The story of the Mustang can't really be told without starting with original idea in the mind of a man who has become synonyms with the Mustang, Mr. Lee Iacocca. As early as 1960 Mr. Iacocca had an idea in mind for a sports car that would hold 4 people. His idea was to produce a car that could be bought by the masses and would cost less than $2,500.00. It was no secret at the time that Ford was not necessarily in favor spending millions of dollars re-tooling for a car that was to be sold to a completely unproven market.
Through some intense market analysis and the bull dog determination of Mr. Iacocca Ford did finally give the go ahead to build the sporty 2 door. In an interesting twist the final clay model was approved in September of 1962, dubbed the "Cougar". The name was of course later changed Mustang but not before "Torino" and "T-5" were also considered. After all T-5 was the secret code name for the project up to that point. From September 1962 to its introduction in 1964 the engineering team at Ford worked feverishly to meet the deadline and bring the car in at the desired price of $2,500.00.
On April 17, 1964 it was finally time for the public to meet the new Ford Mustang. Thanks to a skillful advertizing campaign that covered television, magazines, radio and newspapers Ford dealers across the United States were overrun by buyers and the general public to get their first real look at the car they had heard so much about. Reports of jammed showrooms and people sleeping in cars just to get a chance to buy them were the norm. Mr. Iacocca could have only dreamed about the revolution he had started in the automotive world.
It is easiest to breakdown the Mustang into the body style change groups and the go deeper from there. The first group of Mustangs have been come to be known as the:
* First Generation cars sold from April of 1964 through the 1966 model year.
* 1967 and 1968 Mustang "Second Generation" cars offered some changes to the body style and power train to keep it looking new and more powerful to secure its place against newly introduced Camaro.
* 1969 and 1970 Mustang "Third Generation" cars were a bigger change yet with a larger body and yet more power.
* 1971 to 1973 Mustang "Forth Generation" were dubbed the "big" Mustangs while the wheel base was only one inch longer than the 1969 Mustang and the body only two and a half inches longer it appeared much longer to the untrained eye.
* 1974 to 1978 Mustang "Fifth Generation" The Mustang II was a big departure from the early models but to many peoples surprise the 74 model was the best selling model up to that time.
1/25/11
Ford Mustang 1964 1/2 to 2011 History and Guide
