The Schoolteacher and the First Mustang Ever Sold

Every car has a story, but few stories are as pure-American as this one. Picture it — April 1964, Chicago, Illinois. A young schoolteacher named Gail Wise walks into a Ford dealership just looking for something new to drive to work. The salesman grins and says, “I’ve got something special in the back — not even on the lot yet.” What he rolled out was history on four wheels: a Wimbledon White Mustang convertible, blue top, blue interior. Gail didn’t know it yet, but she was about to become the first person on Earth to own a Mustang.

She paid around $3,400 and drove it home, top down, hair in the wind, a week before the Mustang was even officially released to the public. The funny part? That car wasn’t supposed to be sold at all — it was a pre-production model, VIN #0001, meant for dealership display. But once Gail took the keys, that horse wasn’t coming back to the barn.

Ford realized their mistake and tried to buy it back. Gail said no — and she meant it. The Mustang stayed with her through the ’60s and ’70s, then eventually sat tucked away in her garage, gathering dust but never forgotten.

Decades later, the car was rediscovered, restored, and confirmed as the first Mustang ever sold. When it rolled back onto the show circuit in 2014 for the 50th anniversary, it wasn’t just a shiny piece of Ford history — it was proof that sometimes, the right car finds the right person.