Today marks the 45th birthday of the Ford Mustang, which was first shown to the public at the New York World’s Fair on April 17, 1964.

Ford introduced fairgoers to the Mustang at the Magic Skyway exhibit, where various Ford models including 12 Mustang convertibles were drawn through a Disney-designed vision of world history, from the dinosaurs to the “City of Tomorrow.” The voice of Walt Disney himself narrated the automated journey, piped through the cars’ radio speakers.

Henry Ford II handled the official Mustang unveiling duties and introduced the Magic Skyway. Some show attendees queued up in long lines for the Disney spectacle, others simply wanted to ride into the future in what would become an American icon. As a raving young gearhead, I fell into the latter category, and my parents were kind enough to let me slide behind the wheel for the ride. I’m not sure I even noticed the dinosaurs.

 Mustang sales took off from day one, with customers flocking to dealers even as the exhibit opened, and some 22,000 were sold the first day. First-year sales topped 400,000 units, far beyond the original projections of 100,000 cars. The Mustang was off at gallop to become what is now the longest-running nameplate in the company’s history.

As a lifelong car enthusiast, I have fond memories of being there for the birth of the Mustang, and it is with the same sort of youthful enthusiasm that I look forward to getting behind the wheel of the revised 2010 model.

Everybody has a Mustang story. What’s yours? Post in the comments below.

—Jim Travers