Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 18, 1994                   TAG: 9404180020
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

MAN AND HIS MUSTANG REUNITED

Arriving at the first national convention of the Mustang Club of America, Clinton took obvious pleasure in what is now an unusual activity.

"I never dreamed I'd be invited here to this event and given a chance to drive my car; nobody lets me drive any more," Clinton said after tooling past a reviewing stand at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

He said the car, which has been on display in a museum since the beginning of his presidency, works pretty well, "except the door still doesn't open from the inside."

The president was given a red jacket advertising the Mustang's 30th anniversary. And he waved another gift - a black-and-white checked starter's flag.

Reporters have had a hard time describing the color of Clinton's convertible. The president joined the confusion.

"It's sort of a turquoise," he began. Then, responding to a shout from the crowd of several thousand people, he amended that to "hornet green."

Some 300 Mustangs of all vintages, all in top condition, awaited his inspection.

"I'm glad there is this common interest and I look forward to getting out there to see some of the best cars there are," he said.

Earlier Sunday, Clinton played golf in Williamsburg, Va., while his staff monitored the quickly changing situation in Bosnia.

Clinton bought his Mustang from his half-brother, Roger, and restored it. He left the convertible behind in Little Rock, Ark., after winning the 1992 presidential election.

Since then, the car has been on display at the Museum of Automobiles near Morrilton, Ark. The nonprofit museum was founded by the late Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller.

Talking about his car last fall, Clinton said, "All of us have car-crazy moments."

"One of my most prized possessions is a 1967 Mustang that I restored a few years ago," he said then. "And I think when I left my home, it was the thing I most regretted leaving behind."

As governor of Arkansas, Clinton like to cruise from Little Rock down to Hot Springs behind the wheel, one hand gripping a burger, rock blaring through the JVC speakers as his foot fed the gas, shouting happily over the noise to his terrified passenger.

On his 46th birthday two years ago, he squeezed into an old Hot Springs High sweater, Hillary Rodham Clinton donned a school-days skirt, and off they roared.