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OGDEN — It is one of the most desired cars of all time — the 1965 Mustang — and Ogden residents Alan and Jeanie Hall were the proud owners of one.
“We had this desire to have this fun little car, the ’65 Mustang, which was just a beautiful thing,” Alan Hall said.
The Halls enjoyed the car for years and treasure the memories made.
“Kids not having safety belts driving that car, gas that was only 20 cents a gallon,” he reminisced.
Eventually they decided to pass the car and memories on to their six children.
“The very first son out of six children, if he got good grades then he could drive the Mustang,” Hall said.
Eventually, each of the kids had their turn with the car, driving it on dates as well as to school and creating even more memories all along the way.
“There are memories of a daughter who sort of missed a post in a parking lot of the school,” Hall said.
“Of course it had wear and tear, and after 25 years of driving that Mustang, eventually it sort of fell apart,” he added.
So the Halls started thinking about what they could do with the car they so dearly loved.
“Then we thought, ‘What should we do with it? Restore it?’ And we thought, 'No, let’s give it to the sheriff,' ” he said.
The Halls approached Sheriff Terry Thompson of the Weber County Sheriff’s Office about the car.
“We have been looking for a nice car that we could restore for the sheriff’s office for a drug awareness car,” Thompson said.
The prized ‘65 Mustang became property of the sheriff, but the restoration process didn't begin right away.
“It took the county sheriff’s department a while before they actually could come up with the money to get it restored,” Hall said. “It sat a little bit in the garage.”
“We were looking at the car and figuring out what we could do to finally get this restoration job done,” said Thompson.
Then members of the community stepped up to get the process rolling. A restoration company donated time, labor and resources, working alongside the sheriff's office as the process continued.
“We talked, for example, for about three months about what color it would be,” Thompson said.
Other companies also pitched in, donating tires, the sound system, lights and decals.
“It was really a collective community effort putting this car together. It was really a collaboration of great businesses in Weber County,” Thompson said.
Now the car is once again the prized ‘65 Mustang it once was, but with a completely different purpose. Today the car travels to elementary schools around the county as part of the Nova program to help kids learn the dangers of using drugs.
“We cover the drugs and the violence and those things,” Thompson said. “But hey, also life is about making good choices, and this car is just another way to impress that on the kids.”
Even though it is supposed to be impressing the kids, it catches the attention of the big kids, too.
“Everywhere I go, I’ll stop to get gas and I’m there for an hour, because I’ve got everybody coming up to me saying, ‘Oh, what year is that?’ ” Thompson added.
It has earned the approval of its original owner.
“It’s prettier than it was originally,” Hall said.
The car is built for show, but it has everything needed to be a working police car. However, it has never been used for that purpose.
