What do Jim Morrison, Jay Leno and Bill Clinton all have in common? Besides being famous, they all own or have owned a Ford Mustang. This only further demonstrates the immense popularity of the pony car and the impact it has had on popular culture in America. These, of course, are not the only celebrities to own a Mustang but the these three do represent a somewhat broad spectrum of owners, one a politician, one a comedian and the other a rock god.
The story of Jim Morrison’s 1967 Nightmist Blue Shelby GT500 is shrouded in mystery. Given to him as a gift from Electra Records, is missing to this day and no one even know how or when the car was lost. One story is The Doors front man parked the car at the airport in Los Angeles before going on tour and it was towed and sold at auction never to be seen again. Another tale suggest that Morrison wrapped it around a telephone pole and then wondered off to a bar. When he returned later in the night it was gone.
Jay Leno’s 1965 Shelby Mustang GT 350 is only one of many rare and unique vehicles the late night talk show host owns. The muscle car was purchased by Leno twenty years ago for an undisclosed sum and is an original, #120 out of 562 models produced, with a new transmission and two pod gauges being the only changes he made to the car. It is said that Leno drives a different car to work every day. There is a great video on YouTube where Leno talks about his favorite Mustangs with his favorite being the most recent edition, which features the first ever independent suspension.
Bill Clinton’s 1967 Clearwater Aqua Mustang convertible can currently be found in the The Museum of Automobiles located in Morrilton, Arkansas but it is widely known that before becoming President, he and his family would regularly take the car out for a drive while wearing their old Hot Springs High School letterman jackets and sweaters. The Clearwater Blue with 120 hp 200-cubic inch I-6 engine and automatic transmission was first purchased by Clinton’s father in 1972 for Bill’s younger brother Roger. Clinton said the hardest thing to leave behind once being elected President of the United States in 1992 was, of course, his Ford Mustang.