Anyone can get greasy with a Ford in the garage. But there is perhaps only one position that trumps the Ford enthusiast’s in the spirit of American ingenuity and engineering: a job at NASA.
Tina Bauman’s grandfather was a mechanic for NASA, but his passion spurred from his interest in the Ford Mustang, which his granddaughter eventually inherited.
“As I was growing up, I would watch him and he would teach me and let me help him with little repairs on his truck,” says Bauman. “He was also—and still is—really big into the WWII aircrafts, and after attending a few air shows with him, I just fell in love with the raw power of the Mustang. It was so exciting years later, when I was able to get a picture of my Mustang with a P-51 at the Reading Air Show (pictured above).”
But let’s start from the beginning. Bauman’s fascination over the Mustang began in high school, and she prayed her parents would grace her with one of the pony cars as a graduation present. Unfortunately, her parents decided that a Stang would simply be too much “raw power” for her to handle. On the other hand, they decided on an F-150 with a straight 6, 4.9 liter engine.
Bauman still rode in her friends’ Mustangs, and she soon decided she would aim for purchasing a purple Mustang in one of its last production years. But her dream never materialized, and she continued to haul around her F-150.
But on one fateful day, Bauman was performing her usual duty of delivering pizzas when her truck’s cable snapped. Forced to rent some transportation, she initially requested a compact car from Hertz. But when she entered the shop, they were out of compacts— Bauman was able to upgrade to a 2004 Ford Mustang at no charge!
“Boy, was I in heaven with a brand new 2004 Mustang!” she says. “After that, I was determined to get my own Mustang no matter what the cost.”
Bauman was ready to walk into a dealership and purchase an ’04 when she caught wind of the new ‘05s. Traction control, active alarm system, and a shaker 500 system all sounded perfect to her—she wanted the deluxe V-6 coupe in Sonic Blue.
For awhile, she couldn’t find a dealer who offered her preferred specifications or who was even willing to order one for her. By the time she secured a dealer who wasn’t too reluctant, the 06s were being ordered, so she did just that. She ordered a 2006 Vista Blue V6 with the Pony Package.
“Soon thereafter, I caught a bad case of that deadly and expensive disease known as the ‘mod bug,’” she says.
Bauman recently installed dual side exhaust, accent speakers, a three-in-one sequential/chaser kit, tinted windows and a custom airbrush fuse box cover. Finally, she added a custom airbrush manifold cover which features an airbrushed space shuttle to honor her grandfather’s work for NASA.
In the future, she’d like to add some new gears, but intends to focus on aesthetics to transform her 2006 Stang into a show car, including a different styled hood with more airbrushing, more accents and ground effects.
Bauman certainly hasn’t ignored performance with her Mustang, either. “My Mustang did a respectable 15.10 on the ¼ mile Cecil County drag strip while still being totally stock,” she notes. “My little V-6 even bested a couple of my friends who were driving V-8 GTs!”
More powerful than her self-described ‘mod bug’ is the bond she feels with the greater Mustang community. “The experience of meeting and making friends with other Mustang enthusiasts is an added bonus that I could never have even imagined,” she says. “I meet people from all walks of life, but the common bond of our Ford Mustangs makes for instant and lasting friendships. There is a mutual respect and cooperation that is felt between the different Mustang clubs, whether they are based in Pennsylvania, New Jersey or elsewhere in the U.S.”
“Now I have an ‘extended’ family with the same love,” Bauman adds. “I never knew that one love that was hatched and nurtured so many years ago in my grandfather’s garage would continue to bring so much joy, comfort, respect and so many rewards.”
For more photos of Tina’s NASA-inspired 2006 Ford Mustang, check out the
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