Dream of dream car comes true

I won a 1965 Ford Mustang. It has a V-8 with a 4-speed transmission. It is a beast and I could not be happier about … what? I’m sorry. You want to know how this happened?

Let’s rewind to April.

In April, my dad and I went to the Good Guys All-American Get Together. My dad and I have been going to these shows for years, and there is always some contest for winning a car. We entered this time, filling out the forms and dropping them. I didn’t give the contest another thought until September when I got a phone call from the now-out-of-business radio station KRFC, part of CBS radio, telling me that I was one of 32 finalists in the drawing for the ’65 Mustang giveaway.

I immediately went online and read the contest rules, and a little cloud blocked the sun on my perfect day. Participants had to be present to win. The contest was in Pleasanton, and I was in Long Beach. For those of you unfamiliar with California geography, I was a little less than 400 miles from my dream car.

I had no way of getting to Pleasanton that odd weekend in November, so I tried hard not to think about it

In October, another amazing thing happened. My dad called and told me the Good Guys had sent me something. He opened it for me and told me they had sent some information about the contest, along with two passes to the show.

The universe seemed to be taunting me. Then something amazing happened — yes again, a lot of amazing things happen in this story, so deal — my dad told me if I found a good deal on tickets, he would fly me home for the show. I wasted no time in checking all the flights I could, finding a round-trip ticket for $120. My parents bought me the ticket and I started planning for my trip back to Pleasanton.

Fast forward to November 9, walking up to the Live 105 booth — remember KFRC went out of business so another station took over the contest — I got my finalist wristband and was told to come back at 2:45 p.m. My dad and I used the time to walk around the show like we always do, around 2:30 p.m. we made our way back toward the booth, then over to the car. We had to wait for all the show winners to be announced, and there were seemingly 100 categories. I stood with other finalists, 24 of us in all, as each winning car drove past. After the last car was announced, it was time for the contest to begin. My heart has never beaten so fast.

Names were drawn at random from a bucket to determine who would draw a key. I don’t remember how many people were called before me, but there weren’t a ton of keys left. I picked up key No. 19. I was bummed because it was such a high number, I didn’t think I had a chance. Then people started trying their keys in the ignition. I watched person after person get in the car and try to start it, 18 times people tried, and 18 times they failed. Then they called for key No. 19. I walked up to the Mustang, ditched my purse outside and sat down. Just sitting in the car was an experience I’ll never forget. It took me a minute to see where the ignition was, it wasn’t on the steering column like in my old Mustang. I put the key in, and turned it, expecting nothing. But nothing didn’t happen, the engine roared, and I screamed.

I won the 1965 Mustang. I won my dream car.