Jeff Graham – 2025 Best in Show Winner

Jeff Graham has had a lifelong passion for Mustangs! Enjoy Jeff’s Mustanger Spotlight Story.

My family and I have lived in Broomfield Colorado for 20 years, but I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. I first fell in love with the Ford Mustang when he was a teenager – as my neighbors had a complete set of 65 Mustangs (coupe, convertible, fastback) tucked away in their garage. I made it my mission to get a classic Mustang as my first car, and found a good running, rust bucket 64 ½ coupe complete with the Falcon carryover generator and 260 engine. My dad and I did our best to fix up the car in our garage, held it together with bondo, pop rivets, and JC Whitney fender templates. A buddy of my dad’s with a paint compressor was paid to spray the car midnight blue in exchange for 2 cases of Busch beer. I was so proud of that car, and I drove it through my high school years. I begrudgingly sold it when I went to college halfway across the state and needed something new/reliable to make all the trips back and forth.

Fast forward 23 years later, now a dad with 4 kids, I’m in mid-life crisis mode, and on a mission to get myself another Mustang in the garage. This time it had to be a fastback. Specifically, I wanted a 68 Fastback, Highland Green with a 4 speed and a 390 in it – I wanted to create a Bullitt tribute car. I bought a solid base vehicle on EBay and turned the car over to Ed Toth at Ed’s Classic Mustang in Arvada for a year or so to do the transformation. The Highland Green paint is courtesy of Chris Stevenson and Pappy’s Customs in Henderson. We’ve owned that car for 15 years, and it’s been a trouble-free, fun-to-drive car from day one. We were honored that the car took Best of Show at the 2025 Rocky Mountain Mustang Roundup. The car has been featured at the Rodz & Bodz Movie Car Museum. And just recently the car was displayed along with other classics in Man Cave’s booth at the 2026 Colorado Auto Show. 15 years later, this green fastback still seems to bring smiles to so many people beyond our family – and absolutely we love that.

I was so pleased with how my Bullitt car turned out, my mental gears were already turning on another Mustang project. So for my 20th wedding anniversary in 2015, I pressed Ed’s Classic into service again to build a 65 Mustang GT convertible tribute car in Springtime Yellow with Black stripes and Pony Interior. It was a stealth project that my wife only found out about when I surprised her with the keys at a local restaurant, and the car parked out front complete with a personalized license plate. We enjoyed 7 wonderful years of ownership of that car before selling it to an Arizona collector, who of course bought it for his wife.

When my youngest daughter needed her first car, she fell for a Light Sapphire Metallic 1995 GT Convertible we came across at a car show with about 68K miles on it and a For Sale sign in the window. She meticulously cared for that car and drove it through high school and into her college years. We sold it only after she needed to commute from our home in Broomfield to CU’s Boulder Campus 5 days a week. She simply loved the car too much to put it through that abuse, so she made sure the car made its way to another enthusiast, this one a collector in Ohio. But at one point, our family had 3 classic Mustangs in the same garage – with all of our daily drivers parked out on the driveway or on the street (where they belong, of course!).

I’ve been coming to the RMMR since before I was even a Mustang owner, and all the years I’ve owned my Bullitt car. I especially love it when I’m able to bring my dad to the show, who I blame for infecting me with the car bug in the first place. Growing up, my dad’s daily driver was a 63 Pontiac Grand Prix with 8 lug wheels. It was so cool. That midnight blue paint on my 64 ½ coupe? Same color as his 63 GP.

3 generations of our family- my mom and dad, my wife and I, and our 4 daughters – all have such fond memories of spending Father’s Day weekends together at the RMMR up in Steamboat, and now down in Cripple Creek, strolling along the town’s main drag on a beautiful Colorado Saturday, admiring all the incredible Mustangs that enter the Show N’ Shine. It’s become a tradition for our family, and we’re grateful to the RMMR organizers who work so hard to put on a great show. I wouldn’t want to spend my Father’s Day weekend anywhere else!

Jeff’s beautiful Mustang Bullitt will be parked in front of the Chamonix at the 38th Annual Rocky Mountain Mustang Roundup. Stop by and say hello!