Mustang Sally never rides without Simba sitting shotgun in her fully decked-out sedan. Simba, Mustang Sally’s miniature Shih Tzu, has been riding with her since Lady “M” Sedan Transportation Services opened two years ago.
- Krista Boyd/Daily
- Mustang Sally and her dog, Simba, pose for a photo on April 13, 2009.
Mustang Sally only reveals her real name, Mryna Ismail, when pressed — she prefers the anonymity and mystique of her moniker instead.
“When I came back from surgery, I was high as a kite,” Mustang Sally said, explaining how she came to chose her nickname — partly based off of a friend’s name and a Wilson Pickett song, which she says her customers request “a hundred times a night”.
Some of the things that differentiate Mustang Sally’s Sedan #36 from others are the decorations. Yellow paper Easter ornaments hang from the ceiling of her vehicle. When she turns on a switch, neon green lights flicker brightly from the aisles.
“I can’t stand a plain cab,” Mustang Sally said. “When I used to work for Yellow Cab, I fixed it up and called it the ‘Love Cab.’”
A cab driver for five years, Mustang Sally is well versed in the politics of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
One of her customers, who she says is a well-known male figure in Ann Arbor, had been riding in her cab on different occasions with four female companions — none of whom, Mustang Sally dryly noted, she could distinguish as his girlfriend.
“I never squealed on him,” Mustang Sally said. “And he’s been a devout customer ever since.”
Her motto is that “if you treat people like one in a million, you’re going to get that right back.”
Subsequently, Mustang Sally also has what she calls a “V.I.P program,” where she bakes cookies for her customers and sends them e-mails to check up on how they’re doing.
“I just try to be a good parent to these kids,” Mustang Sally said. “Most cab drivers just take them from Point A to Point B. But I just want to love on them.”