What makes a great car show? Cars? Girls? Giveaways?

Most car shows involve an hour of frantic polishing, followed by an hour of aimlessly walking the lot to check out the competition, and then finally, a good nap. But with 150 of the sweetest ‘Stangs ever to hit the road stationed door to door and bumper to bumper on every corner of the lot surrounded by more than a dozen top Mustang brands, each ready and eager to talk parts and performance, the 1st Annual AmericanMuscle Car Show and Charity Event was already set to be something different. Then add in a circling helicopter taking photos from 1,000 feet, a free dyno running from dawn ‘til dusk, free food and drink for all registered cars, more free stuff than you can carry in a mid-size sports coupe, and a slew of über-hot AmericanMuscle Girls strolling the lot, showing off their own fox bodies. Now that’s a car show.

Of course the central point of the July 19th event was the Best in Show competition. AmericanMuscle judges walked the lot all day long meticulously examining every show candidate. In the end, it was Tony Massimano’s fully-custom ’69 Mach 1 that took top prize. Here’s a list of the rest of the winners:

• Rick Bauman: President’s Choice Award: Torch Red ’05 GT


• Tommy Lee: Best ’05 to 2010 Mustang: Black ’06 GT500 Convertible


• Mike Baer: Best ’99 to ’04 Mustang: ’04 MystiChrome Cobra Convertible


• Donnie Huth: Best ’94 to ’98 Mustang: ’97 Cobra


• Rick Nagle: Best ’79 to ’93 Mustang: ’93 GT

In a day full of highlights, more than 1,000 showed up to walk and talk Mustangs, and show their support for Homes for Our Troops, a charity that buys or builds homes for disabled veterans. The goal for the day was to raise $5,000 for those that given more than we could ask while defending our freedom. But, when the day was done, and the money was counted, AmericanMuscle wrote a check for $8015 to its favorite charity. Adding to this number, the Garden State Region Mustang Club made an additional donation of $850, and an anonymous AmericanMuscle supplier also kicked in a check for $500, bringing the total donation to $9,365—a good day indeed.

For more information, plus lots of photos and video on the 1st Annual AmericanMuscle Car Show and Charity Event please visit: AmericanMuscle Blog