Ron Scalzo's 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
Many Ford enthusiasts share the dream of winning a Mustang in a raffle, but more often than not they never even find out who won the car after purchasing tickets. That’s why the story of how Ron Scalzo of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, bought tickets to the JDRF 1-of-1 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 raffle back in 2019 — and wound up winning the car — is so cool. Ron shares his Mustang story of being a Ford raffle car winner — and meeting with Edsel Ford II in the process — below:
“My name is Ron Scalzo. I just have to share the story of how a won a 1-of-1 2020 Shelby GT500 Mustang in a Ford raffle to benefit JDRF. I had attended the Barrett-Jackson auction in Palm Beach in April of 2019. I was there with three of my best friends from my college days just to have a good time, although one of them was potentially interested in going home with a car so we had tickets in the bidders’ section for the weekend.
“On auction Saturday we were watching cars come across the block and I got up for a pit stop and to grab some refreshments. On the way back I stopped to look at some cars in an area that Ford was sponsoring. There was a GT40 and a Shelby on display and I noticed that they were selling raffle tickets for a “1 of 1 Venom Gray 2020 GT500” to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). This was the first event they were selling tickets, so I bought two $10 tickets (ticket #265 and #266) and went back to my seat to join my friends. At the time, the raffle car had not even been built yet so there was just an artist rendering of what the GT500 would look like (which was pretty wicked).
“The drawing for the car was not going to be until November 14, 2019, so when I returned home, I put the tickets in my desk drawer and kind of forgot about them. JDRF proceeded to sell raffle tickets for this car across the country at a variety of events including other B-J Auctions, SEMA, etc., and in the end sold over 70,000 tickets. The car was #20 off the line, so for some of the later events that year (including SEMA) it had been trucked around the country to promote the charity raffle.
“So fast-forward to November 14th, 2019. I had completely forgotten about the drawing and was driving to Charleston to attend a wedding with my wife and my youngest son, Domenic, who was 18 at the time. My phone rang several times from an unknown Detroit phone number, which I assumed was a spam so I ignored it. We stopped for lunch at a Jersey Mike’s, then I dropped my wife off, parked the car and checked my voicemail and email. Turns out I should have answered the phone!
“I immediately returned the call and was told I was the JDRF raffle grand prize winner of the 2020 Shelby GT500. Admittedly I was a bit stunned and in disbelief. Domenic, who was still in the car with me, heard me say, ‘Is this for real — I won the Shelby?’ For the next few days I was still a little skeptical if this was for real or not. I began to receive email correspondences from JDRF with others copied on the emails. To convince myself it was for real, I checked out the other names of people copied on the emails and, sure enough, they were either with JDRF or members of the Ford Performance team — which was super exciting.
“I was given the choice to either have the car shipped to a local dealer, or to come to Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn and meet Edsel Ford II, Team JDRF and members of the Ford Performance team. Obviously, I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to go to Ford. It took several days to confirm a date to receive the car, as it was based on Mr. Ford’s availability. Finally we agreed that we would get the car at Ford WHQ on December 18, 2019. I booked round-trip tickets and a hotel reservation for myself and son Domenic, departing Atlanta on December 17th and returning the next evening.
“We went to Ford WHQ on the morning of December 18th and members from both JDRF and Ford Performance greeted us. Together we went to the Executive Garage to see the car, which was parked in an area where it was the only car around. It was drop-dead gorgeous at first sight! Shortly thereafter we were joined by Edsel Ford II, and the team presented me with a blown-up poster-board picture of the car, which Mr. Ford signed for me. He also signed his name under the hood and on the inside of the glove box — making the car even more unique.
“A couple of guys from Ford Performance gave us a tutorial on the GT500 and walked us through some of the car’s features, such as how Track Mode worked, etc. We finally got to fire it up and to listen to that sweet exhaust! We were in the garage in total about 90 minutes, and Mr. Ford was with us for about 30 minutes of that time. While we were there, we also got to see some of the cars that were personally owned by the Ford family, including a couple of GT40s, several Cobras and several vintage Mustangs.
“After we left Ford WHQ, we went over to the Henry Ford museum and later did a tour of the F-150 Dearborn Assembly Plant before heading to the airport to fly back home. The car was picked up that same day and was in transit to my local dealer. The GT500 arrived at the dealership in a couple of days and was on display on the showroom floor — stanchioned off — while the paperwork, transfer of title, settlement of tax and delivery, etc. got sorted out. I was finally able to pick up the car on December 28, 2019, and drive it home. Unreal! And that’s my story on how I won my 1-of-1 2020 Shelby GT500 Mustang!”
(photo credit: Ford Performance)
