This one Choked me up.........................



A Mustang Wish Come True
By Chris Kassab

DEARBORN, June 15, 2005 (FCN) -- It was one of those rare, unforgettable moments. There were smiles, and there were tears. There was joy, and there was sadness. And in the midst of it all, there was a bright red 1967 Mustang.
Fifty-five-year-old Rick Moor bought the Mustang three years ago because he liked dabbling with cars. It was a hobby that he enjoyed, and this particular car would be a real challenge.

“It was a shell on wheels,” recalled Moor’s wife Karen.

Moor’s plan was to restore the Mustang back to its original glory and then present it to his 26-year-old daughter, Shauna, as a gift on her wedding day.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans. At the end of March, Moor got sick. A visit to the family doctor led to a battery of tests, and when the results came in, the news was heartbreaking.

“Rick had lung cancer,” said Karen Moor, choking back tears. “It had spread to his adrenal glands, lymph nodes and bones.”

The prognosis was grim, but through it all, Moor never stopped wishing that he could finish the Mustang for his daughter. He knew that he might not have the chance to walk his daughter down the aisle, but he was determined to give her the car. A Detroit television station learned of Moor’s situation and aired his story hoping that someone could help. The news spread. Before long, Moor’s story reached Ford Motor Company.

When Ford Restoration Licensing Manager Dennis Mondrach heard about Moor and his wish, he knew that he wanted to help.

“I called Mike Berardi in Ford Customer Service and I said, ‘If you can recruit some volunteers that know how to hang parts, I’ll come up with the parts,’” recalled Mondrach.

Berardi and Mondrach made arrangements to meet at Moor’s home in Brighton, Mich., to see the car.

“When we met Rick and looked at the car, we both decided, ‘Let’s do it,’” said Berardi, customer service engineering manager at Ford Customer Service Division (FCSD). “My father passed away from cancer, and I never really had a chance to help him. This was an opportunity for me to help somebody else.”

“I don’t think there’s anyone around whose family hasn’t been touched by cancer. I’ve lost several members of my family,” said Mondrach. “When people ask, ‘Why would you want to do this?’ the answer is pretty simple. Pay it forward. We don’t expect anything in return. You just hope that if it ever happens to you…” His voice cracked with emotion and was unable to finish the sentence.

It didn’t take long for Mondrach and Berardi to assemble a group of FCSD volunteers to work on the project. The core team included Warren Johnson, owner information manager; Santos Rivera, Service Labor Time Standards analyst; Al Rocker, field operations manager; Dave McClain, technical training manager; and Paul Garcia, product concern engineer. They moved the car to Berardi’s garage and worked on it together almost every night.

Mondrach contacted some of the registered Ford licensees who are licensed to sell or manufacture parts for vintage Ford vehicles. They donated more than $7,000 in parts and the Ford volunteers took it from there.

“We basically restored it from the ground up,” said Berardi. “It had an engine and a transmission sitting in it, and it was painted. That’s about it. We took care of the rest.”

After seven weeks, the labor of love was complete and the moment had arrived.

Moor’s eyes welled up when he saw the red Ford pickup truck pull into his driveway with a large red trailer in tow. His hands clutched his walker as he stood poised inside his garage with his wife and daughter by his side. All of the people who worked on the car were there too. It was a hot, humid summer day, and rain was drizzling on the pavement.

When the trailer door opened, the silence was palpable. Then, there was the sound of the Mustang’s engine revving.

“Thank you to everybody,” said Moor, struggling to speak through his tears. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” His final wish of presenting the restored Mustang to his daughter as a wedding gift was coming true.

Despite his weakened state, Moor made his way to the driver’s seat.

“Take it for a spin around the block,” the group called out in unison.

With his daughter watching tearfully in the driveway and his wife in the seat beside him, Moor stared in marvel at the car. As he backed out of the driveway, he gave a “thumbs up” sign to all of those who had worked so hard to make his dream come true.

It was an unforgettable moment. There was joy. There was sadness. And in the midst of it all, there was a bright red 1967 Mustang.

 

Dang...bittersweet.

 

good story.... i just always wonder about how sincere corporations like that are in wanting to help someone. They just got MASSIVE good publicity from this. You can't BUY that kind of word of mouth...certainly not for $7K worth of free parts!

Nice to see people helping though no matter what their real intentions are.


p.s. I have a nice 67 Mustang GT in my garage now...maybe they'll come and fix it for me someday.

 

Pay attention Matt. Ford didn't donate any parts. The people who donated the parts were shops licenced to manufacture vintage Ford parts. It seems to me that this wasn't a corporate venture at all. They worked at night, it was all volunteer, and the parts were donated by independent companies. Maybe something was left out of the text, but it sounds pretty sincere to me.

 

thats why I added my second line.... I'm just growing very synical of the world we live in.

 

Haha, you sure as hell are. Must be your old age.

 

Ha ha...