Picture: Greg Pender/The Star Phoenix

Automotive education classes are a rapidly dwindling program in many school systems. It’s a shame, as cars are a vital part of today’s society. It’s also the best class from any auto enthusiasts standpoint. While most of us were goofing off, spraying each other with the windshield washer fluid squirters, other people were, you know, getting things done.

Like Celine Clarke, a 12^th grade student at Mount Royal Collegiate. The Star Phoenix reports that after six years, Clark and her classmates have finished working on a 1968 Mustang project car. Now that’s an auto class we’d like to have gone to.

Clark, and over 150 other students over the course of six years have been saving and restoring a beautiful black 1968 Mustang. When the project began, it was a rusty heap, unrecognizable as the car you see now. The car has finally been finished, and it will be raffled off to benefit Habitat for Humanity this summer. The school apparently has a long-standing relationship with the charity, which builds homes for those who need one.

We can see why they went with restoring a ’68 Mustang. It is a simple contraption from a technical stand point, without a lot of risky or complicated electronics hanging about. Plus it has a ton of appeal, even to today’s youth who are mostly absorbed with iPods and touch phones and whatnot. Tickets are just $5 a pop (though this seems to be a local auction) and going fast, and the auction is set for June 2011.