Ford insiders know Mike Berardi from his years serving as the Director of Ford’s Field Service Engineering operations. But enthusiasts from across the Midwest may know him more from his personal collection of 70-plus Mustangs (along with some interesting Fords). Thanks to the work of former FordPerformance.com photographer Joe Deladvitch, John and Mike take you on a picture tour of Berardi’s cars, with some cool backstories adding to the eclectic mix. Find out about Mike & Sue Berardi’s involvement with Good Humor Ice Cream, distributed at select events via their fleet of restored classic Ford Good Humor trucks – it’ll make you instantly understand why Berardi is a well-respected and beloved enthusiast collector who just recently took the helm of MOCSEM, replacing Mike Rey as president of Detroit’s mega-Mustang club.

In this latest Mustang Mailbag episode, John and Mike respond to an email filled with a whole host of suggestions – including the perceived need for the creation of a web-based “Mustang Resource Center.” Then they combined several inquiries into one response to answer what happened to the annual Midwest Club Summit that John and Mike had hosted for the past decade. Should it be resurrected as a live seminar at the Carlisle Ford Nationals? Finally, a podcast viewer from the Thunderbird club world offers his ideas on how to best interact with young enthusiasts. Lots of great info and insight here, and make sure to listen to the very end to get word on Thunderbird Appreciation Day 2026!

It keeps on happening, so we decided to put a stop to it – the myth that the Ford Mustang was named after the WWII fighter plane just won’t go away. After a podcast subscriber spotted a big-name website pushing the falsehood, we knew we had to get Smart! No, not get wiser, but to get noted Mustang author, historian and expert Jim Smart to come on the podcast and reveal what Lee Iacocca and others had told him about the Mustang being named after a horse, John and Mike share their own insider info – from the likes of Gale Halderman and Hal Sperlich – to finally shoot down this Mustang myth once and for all.