NEW ORLEANS – A New Orleans musician has penned a sprawling, autobiographical ode to his beloved Ford Mustang in an epic Facebook Marketplace post.
John Dixon of the Shotgun Jazz Band recounts his relationship with his 2005 Mustang in the nearly 2,500 word post that is drawing rave reviews on Facebook.
Dixon writes that had been eyeing the new Mustangs when his previous vehicle, a 1988 Ford F150 he nicknamed “The Beast,” finally broke down “on some sickeningly picturesque North Carolina backroad.”
Strapped for cash at the time due to a recent investment he and his wife had made in their first home, which was “owned by a man that shot himself in the stomach with a nail gun while trying to make repairs.”
After securing a loan from his father, Dixon ended up buying the only Mustang on the local Ford dealer’s lot, beginning a truly epic relationship between a man and his vehicle.
“I loved driving it immediately,” Dixon said. “The 5-speed stick let me peel out. The dual exhaust sounded bitchin even for a V6. I made my own 8-ball shifter from the billiard ball set that came with the pool table that my dad got my brother and I for Christmas.”
Eventually, Dixon’s marriage fell apart, and he ended up working from home and not getting out enough, a story he said is “for another Marketplace listing.”
“I found myself daydreaming about who might find my body, and then I thought…I should take a nice long drive,” he said.
Dixon hit the road in his trusty Mustang, headed for an overdue visit to friends in Los Angeles.
After a couple of weeks in LA, Dixon texted a girl named Marla he had met not long before who had the same last name as him, a coincidence he figured was a good enough excuse to start a conversation.
Marla Dixon ended up joining John Dixon on the road in his trusty Mustang, and, years later, the couple moved to New Orleans, started a band, and got married.
While Marla and John Dixon are still happily making music together and touring with the Shotgun Jazz Band, John’s days with his beloved Mustang are coming to a close.
“Marla has a car of her own, now, and I have an old truck that needs some attention. Someone else should get this car,” he wrote. “But, I am gonna miss it enough that I thought maybe whoever gets it should know more about it besides ‘once I bought this car, and now I’m selling it.’”
That instinct led to some grateful readers on Facebook.
“…that was the best thing I’ve ever read, and I’m not even in the market for a Mustang,” the first comment reads.
“The best used car ad ever, bar none,” another reader commented.
Read John Dixon’s full ode to his beloved Mustang below.