LEMOC Member Spotlight - Deb and john whelpley

When John and I were approached to write an article for the “Member Spotlight”, we discussed what we would write about. Then it hit both of us, Wow! John and I have been members of LEMOC for 25 years and we have watched this club grow from “Boys night out” (no girls allowed), to the great family oriented club that you see today. Don’t get us wrong, like any club, LEMOC has had it’s share of bumps, bruises, and even a black eye, but we have had many great shining moments too. The club has opened us up to many great friendships and we think we have a group of members that keeps this club going in a good direction!

Ironically, when John and I first joined the club, we did not even own a mustang! We bought our first Mustang 24 years ago. When we brought it home to our house in Corry, we prayed that our 1966 convertible didn’t break in two when they were taking it off the flatbed. We fixed the floors in the convertible and began making a list of things that needed to be fixed on the car. We then realized what a project it was and decided it was our first Mustang mistake!

The following spring we found our 1967 GTA Coupe and sold the 66 convertible. However, the coupe took 9 years to get on the road. The project kept getting put on hold; with 2 babies, and putting a two story addition on our house. At the time, LEMOC members kept joking with us that we had no car, just a figment of our imagination. The club members then nicknamed our pride and joy the “Phantom” Mustang. This then led to the creation of the license plate on the front of our ’67; so LEMOC club members named our car. The mustang finally saw sunlight late August, 1994.

Our next project came around when our son Andy was 11 years old. We went to look at a parts car advertised in the paper. This led us to his 1982 Mustang GT with T-tops. It had been “T” boned and ended up being 3 ½” shorter on the passenger side, but only had 32,000 miles on it. Andy kept after us that he wanted it, and we finally decided it was worth fixing. Then 5 years ago, DeRosa’s told us about a 1988 LX coupe that was for sale with only 20,000 miles on the car and in mint condition. We went to look at it and our daughter Becky, fell in love with this 4 cylinder pony. So we came home with Becky’s first car. Good choice, huh!

Then last October (finally Debbie’s turn) we purchased a 1984 Mustang GT with T-tops off Ebay. It is in need of a little work and hopefully the members will see it cruisin’ this summer. I hope you have enjoyed our story of being LEMOC members and how we acquired our mustang herd.