1967 Holman & Moody Mustang Has Frequent Flier Miles

One-Off Racer

What you're looking at is a one-off 1967 Ford Mustang race car build by the famous Holman & Moody shop in North Carolina. The pony car started life as a standard coupe, and with a no-expense-spared build, it was transformed to a formidable race winner. But the simple fact that this is one of the most amazing Mustang race cars you'll ever see is far from the most interesting thing about this beauty.

Humble Beginnings

The most jaw-dropping aspect of this Mustang's existence is its origin story. The fiery red race car you see before you belonged to one Cristobal Galjuf of Lima, Peru. But the car started life as a humble daily driver for Galjuf's wife, who coincidentally worked at the factory where the coupe was built. 

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Purpose-Built Racer

By the time Galjuf conceived the idea of turning his wife's car into a full-on race car in 1971, he had already gained experience racing Mustangs at several road racing competitions around his home country. But when it was time to build his dream race car, he knew he wanted to enlist the magic touch of the USA's finest, and that was Holman & Moody.

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Smuggled

The problem was, Peru was under military dictatorship. This meant transporting the car out of and back into the country was a near-impossible task. But Galjuf found a way to smuggle it across the border and get it to Charlotte, NC. The folks at Holman & Moody built the Mustang with all the go-fast features they could get their hands on. And to get it back to Galjuf, they had to disassemble it and ship the parts in separate containers, to get it into Peru undetected. Galjuf's guys would then put it back together in Lima.

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Retired

Galjuf's goal was to race the Mustang, of course. But he didn't want his father to discover his high-speed hobby. So, he began racing under the alias "Batman" to prevent his real name from getting broadcasted. He continued to win races with the car for years. But decided to sell the pony car after a friend lost his life in a racing incident. Since then, the Mustang changed hands multiple times, before finally being retired into a museum.

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Heading to Auction

In 2011, on a trip to Peru, the Mustang's current owner, Charles Maranto discovered the car at the museum. He could immediately imagine restoring it back to its original racing glory. He managed to convince the museum owner to sell the car to him. And with months of trials and tribulations with the export office, he was finally able to get the car back into the US and perform a full restoration with help from Lee Holman himself. And now, the Mustang racer is set to hit the auction block at Mecum's event in Glendale, AZ, which starts March 20th.

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