The Ford Mustang: Celebrating 50 Years of Automotive Excellence

Posted on April 2, 2013

Photography by Paul Lomax (@PaulLomaxPhoto)

How do you celebrate 50 years of American automotive excellence?

Well, if you are the Ford Motor Company then you put together a shindig/shrine at the Milk Gallery dedicated to the incomparable Mustang and it’s illustrious pedigree. The event was a kick-off to a year-long anniversary celebration of all things Mustang.

On April 17^th 2014, the Ford Mustang will become the newest member of a very exclusive and elite club – vehicles in continuous production for 50 years. To help mark this milestone, 50 companies will sell products including watches, T-shirts, model cars and more that celebrate the Mustang’s first 50 years.

One of those companies is Schott NYC, which was established the same year that Ford began producing the Model T on the first moving assembly line. Schott NYC produces premium jackets, shirts and accessories that have been worn by such stars as Marlon Brando, James Dean, Peter Fonda, the Ramones, Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z, just to name a few.

Chris Horsfield, 53, VP of Product Development at Schott NYC helmed the design team that put together a priceless leather jacket made from reclaimed upholstery from Ford Mustangs going back to 1964.

Mr. Horsfield spoke to the Uptown Collective at the Ford Mustang Collection event at the MILK Gallery on March 26th, 2013 saying, “The concept came from Jason Schott and his idea was to do a green heritage kind of feel to the jacket so we used all interiors of old Ford Mustangs. We got a pile of old Ford Mustangs seats delivered to us dating back to the first original Mustang from 1964. We took all the different panels, – including head rest, seat cushions and Ford sent us an original Mustang ignition key which we used as the zipper – basically we used materials from all the different Mustang’s, took them apart and constructed this jacket from all of the panels.”

Asked about the value of the jacket Mr. Horsfield said, “It’s the only one in the world, its value is un-estimable. There’s only going to be one and because it’s made of original parts it’s going to be very hard to reproduce. You need to get the same panels and the same trims so it’s going to be a tall order.”

The jacket was conceived, designed in just three days by a seven-man team including fourth generation owner Jason Schott. The jacket will be used by the Ford Motor Company to promote the Ford Mustang Anniversary and will then go back to the Schott shop in NYC.

The priceless piece of apparel is a fitting tribute to the Ford Mustang, which has not lost an iota of its luster in all this time. Here’s to another 50 – long live the Ford Mustang!