Jay Leno finally drives rare 1965 Ford Mustang he rode in as a kid 60 years ago

Jay Leno has been given the chance to drive a rare 1965 Ford Mustang almost 60 years after being a passenger in the same car. 

The first-generation 1965 Ford Mustang was officially launched at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. 

At the time, it was one of the biggest car launches ever, with Ford enlisting the help of Walt Disney to create the Magic Skyway ride. 

The ride featured more than 100 real Ford cars, including 25 then-brand-new Mustangs, that visitors would sit inside while they went through through an almost half-mile, twelve-minute ride that depicted ‘millions of years of life on Earth.’

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Jay Leno was just a kid when he rode in the Ford Mustang

Ford estimated that around 15 million attendees took the ride – amongst them, a young Leno who visited the World’s Fair with his dad. 

And it appears that the ride in the Mustang had a lasting impression on the TV personality who is now a fully-fledged car fanatic – with a collection of almost 300 cars – and host of the Emmy-winning Jay Leno’s Garage. 

On a recent episode of the hit show, Leno was joined by Ted Ryan, the Archive and Heritage Brand Manager for Ford Motor Company. 

Ryan brought along one of the original 1965 Ford Mustangs that was used in the Magic Skyway ride. 

Leno believed it could have been the exact same vehicle

The car had a clean all-white exterior with a bright red leather interior – and was noticeably missing side mirrors as those were deemed as optional extras on the original Mustang. 

Leno recalled that the car he got into as a kid was white, and asked Ryan if all the cars used on the ride had been white, which turned out not to be the case – leading Leno to believe that the Mustang was likely the exact same one he’d been in as a kid. Pretty cool, right?

Almost 60 years since he sat in the Mustang as an excited kid, Leno was given the chance to get in the driving seat. 

And it’s fair to say he was pretty delighted about the whole situation. 

“Suddenly, it is 1964,” he said from behind the wheel.

A real trip down memory lane.