John Clore is one of the hosts. He’s the one setting up the Mustang story for the episode.
Company
Ford Special Vehicle team
This sounds like a Ford group that worked on special or performance-focused vehicle projects. In this episode, it’s mentioned to show the host’s background with Mustang-related work.
Ford Racing is Ford’s racing and performance side. When someone mentions it in a Mustang story, it usually means they were involved with track or competition-related Mustang work.
Ford Performance is Ford’s performance-focused side—think upgrades and performance programs. Here it’s mentioned as part of the host’s background with Mustang-related work.
Company
Selene Performance
Selene Performance is another company connected to Mustang performance work. The episode mentions it as part of the host’s background with Mustang-related projects.
Roush Performance is a company that makes performance upgrades for Mustangs. In this story, it’s brought up to show the host has worked with Mustang modifications.
Company
Team Mustang
“Team Mustang” sounds like a group connected to Mustang work—more organized than just owning one. Here it’s listed as part of the host’s background.
Gale Holderman is the key person whose story the hosts are going to talk about. The episode is centered on meeting people connected to his Mustang connection.
This is the museum where the hosts are getting the Mustang story. It matters because the conversation is happening in the real place connected to the people they’re talking about.
Carol Raderman is the person who tells the hosts she has a Mustang story. She’s important because she’s the one sharing the details that lead to the episode’s main moment.
Decals are stickers or printed graphics stuck onto something. In the story, the Mustang pony graphic on the barn is what made the host realize the people there really loved Mustangs.
Enon, Ohio is the location where the host describes standing in awe of an early Mustang drawing by Gale Holderman. The place matters here because it anchors the story of how the Mustang design history was encountered in everyday life.
Carriage Inn is the restaurant where the host says they would go to sit with Gale Holderman. It’s included because it’s where the Mustang designer’s story played out in person.
Carroll Shelby was a famous race car driver and performance-car guy. He’s strongly connected to Ford’s performance legacy, especially with Shelby-branded Mustangs.
“Ford motor” means Ford, the company that makes the Mustang. They’re talking about how much influence that person had at Ford during the years they grew up with.
“Club events” refers to gatherings organized by car clubs—often including meetups, shows, and driving events. In enthusiast circles, these are where owners meet designers, builders, and other people connected to specific models.
Term
Mustang industry
The host means the whole world around Mustangs—fans, events, and the people connected to the car. It’s basically the Mustang community and industry.
Woodward Dream Cruise is a big classic-car event in the Detroit area. The host is using it as a timeline marker for when this Mustang-related meeting happened.
LIVE
Welcome Mustang fans to another episode of the Mustang owners podcast. I'm your
host John Clore and I'm your co-host Mike Ray. You know we've always talked
about everybody having a Mustang story and I've had my Mustang story since
AutoWeek magazine, since the Ford Special Vehicle team, Ford Racing, even
Ford Performance. And I've had many Mustang stories through my times with
Team Mustang, Roush Performance, Selene Performance and my 20-year career at
Moxham, which is the Mustang owners club of Southeastern Michigan. Well we want
your Mustang story. Tonight we've got a Mustang story you're gonna absolutely
love and it's because of this one right here whose father happens to be Gale
Holderman. We are here at the Holderman Museum in Tip City Ohio and of course we
love Mustang stories and Karen every once in a while I know running the
museum you have people come in and they tell you a wonderful story about your
father. Now it makes you smile, but what do you do with those stories? You treasure them.
Because that was your dad and so when we got to meet Carol and Carol again I not
from Northern Ohio so it's the best way to say your last name is not. Not
Roderman, but Raderman. It's Raderman. Yes. It's Raderman. Carol Raderman was at an
event we had recently and we were talking about Gale and Mike you know
how he loved talking to anybody that came to the bar and I was telling
people about how Gale's story this and then Carol came and she said I've got a
Mustang story for you. So what did I think? I thought about you here on the
Mustang English Podcast and if you said man I wish I ever had the chance to
meet Gale Holderman and how would that be? Well Carol had a very unique way of
meeting Gale Holderman and Carol we want to hear about it because when you
told me I thought are you making this? First of all you had a 69 sport roof. I
did. I did. That was my first car. And it was at your favorite Mustang of all the
I loved them all. all but I that first car you always have that
special feeling for so that 69 was was really my love car for sure. So you
love this car you had this car but how did you know that Gale Holderman who
lived in this town designed that car how did you ever come up knowing about the
Holderman family? It was really meant to be I think because I lived just a short
distance from here didn't even know anything about this museum and when I
drove by I used to think boy that's such a beautiful place I thought there must
be landscapers who live here so well manicure then I drove by one day yes
thanks to Carol and then I drove by here one day and I saw the pony on the side
of the barn and as soon as I saw the pony I was with my husband and I said
those people must really love Mustangs. No idea how much it's 15 feet tall. It's a
gigantic aluminum pony. And of course I fell in love with that when I saw the
decals so I was at a restaurant shortly after that and the restaurant was in
Enon, Ohio and I was standing there in awe of the first drawing that Mr.
Holderman did was it kind of like there it is that's it and let's just help
you a little bit about that because Gail did frequent some right after he
retired in the local restaurants and he doesn't Gail is you know like he never
bragged about what he did right never if you didn't know him right he did say hey
I'm the designer of Mustangs so remember we went to this you took us there a
couple of times and I never went with you but you and I went after this so we
would go with Gail and we'd sit down again at a special table he always was
holding court. He has so many friends in town so we went to this beautiful what's
the name of this place? Carriage? Carriage Inn. And they served really great food and
one day I said you know this is Gail Holderman's I know he was I said you know
he did the Mustang he goes I was I wish I could see that so the next time we came
by we brought a sketch like that so that's how you got to see it and he said
I'll put that up and he goes no no you put it up because Gail would just sit in
the back and order his pork chops and that's how that sketch got in the
restaurant so you this restaurant and did you you saw that sketch? I saw the
sketch and my husband's paying and I'm standing there just in awe looking at
this sketch of this beautiful Mustang that I remembered from so many years
ago and the owner of the restaurant came over to me and he said do you like
Mustangs? And I thought wow do I? So I said oh yes yes I do and he said the
owner of the I'm sorry the designer of that car comes in here every Friday
night he said would you like to meet him and I was like oh my gosh so of course I
said absolutely so it was like just a short time after that we decided on a
Friday night. Oh you were going to go? We were going to go. So you become an
opportunity. Yes yes yes. Yeah that was me and of course you know we go into the
restaurant and the owner looks at me and he says oh he's here he's here and I
I'm looking around trying to think well who could it be? Which one is it? So the
owner comes over to me and he says okay come over here with me I'm gonna
introduce you. So he walks up by my Mr. Holderman taps him on the shoulder and
he says Gail I have someone here that would like to meet you and he looked up
and I'm just in total awe and he looked up and and so humbly and he stood up I
grabbed a hold of him I held on to both of his hands I don't think I ever let go and
completely had interrupted his meal and and he's standing there just smiling at
me and smiling and wondering if I was gonna say anything. Did you say anything?
Not at first I couldn't. This is all the exact same story how I met him.
You're a Gail owner. That's what I did. I was standing there like this but I couldn't even say you're a Gail owner.
And and and he looked at me and I said I can't believe I have this opportunity to
meet you I just went on and he was so humble and so finally I was
able to spit out a few words and so as we were talking then of course I'm
still holding on to him didn't even realize I was hanging on and I told him I
said well you must you had to know it's stupid thing to even say stupid question
I said you had to know Carol Shelby yeah and of course he looked at me and as
humblest could be he says oh yeah I knew Carol well at this point I never let go
and you know I'm just holding on to him and we had the best time standing there
talking. Doesn't know her for man. He didn't have any idea who I was. Walks up to him in a
restaurant and they're talking Carol Shelby. Exactly who would ever have thought that you
know and and I was just in such awe of him but the thing that I remembered the
most was that he was so humble you would have never known that he was who he was
that he had accomplished so much and was such a great influence on Ford motor
and that entire era which was the years I started driving and grew up through and
to this day I no longer have my beloved 69 Mustang but I've got a 66 I've got an
83 and I have a 2014. Wow. All named the 66 of Sally the 83 is Ms. Fox and the
other one's Pegasus because of the flying pony. That's awesome. But I always think of
Mr. Halderman and driving by here now I'd live so close by I always look in I
always admire your work here and it it just does my heart such good to know
that this that he was here and that you've got to meet him in person. Mike we've
met a lot of people in Ford some of them you wouldn't want to go have a beer with.
But Gail Halderman was the least he was just the least assuming that you owed him
anything he just was happy to be with you and happy to see people happy about
that car and isn't that just from your experience on all these years all the
club events you brought him to isn't that just him. That's exactly him to the tee
and the only person I like I know John has met basically anybody you can
possibly ever think of in the in the Mustang industry the only person I
never met in person I did see in person but I never met a person was Carol
Shelby. Anybody else you can think of? Bill Ford was on my list for a long time
but I checked that bucket list off into fall so yeah but I'll never forget the
day I met Gail. John brought him to the show I ran in Dearborn and he
brought him and introduced him to us and that was in August of 2013 and we were
super close clicked immediately and we got to tell John your thing though that
you told Gail when he was the first time at Mustang. My wife told me never to say
this. No we are gonna have to tell the story. All of you on the podcast. It's a true story.
I was warned by my wife never say this in public although when I do speak I do
mention it. Yeah it's true story. So when Gail we finally got him to come to Mustang
memories we had 900 cars. That was over 1,000. 1,000 cars. So we're at World
Headquarters behind World Headquarters and in August after the Woodward Dream
because I invited Gail. Gail shows up he didn't even call me. No this was the year
before. That's right. So he didn't even call me and they said Gail's here and I
went over Gail and run over there and Mike is running the show with a couple
of his board members like let's go meet Mike. I guess no he's busy don't bother
him. I go don't bother him. He wants to meet you Gail. And so Carol I just put my
arm and Gail your dad was looking over the sea of talk about skittles every
color of Mustang and he's looking at me he had a big smile on his face and I
was looking at him and I go Gail did you ever think that this would happen 50
years later? Look what you've done. Exactly. And I said do you ever think this would happen?
He said no. I was just drawing a car that I love to draw and I said just think Gail
if you had drawn a turd no one would be here. Literally true story. No one would be here.
This is done. But Gail had that Gail Holderman laugh. He laughed about it and then we got
to meet Mike and if you ever had the chance to meet him you know what we're
talking about. Exactly how Carol described it. That's the man that Gail
Holderman was. So we're just happy that his daughter Karen kept this place
going because the memories we have of him showed that that's the spirit of
Mustang community. That's the true man that the guy who drew the first one and
made it all happen. It's really the true spirit. So if he didn't get to meet him
here's how you get to meet him. You come down to Tip City Ohio and he's making
an appointment with Karen to walk through his man cave to be here. You almost feel
him here. Yeah you do have a cardboard cutout of him here. Yes and he's in that
cut that hat. In fact I think that was taken at your show. I was standing next to him in the real picture house.
If you want to meet him and come down and see his museum it's down here at the
Holderman Mustang Museum. You can make an appointment on Facebook and come down
and see his man cave and enjoy the Gail Holderman that you Carol got to meet.
Absolutely. That you got to enjoy with him down here at this beautiful place
you're in instead. Carol we really feel you how your story there. Me and John
were very lucky John even more so again than me but many time Gail came to
Dearborn. He invited me and John up to Miller's bar and we stood there for three
hours talking. Every time we came down here to the bar and we sat here in his
little loft and talked for another two or three hours so the intimate stories
that we heard over the ten years that I got to spend with them or so it was
absolutely incredible and never forget. Right. So Carol had to be on the podcast
tonight because her Mustang story is really befitting of the man that we
loved the original design of the Ford Mustang. So I hope you enjoyed listening
this wonderful thank you so much Carol. Absolutely thank you for having me.
Yes pleasure. Thank you Carol. You did such a wonderful job with the museum and you
guys if you're a Mustang fan get your butt down here and enjoy field the Gail
Holderman spirit like another great Mustang story. Absolutely. And the hits
just keep on coming. So remember to like and subscribe to the Mustang owners
podcast because you got to beat that algorithm and make sure that you
understand that we love having your story. Send it to me if you have one at
jcore or clor at cars and context dot com and we'll love to hear your story
and share it like we did with Carol. So until next time I guess we'll just have
to catch you down the road.
About this episode
A dinner-night encounter at a local Ohio restaurant turns into a personal meeting with Gale Holderman, the original designer of the Ford Mustang. Carol Raderman shares how she first noticed Holderman’s giant pony at the Holderman Museum, then saw one of his Mustang sketches in the restaurant and was invited to meet him on a Friday night. She recalls his humility—standing up mid-meal, talking Mustangs and even Carol Shelby—while holding his hands. The hosts also reflect on Holderman’s lasting impact and how to visit his museum/man cave by appointment.
In this episode, recorded in the lounge of the Halderman Mustang Museum in Tipp City, Ohio, John and Mike sit down with a longtime local Mustang owner and fan to hear the story of how she came across a random chance to meet the late Gale Halderman, the principal designer of the original Mustang. Carol Ratermann had shared her “How I Got to Meet Gale Halderman” story with John after Gale’s daughter, Karen, had hosted a Cruise-In event at the Halderman Barn Museum in early May. Carol revealed that years ago, she happened to enjoy a dinner night out with her husband at one of Gale’s favorite local restaurants, the Carriage Inn in nearby Enon, Ohio, at the same time Gale was there dining with a group of friends. Wait until you hear how seeing Halderman’s famed Concept Sketch on display at the eatery had sparked a conversation with the restaurant owner and brought an unexpected introduction. We hope you enjoy hearing Carol’s memorable tale as much as we did – because Everyone Has a Mustang Story. It’s just that not everyone gets the chance to meet a Mustang celebrity as historically significant as Gale Halderman. Our thanks to Karen for inviting Carol out to the Barn Lounge to meet up with us – and our thanks to all of you who click “Like” and “Subscribe” to the Mustang Owner’s Podcast! #mustang#ford#fordmustang
