Danville Author Shares Love for Ford Mustang GT/CS

Do you remember your first car?

When many people are asked this question, a story tends to follow.

The first car Paul M. Newitt, a Danville graphic artist, author and historian, owned, was a 1968 Ford Mustang GT/California Special. 

That car inspired the self-confessed “car kid, hooked on the popular culture of the mid-sixties,” to tell the iconic Mustang model's story — becoming the recognized expert on the subject.

He has received The Lee Iacocca Award, recognizing outstanding classic car enthusiasts, and was recently a guest on "Jay Leno’s Garage."

Newitt remembers the first time he saw the car that inspired him — he was eleven years old, playing baseball in his Dixon, California cul-de-sac, when his neighbor, the owner of the local Ford dealership, drove a new limited-edition Mustang GT/CS home from the lot.

Six years later, in 1974, he bought his own used Mustang GT/CS, with 40,000 miles on it, for just over $1,000 before heading off to college at the University of California, Davis.

He “fell in love with the car” that he owned for the next 36 years, he says.

In 1985, after owning the car for many years, he says he wanted to know more about it, but was frustrated by the lack of information available.

For two years he researched the story of the hardtop Mustang designed for California and produced at Ford’s Milpitas assembly plant in the 1960s.

In the course of his research he created a comprehensive Mustang model registry, featuring over 1,400 vehicles. 

In 1989, the first-time author published the first edition of his authoritative “Mustang GT/CS Recognition Guide and Owner’s Manual."

His love for the Mustang GT/CS model has not waned since.

Newitt saw copies of the original edition of his book selling on eBay for $300 or more five years ago. Ford released a late-model version of the Mustang GT/CS in 2007-2009, and again this year.

Feeling the need to continue the Mustang GT/CS story, Newitt self-published a new edition of his book in February.

He says his goal was “to provide you with everything possible to enjoy restoring and driving your GT/CS for many years to come.”

The 224 page book that retails for $100, with each copy numbered and signed, is more a "scrapbook with a lot of words" than a manual, he says.

It includes photographs, historic advertisements, and details relating the car to the social, political, business, and pop culture of the era.

There are interviews with the key players that brought the car to life  and details about 1960s Los Angeles corporate culture, including the marketing strategies for the car.

The book also provides tips for spotting a fake GT/CS, and car restoration. It includes production details about how the cars were built on the assembly line in Milpitas.

For Newitt, the book also fulfills a more personal commitment he made to “give back to the people who love this car.” People who he says have a strong sense of pride about their cars. 

The book was a true labor of love for Newitt, and one for which he was even willing to part with the car that started it all—he sold his Mustang GT/CS a year and half ago to finance the book.

At Thursday's first Hot Summer Nights Car Show of the summer, Newitt won’t have a car to show, but he will walk Hartz Avenue, appreciating the cars others are passionate about.

But his heart will always belong to the Ford Mustang GT/CS.

You can purchase a copy of Paul Newitt’s book on his website. A few copies are also available at in The Livery.

Don’t miss Danville’s Hot Summer Nights Car Shows, this Thurs., July 21 and again on August 18, from 4-9 p.m. in downtown Danville.