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After years of being hidden away in a missing box, hundreds of letters, mail, postcards, notes, and cocktail napkins surface from the In Search of Mustangs project that didn't make the Mustang Production Guide published in 1993-94. If your classic Mustang didn't make the Mustang Production Guide, which was published in 1993-94 as a two-volume series, there's a reason why. Long story short, a divorce, several cross-country moves, and a misidentified moving box full of mail hidden away in an attic for more than two decades.
In this box was valuable, unrecorded vehicle information from thousands of 1965-73 Mustangs submitted by thousands of very committed enthusiasts who wanted to help paint an informative production picture from three North American Mustang assembly plants in New Jersey, Michigan, and California. Discovering this information was disheartening - lost potential from what would have made the successful Mustang Production Guide even better.  In Search of Mustangs wasn't conceived to make money or achieve fame. I founded In Search of Mustangs in 1979 to put together a production picture that would help us all better understand how our Mustangs were scheduled and assembled. It took a long time, but thanks a partnership with Jim Haskell, In Search of Mustangs took on new life and found its way into print form in 1993 as Volume 1 and 1994 as Volume 2. Jim had the computer savvy to get it all organized into IBM d-base III form, knowledge to get it copyrighted and into the Library of Congress, and drive to keep me moving to get it into print. The Mustang Production Guide was a great success. A few copies of Volume 1 remain, but very few. A few hundred copies of Volume 2 remain.
Jim Haskell, now retired from the Department of Agriculture, has moved on to other passions. However, his contribution to In Search of Mustangs cannot be underestimated. Without him, In Search of Mustangs would not have been the success it has been. Jim, we haven't spoken in a long time, but I will never be able to thank you enough for your patience, drive, and shear determination to get this project into print. Thanks for never giving up on me.
I'd like to offer my apologies to those of you who worked so hard gathering vehicle identification numbers and codes from thousands of Mustangs from around the world whose efforts never reached fruition in the Mustang Production Guide. There were so many of you. In the coming months, we're going to recognize you here in www.mustangmonthly.com.
 Because quite a few of you have asked me when a new, revised version of the Mustang Production Guide will be published, it is time I responded with a positive answer. Nearly 20 years later, there isn't a large enough of a market to publish a new, revised version of the Mustang Production Guide book. There just aren't enough interested people out there. However, In Search of Mustangs needs and deserves a permanent Internet home enthusiasts can come to seeking production information. We are seeking a qualified, trustworthy webmaster to build an In Search of Mustangs website that will be completely interactive. It will be a cozy Internet home with a passworded subscriber database you can access, input and update information along with chat rooms, news section, and copy from the Mustang Production Guides published nearly two decades ago.
Here in www.mustangmonthly.com, we're going to have an ongoing Blog series with In Search of Mustangs updates on a regular basis. And when extreme news happens, it will appear in Pony Tales in Mustang Monthly.
If you would like to know more about In Search of Mustangs and the Mustang Production Guide series of books, you may email me at Jim.Smart@sorc.com or thesmart67@msn.com.
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