Analog
Lifer
DEARBORN ? Like many thirtysomethings, Hau Thai-Tang has whimsical boyhood memories of the first time he saw a Ford Mustang. But they don?t involve moonlit drive-ins or Main Street cruising.
His mental images of the muscle car icon are set in war-torn Vietnam, where Mustangs served as a backdrop to raucous USO shows staged for homesick American troops.
?I?d never seen anything like it,? said Thai-Tang, who was accustomed to cars like his family?s two-cylinder Citroen.
?Just seeing the proportions ? it left such a lasting effect,? he said of the Mustang. ?It stood for everything that was great about America.?
Forty-eight hours before democracy crumbled in Vietnam on April 30, 1975, Thai-Tang and his family fled Saigon, eventually making their way to the United States.
He left most of his belongings in Vietnam, but carried with him a dream that started with the first time he laid eyes on a Mustang.
Today, Thai-Tang, 37, is chief engineer responsible for bringing to market the fifth generation of America?s top-selling sports coupe and convertible for 18 consecutive years.
?You?re essentially CEO of the Mustang company,? he said.
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His mental images of the muscle car icon are set in war-torn Vietnam, where Mustangs served as a backdrop to raucous USO shows staged for homesick American troops.
?I?d never seen anything like it,? said Thai-Tang, who was accustomed to cars like his family?s two-cylinder Citroen.
?Just seeing the proportions ? it left such a lasting effect,? he said of the Mustang. ?It stood for everything that was great about America.?
Forty-eight hours before democracy crumbled in Vietnam on April 30, 1975, Thai-Tang and his family fled Saigon, eventually making their way to the United States.
He left most of his belongings in Vietnam, but carried with him a dream that started with the first time he laid eyes on a Mustang.
Today, Thai-Tang, 37, is chief engineer responsible for bringing to market the fifth generation of America?s top-selling sports coupe and convertible for 18 consecutive years.
?You?re essentially CEO of the Mustang company,? he said.
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