Eric Wardlaw’s 1990 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 Notchback “Crusty”
Eric Wardlaw’s Mustang Story:
“When I was 7 years old, my Great-Aunt Grace showed up to a family gathering in her brand-new 1990 Ford Mustang LX 5.0. Grace was an interesting woman. During the height of World War II, she worked as a typist for the United States Department of War. During the Cold War, she held a similar role in the FBI. Later, when I was a kid, she worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority. It only made sense that she would drive a cool car. I was obsessed with my great-aunt’s Mustang, and when I turned 16, I asked her if I could buy it. I’m glad she turned me down, because I was pretty crazy as a kid. I probably would have totaled it.
My relationship with Grace and her Mustang continued as I got older. When I was getting my degree in automotive service technology, she occasionally had me drive from Memphis to her home in Red Bay, Alabama, to fix her Ford. Grace enjoyed the car for 190,000 miles before she passed away in 2012.
The Mustang sat for four years without being run or moved before I took ownership. Luckily, Grace regularly put Sea Foam fuel additive in the tank, which kept the fuel tank and lines from rotting, and parked the car under a covered spot, which protected the paint and trim from sun damage. But when I came to pick up the car with a U-Haul, it was covered in green mold and carpenter bee poop. My wife referred to the Mustang as a “crusty piece of …” and the name Crusty stuck …”
https://www.hagerty.com/media/member-stories/meet-crusty-my-great-aunts-1990-mustang-lx-5-0/
(photo credit: Jordan Fry / Hagerty.com)
