Pictured is rock star Bob Seger's 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback, which will be the Celebrity Car of the Year at the 2010 St. Ignace Car Show Thursday, June 24, to Saturday, June 26. Owners David and Kaye Persell of Charlotte say the American classic is still in flawless condition. Mr. Seger, a Michigan native, made the purchase in San Jose, California, en route to a San Francisco concert. (Photographs courtesy of David and Kaye Persell) En route to a concert in San Francisco, Michigan-born rock star Bob Seger stopped in San Jose to buy a 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback, his first brand new car. Four decades have passed since the purchase, but with only 6,200 original miles, the American classic is still in pristine condition, say the car's current owners, David and Kaye Persell of Charlotte.

Fans will have the chance to see the Caspian blue Mustang firsthand at the 35th Annual St. Ignace Car Show Thursday, June 24, to Saturday, June 26. It will be on display as the 2010 Celebrity Car of the Year.

Equipped with a 289 two-barrel engine and a three-speed floor transmission, the car is a spitting image of what it looked like when Mr. Seger bought it in 1965, Mr. Persell said. It still has the original bill of sale, license plate, and title in the name of Robert Clark Seger from Birmingham, Michigan, all of which will be on exhibit.

“It's like it was the day it was built,” said Mr. Persell of the car, which still has the original vehicle starting instruction sheet wrapped around the passenger visor, and paint codes embossed on the engine. “People are shocked when they look at it and realize it's almost a 50-year-old car.”

The story of how Mr. Persell found the car isn't complicated because it was the exact model he'd been looking to add to his collection. So when in 2006 he heard of the car from Kip Sheward, a celebrity car collector from Novi, there was no need to brood over the purchase.

Bob Seger's 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback (left and above) will join hundreds of cars on display at St. Ignace next weekend. “He called me and told me he'd found a car I'd be interested in, that it was literally brand new, had virtually no miles, hadn't been driven, and had been owned by Seger for a long time. I made the commitment to buy it,” he said.

During its heyday, Ford massproduced more than 600,000, so the car itself isn't scarce, Mr. Persell explained, but the fact that it's in mint condition and was owned by a Michigan celebrity makes it a rarity.

The couple has featured the car at several shows across the state, Mr. Persell said, and they are honored to have it featured in St. Ignace this year. Part of their enjoyment at shows, he added, has been shooting the breeze with fans and exchanging memories from the 1960s.

“We're very chatty about it,” he said of the car. “We open the trunk and let people sit in [the car]. It's a true classic in time.”

The St. Ignace Car Show will feature a cruise night Thursday, June 24, Down Memory Lane Parade Friday, June 25, at 7 p.m., and hundreds of cars on display on State Street, renamed “Memory Lane,” all day Saturday, June 26. Admission is free.