Mustang Does It!: An Illustrated History

In 1964, one automobile Manufacturer broke through the ho-hum barriers of conservative design and produced an entirely new model intended to satisfy the interests of several segments of the Market. The car, with its lengthened and extended hood, foreshortened rear deck, sculptured body panels and sporty bucket seats succeeded in providing a family-size sedan for the supermarket crowd, a "youthful abandon" appearance for those whose memories dealt with the earlier two-passenger Thunderbird, abundant power and control options for the soon-to-be-called "macho" segment, and a platform on which the speed-oriented could bolt readily available added power and handling accessories with which to convert it to an all-out sports car racing machine.

That manufacturer was the Ford Motor Company and the car was MUSTANG! That Ford's project was right on target is attested to by the fact that the car found over 100,000 buyers in its first four months, a half million more in the next twelve, and it reached a total of well-over one million cars in fewer than twenty-four months! Mustang's initial sales set an unequalled record that has yet to be eclipsed.

Its very success resulted in the production of similar cars (its name even provided their description, "pony cars"} by other manufacturers, and the competitive race was on. the result was to be a departure from the original concepts and by 1973 Mustang had grown some 12 inches in length and almost 20% in weight`. No longer "the car that was designed by you", it yet remained the choice of loyalists but offered those who preferred something "different" little reason to justify its selection. Thus, Ford Motor Company, in an unusual reaction achieved another notable success when it introduced the more compact 1974 model marking the very first time the industry had down-sized a successful line of its cars.

The factors that made the original Mustang the outstanding popular choice that it became in the 1960's remain effective today. Less than a dozen years later they inspired Collectors to seek out the more desirable models. The price of early Convertibles and slant-backs rose sharply until today when virtually all of the early Mustangs have joined the ranks of those outstanding Collectible automobiles of earlier years.

and still ....MUSTANG Does It!