MIRROR-FINISH MUSTANGS

You’d have to think entering a brace of 1969 fastbacks in the same colour would be worthy of a few extra style points for the Auckland Mustang Owners Club, but no, these cars had to win the Teams Event at the Intermarque Concours d’Elegance on their combined individual merits.

There’s no doubt they make a striking pair in the popular Acapulco Blue colour but the appreciative eye soon turns to an entertaining game of spot the difference. There are quite a few to be found. In fact, it’s almost surprising they look so similar, given the long list of options available to Ford buyers 50 years ago and the personalization that owners make over the intervening decades.

Both cars have undergone a bare-metal restoration and in each case most of the work was done by aircraft engineers. One of these cars has been a restoration project for 32 years. It was completed just weeks before the New Zealand Classic Car Magazine Ellerslie Classic Car Show. A fresh restoration does give a car an edge in the cleanliness stakes — a fundamental element of concours success. The longest drive Mark Pritchard’s car had undertaken since he finished it was off the trailer and into the competition circle — Mark feeling each ping of gravel in the wheel wells like a physical blow.

POINT SCORING

That Chris Dwen’s car scored just six fewer points in the