Iacocca cheers up with special-edition Mustang

— -- Fabled auto man Lee Iacocca is about to launch a special edition of the Ford Mustang to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the car that made him famous — and to "have some fun" at a dire time in the auto industry.

"All the talk about bankruptcy and bailouts — the mood is so gloomy on cars," Iacocca, 84 and long retired from running Ford Motor and later Chrysler, said in a phone interview from his Los Angeles home.

The special-edition car is the result of a collaboration among Iacocca, who remains a Mustang fan, designer Michael Leone and Gaffoglio Family Metalcrafters of Fountain Valley, Calif. Metalcrafters has built show cars and other specialty vehicles for decades.

Iacocca says only 45 of the collector Mustangs will be built. The first is to be on sale about July 20.

The price is nominally $60,000 to $65,000, but he expects the transaction price to be much higher because of bidding to get one of the limited number. All will be sold through Galpin Ford, the biggest Ford dealer in the world, in suburban Los Angeles.

A website is to open early Monday with information about the car. Named after the company that was formed to market the Iacocca Mustang, the site is www.ilegacy.com.

The original Mustang — a car so fresh that it landed its champion, Iacocca, on the covers of both Time and Newsweek magazines — was launched April 17, 1964. Ford dubbed it a "1964½" model because it arrived so late in the model year.

Fittingly, the Iacocca Silver Anniversary Mustang, will be dubbed a 2009½ model. "It's a trip down memory lane," says Iacocca. "A little bit of nostalgia."

"I remember when the original Mustang came out. I was a salesman back then, and the dealership had one: white with a red interior," says Bert Boeckman, owner of Galpin who's helped establish a number of custom-auto trends in Southern California.

Iacocca called him late last year to show him the special Mustang — Boeckman calls it "the prettiest one I've seen" — and ask if he'd handle sales. Be happy to, Boeckman says: Iacocca's "made a lot of money for me."