Canning reunited with Mustang

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This article was published 15/12/2023 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is an incredible story of a man and a Mustang. It was the first car that Blaine Canning ever owned, and one that he eventually sold, when his young and growing family needed more legroom.

Canning never forgot about his 1965 Ford Mustang convertible, and over the years, he looked here and there, until one day one showed up online. But was it his?

Only evidence of an 8-track tape stereo system, and a decades-old grocery list could confirm that the convertible was, indeed, Canning’s.

It was 1968, and Canning was 17 years old. He was attending the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg when he bought a used 1965 Poppy Red Mustang with a white power-top convertible, four-speed transmission with a 289 four-barrel carburetor.

“My mom and dad came into Winnipeg to look for cars with me. There was a Pontiac Parisienne convertible sitting beside it, and that’s a great big lug of a car, but there was a little Mustang sitting beside it. I had to decide which one I wanted to take. And so, I decided to take the Mustang,” Canning said.

After university, Canning married his high school sweetheart, Pauline, who also grew up and lived just west of Souris.

“How many young guys that age had a convertible? So yeah, it was a big deal,” Pauline said. “We dated, got married and honeymooned in the Mustang, we had fun,” said Pauline.

As a birthday gift, Pauline gave Blaine an 8-track tape stereo system, which he mounted by drilling holes under the dash, and in the back seat — holes for the speakers.

After their second child was born, the Mustang went into storage in a building on the farm, but when Blaine’s father needed the space, the decision was made to sell it.

“We were also building a house at the time, and I needed all the money I could scrape up. And I wasn’t going to sell it to somebody that was just going to drive it into a tree,” Blaine said.

“So, in 1979, I sold it to Lefty Hendrickson at Canadian Motors for $1,800 — the same price I had paid for it,” said Blaine.

At that time, Hendrickson completely restored the Mustang, Blaine said, which included a new floor, new panels, carpet and a 289 cubic-inch engine — all Ford parts.

The Mustang would change hands two more times, Blaine said, with the last known location in Kelowna, B.C.

“I was always looking for it, hoping for it to show up, but I never, ever saw it, and I kind of gave up,” Blaine said.

Both Blaine and Pauline’s kids and their kids knew the history of the car and how it was hoped that one day they could find it and buy it back. It always came up in conversation, they said.

So, in April, just eight months ago, the couple was visiting their daughter in Toronto when Blaine decided to give it another try.

“I said, OK. So, I Googled it, and bang, it was on Kijiji, for sale in Kelowna.”

The seller was originally from Glenboro, a retired pharmacist named Ray Johnson. After hearing how the Cannings had looked for the Mustang for 35 years, he agreed to hold off any bids until they got there.

They flew there within days, said Pauline.

“And honest to gosh when we drove up, the car was sitting outside in this beautiful area. And Blaine practically ran to the car, head under the dash. Ray hadn’t even come out of the house yet,” Pauline said as she laughed.

Blaine continued: “The first thing I did was look under the dash to see if there were two holes where the 8-track was, and then I felt the side of the back panel of the back seats. And sure enough, the holes were still there, but they were covered up.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see it,” Blaine said as his voice broke with emotion. “It was just meant to be, I guess.”

Once the ’65 — which Blaine now calls the car, was back on the farm west of Rivers, Pauline was leafing through the original owner’s manual when she said, “a piece of paper fell out. You could tell it had been in there a long time because it left an imprint.”

“As soon as I looked at it, I thought, that writing looks familiar. It was my cousin’s writing on one side, inviting us to a 25th anniversary celebration dated 1973, and on the back of it was my handwriting. I had written my little grocery list,” Pauline said.

“How it ended up in the manual, I don’t know, but when we found that it was like, oh my God, now we know 150 per cent that this is the car.

“It’s just unreal how it all turned out. You know, we always thought maybe one day down the road we’d end up getting it back.”

The ’65 is now inside its own shed for the winter, and under cloth, “so it doesn’t get dusty,” said Blaine.

And once summer hits, they’ll each have a Mustang to drive. Their original ride, plus a newer model they bought — a 2015 GT convertible with a manual transmission in Competition Orange.

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