Rare 'She Country' Ford Mustang designed for women up for auction
A rare 'She Country' Ford Mustang is going up for auction. Designed by a woman for women, this ‘Stang was not just a sell out hit but a marketing marvel.
Talk about girl power.
Bill Goodro passed away in 1965, (Denver Post via Getty Images)
In 1965, Ann Goodro took over the Denver Ford dealership her husband ran when he became ill and suffered an untimely death. Not everyone approved.
Ann Goodro became the first woman president of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association. (Denver Post via Getty Images)
Some of the folks in the industry didn’t think a woman should be running a car business and gave her a hard time about it, but she’s the one who showed them how it's done.
Back then, the Colorado Ford dealers were offering a special edition Ski Country Mustang, and Goodro outsold them all, according to Mustang historian Kevin Marti. Then she turned things up a notch.
(Mecum Auctions)
Playing off the name of the car, Goodro created her own line of She Country Mustangs, by ordering 48 cars finished in the “feminine” special order colors of Limelite Green, Bermuda Sand, Evening Orchard, and Autumn Smoke and then adding a personalized plate with the customer’s name on the dashboard. That’s about all that was different from the standard ‘Stangs, but it worked. The cars were both a sales and marketing success for the store.
(Mecum Auctions)
Goodro went on to become the first woman president of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association and also served on the Ford Dealer Advertising Board. She ran the dealership until 1982 and died in 2016 at age 93.
(Mecum Auctions)
Her legacy lives on in the surviving She Country cars, however, and one is coming up for sale at the Mecum Auctions event in Chicago on Oct 26. It’s an unrestored example of one of the dozen Evening Orchard cars that were produced. The notchback coupe features a vinyl top, air conditioning automatic transmission and its original 390 cubic-inch big-block V8 with just 42,000 miles on it.
(Mecum Auctions)
It shows a little wear and tear and corrosion and is missing the nameplate, but is in very good condition and still has the Goodro Ford sticker on the rear bumper. A typical Mustang in a similar configuration might be worth $30,000 to $50,000, but its rarity should add a certain cache as it rolls across the block in Chicago.
