the show awarded dash plaques to the Top 30 rides as well as the Best of Show, were onsite to curate our favorite Mustangs from the field.With a wide array of pony cars from all eras on the property, this was no small task. However, we narrowed our selections down to fivef avorites, but there were plenty of other worthy rides as you can see in our photo gallery.
Jarrett-Gordon hosts this show annually, so if you missed it this year check out the dealership’s social media presence to see when it will take place in 2024. Until then, check out our picks from the show or make your own choices from the full gallery of Mustangs.
A big-bodied ’Stang provided one of this author’s formative Mustang experiences, so this ’72 Mustang Mach 1 brought back some great memories. This red example sports an automatic transmission and airconditioning, but it was its nicely preserved presentation that made it stand out from the crowd.
When it comes to Mustangs, it’s difficult to go wrong with any model from the 1969 model year. At the Jarrett-Gordon Davenport show Ronand Gwen Larmore’s pristine ’69 Mach 1 is a total time machine,which grabbed our attention.
On the modern end of the scale, the cars were considerably more modified. A case in point was Nathan Comeford’s 2017 Mustang GT stood out thanks to its low-slung Air Lift suspension. It also benefitted from TSP headers, a Corsa exhaust, and a variety of appearance mods, including a painted engine, a chin spoiler, and more.
Speaking of modified, James Klebs’ 2011 Mustang GT carried several modifications that made it stand out from the crowd both in appearance and performance. The Candy Red paint and glass roof were eye-catchers, but one look at the twin turbos under the hood and this author was sold.
What is not to love about a 2020 Shelby GT500? In particular, Frank and Dawn Arieno’s example is equipped with the Golden Ticket option —the Carbon Fiber Track Pack. It also benefits from a Jokerz-ported supercharger, a JLT cold-air intake, and the full complement of Anderson Composites carbon fiber upgrades, which match nicely with Tethe factory exposed-carbon wheels.
