"I raced one"

Roy Pierpoint
This amiable all-rounder won the 1965 British Saloon Car title with V8 power and still prefers the Mustang to other Detroit iron

“I got into Mustangs through Alan Mann. We ran a garage together selling all sorts of stuff before he went off to become a Ford agent. Anyway, the Mustang was a surprisingly nice car, much nicer than I had expected. It had no real vices other than it didn’t stop very well, but you soon got used to that. There were a lot of good drivers out in Mustangs that year and Sir Gawaine Baillie, Mike Salmon and Jack Brabham pushed me hard, although Jack was penalised at the end of the season. Alan Brown ran his car and I seem to remember it was found to have illegal valve gear. I know it really upset Jack when he found out.

“I preferred the Mustang to the Falcons although under the Group 5 regs we developed the Falcons that much more. I certainly felt the Mustang was a better car than the Camaro, although the Bill Shaw Chevy I drove later on wasn’t very well built so that may have clouded my view. As for my ’65 championship-winning Mustang, that was comprehensively destroyed after we’d sold it. The owner had a heart attack on the way into Woodcote at Silverstone and demolished it. Anyone who says otherwise, or claims to own it… Well, I know the truth!”