For over three decades, the Gulf Coast Regional Mustang Club has been staging its early spring Mustang show in Pensacola, Florida, the westernmost city in the state's panhandle. Over that time, the show has grown from a small gathering of local Mustang owners in a hotel parking lot to a full-fledged Mustang and all-Ford event at the Pensacola Interstate Fairgrounds, complete with an in-door concours show. This year, on March 26-28, the event took on the prestige of being named a Mustang Club of America national event, which helped to attract over 350 of the nicest Mustangs from all over the country.
In addition to the MCA involvement, the club added a few twists to the Gulf Coast National. Several other local car clubs were invited to participate, which brought Falcons, Mopars, and Porsches into the mix of available cars to view, although they were displayed in their own areas within the huge Fairgrounds facility. Also, Mustang participants had chances to get away from the polishing and waxing to take a Thursday deep-sea fishing trip or a Friday cruise to the National Museum of Naval History.
 The John E. Frenkel Jr. Building...  The John E. Frenkel Jr. Building at the Pensacola Interstate Fairgrounds housed the cream-of-the-crop concours cars. Even though the weather was nice, it was great to be able to escape the wind and bright sun while checking out some of the best Mustangs in the country. |  Using Luana Kirby's '65 Hi-Po...  Using Luana Kirby's '65 Hi-Po fastback, MCA Assistant Head Judge Jake Jarrell gave a Saturday morning judging seminar for owners of Occasional and Daily Driven '65-'66 Mustangs. |  James Jeter's restomod '65...  James Jeter's restomod '65 fastback was built by his son-in-law, Bill Ganey. Impressed by his work, we asked Bill if he works on cars for a living. He replied, "No, I just do it for fun in my home shop." |
 It was good to see long-time...  It was good to see long-time friend Bob Winiarczyk and his '70 Boss 302 in the concours area. Bob put together Boss 302 events back in the 1970s and today is the owner of Pioneer Ford in Bremen, Georgia, just west of Atlanta. |  As if a red '03 Cobra doesn't...  As if a red '03 Cobra doesn't attract enough attention, the owner of this Cobra in the Cars for Sale section added a bright green sign to make sure everyone got the message about the car's low mileage. |  Chris Agee Resto-Racing wasn't...  Chris Agee Resto-Racing wasn't able to complete the restoration of this '70 Cobra Jet SportsRoof in time for Pensacola but they brought the car anyway. The Grabber Blue car was displayed semi-finished, which gave spectators an opportunity to check out Agee's restoration handiwork. |
 Terry McCoy came to Pensacola...  Terry McCoy came to Pensacola to promote his new FoxForward website, www.foxforward.biz, and to take photos of low-mileage Fox-body Mustangs for an upcoming book. He found a good photo subject in Jimmy Austin's '84 GT convertible, an original owner car with less than 1,850 miles. |  The outside show area at the...  The outside show area at the Pensacola Interstate Fairgrounds was surrounded by vendors, most selling used Mustang parts like north Florida's Mustang Masters, who set up their "store" in a tent. |  MCA treasurer Ron Bramlett...  MCA treasurer Ron Bramlett and secretary Randy Jacobson were all smiles at the registration tent, where show registrations and merchandise sales were booming. |