Big Finish

Closing out the event with a massive cruise-inÂ at the Myrtle Beach Mall

By Steve Turner

For a week that most of us look forward to all year, Mustang Week definitely goes by in the blink of an eye. By the time Saturdayâ€™s Cruise-In at Myrtle Beach Mall, many people are getting one last fix of that Grand Strand life and saying goodbye to friends before the official end of the event at the car show awards in the afternoon.

Each year SVTPerformance selects an Editorâ€™s Choice award winner from the car show participants. With so many great cars in the show, picking a winner can be challenging, so we end up going with our guts. This year Mustang Week stalwart Joey Chestnut scored the beautiful trophy. Not only did he add fresh paint to his 2001 Mustang GT, but he bolted on a couple of turbos in front of the blower on his Lightning 5.4 engine!

For your friends at SVTP, it was a chance to sell out the last few of our â€˜I Survived Mustang Weekâ€™ T-shirts while trying to catch up on some of the cars we missed throughout the week.

Though it takes place in the same venue as the official car show, the cruise-in is open to anyone on a first come, first served basis. It fills up quickly, as does the rest of the mall parking lot.

The cruise-in also serves as a destination for several car clubs, which cruise from various locations and arrive together so they can park in rows. We saw blue Mustangs, yellow Mustangs and white Mustangs grouped together, but the highlight is the Fox Mustang cruise put together by Southeastern Fox Bodies. Though weather chased off some potential participants, this group still numbered 155 strong, and you just donâ€™t see that many Foxes together at just any car show.

Something else you donâ€™t see to often at a car show or cruise-in is a wedding, but right after the car show awards a Mustang Week wedding took placeâ€¦