Robin Paulsell's 84 1/2 GT350 20th Anniversary Edition Convertible |
When you think of rare Mustangs, a 1984 Converti-ble isn’t usually on your short list! However if you do the research you will find that there were only 587 1984 20th Anniversary Edi-tion GT350 5 speed 5.0 HO Convertibles built and ac-cording to the Registry fewer than 200 are still known to be in existence. Last year an extremely low mileage original owner one sold at auction for $70,000. So how does one go about finding one of these cars? Well I found mine sitting at a corner gas station in Concord California with a for sale sign on the window! With just under 60,000 original miles, the wrong wheels, and showing a little wear it was by no means that $70,000 auction car but it was a one owner 95% original car and priced within my budget. When I met the owner (a retired surgeon from Walnut Creek) naturally I asked why he was selling the car, which brought out the history of the car. Purchased on May 8th 1984 from Manhattan Ford Lincoln Mercury in the heart of New York City, the car was tucked away in the basement and came with a premium price tag. Dr. Cohen had been searching for a 20th Anniversary Mustang for his son Jay’s 16th birthday present for over a month and heard Manhattan Ford had one. The deal was done and after the addition of power door locks, a hidden Fox radar detector, and a Viper car alarm Jay Cohen had his first car. Jay drove the car through the remainder of High School and brought it out to Cali-fornia with him when he began attending college at UC Berkeley, the family had homes in both New York and San Francisco since Dr. Joel (what everyone called his father) taught at NYU and UCSF. Upon graduating Cal with a BS degree in 1990 Jay got a new Porsche 911 and parked the Mustang with around 50,000 miles on it. Somewhere along the way Jay had upgraded the car from its original 14” aluminum wheels and tires to 15” 10-hole GT wheels and Goodyear Gatorback tires. The Mustang still carrying its second set of personalized New York plates (GT TOY) was put in storage with DR. Joel’s other cars (mostly Rolls Royce). For the next 26 years Dr. Joel would go down to storage once a month and take the Mustang out to stretch its legs driving only 9,000 miles during that time, hence the reason for the low mileage. Oh yeah, back to the original question. Why was he now after lovingly caring for the car for 26 years selling the car? Simple, now in his 80’s Dr. Joel was having a hard time driving the car with the clutch and didn’t want it to just sit and rot away! We made the deal and I trailered the car home that day. |