There were a lot of bright smiles Thursday morning when the details were announced on how Harry Phillips will be reunited with the first-ever Mustang sold — sold by him in St. John's more than 50 years ago.
It was nine-years in the making, but Phillips and his granddaughter Stephanie Mealey will be travelling to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., on Sept. 27 to see the 1964 Mustang he sold to airline pilot Stanley Tucker in April 1964.
St. John’s Mayor Danny Breen made the announcement at the Guv’Nor Inn and Pub on Elizabeth Avenue; along with the NL Mustangs club, who have lobbied for this event to happen since 2010.
“This is a day I’ll never forget,’’ Phillips told the crowd of family and friends gathered for the announcement.
“It was a long time coming, something I never thought I’d see. This has revived a lot of interest (in the car) and I am thrilled to be making the trip,’’ he added.
The social media campaign initiative — #SendHarryToHenry — was started by his granddaughter, Stephanie Mealey, who enlisted one of her friends that was social media savvy to get the message across a number of formats.
“She’s the smartest young lady around and I’m proud to make this trip with her. She can look after me, get me around, as my old legs aren’t as good as they used to be,’’ Phillips said of his granddaughter.
“I always wanted to see 001 again, and to do it with my first grandchild, 001, is special,’’ he added.
The goal was to get Phillips to the museum before his 85th birthday which falls on Dec. 28 and they will beat that by several months.
“I always wanted to see this happen for him so after hearing Scott (Halliday) issue the challenge at Wheels for Wishes a few months back, I took the challenge,’’ Mealey said.
“I had never done anything like this before, but once we got it started, people liked it, people shared it and now we are both proud this is going to happen,’’ she added.
Phillips started his sales career at George G.R. Parsons Ltd. on Elizabeth Avenue in St. John’s in 1959. His laid-back approach was refreshing to customers and as he settled into the industry, the customers started to come back to him on a regular basis.
Scott Halliday of NL Mustangs said a number of people deserve credit for making this happen. The process involved Ken Flynn who wrote a letter alerting The Henry Ford Museum of the desire to reunite Phillips with the car that has become known as 001, and the three local business people (Carl Hamlyn, Derrick Aylward and Chris Griffiths) who stepped up as financiers to make it happen.
In fact, Aylward and Hamlyn are neighbours, and they had several extended conversations about making this happen.
“The most important thing was to make this dream happen for Harry,’’ Aylward said.
Hamlyn echoed those sentiments saying the sale of that car is a big piece of automotive history for Newfoundland and Labrador. He was one of the founding members of the N.L. Antique Car Club back in 1980.
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