FORD MUSTANG

Motoring

MUSTANG SALLY

Alf Alderson gets behind the wheel and the history of an American icon, the Ford Mustang

Of the wide and varied marques of car that were manufactured in the USA in the 20th century, one stands out above all others as the quintessential American automobile – the Ford Mustang.

The name still lives on almost sixty years after the first Mustang hit US car showrooms in 1964, but it’s generally accepted that the classic Mustangs, as featured in so many songs and movies (see box) are those of the 1960s.

Consequently, this article focuses on the early Mustangs, on the basis that from the 1970s onwards the Mustang somewhat lost its way, becoming longer, wider and heavier and, in the 80s and 90s in particular, lacking in the style and elan that marked out the original car. Today’s sixth generation Mustangs give a nod, styling wise, to their iconic 60s forebears, but since they tend to be the vehicle

“First manufactured in 1964, the two-door Ford Mustang came with three body styles (convertible, coupé and fastback) and was expected to sell 100,000 units in its first year; it beat this four times over, making it the most successful US vehicle launch since the 1927 Ford Model A, and within two years there were over a million Mustangs on American roads”

You can have any colour you like as long as it’s red

of choice for drug dealers and rich boy racers, they have no place in this publication.

Prior to the Mustang, America had, of course, always been the country of the big car, with huge, petrol guzzling V8 engines growling away beneath bonnets the length of an aircraft carrier and suspension that offered an equally maritime feel. However, American servicemen stationed abroad during World War II and the Cold War had discovered the fun of driving small, nimble sports cars such as MGs, Alfa Romeos and Jaguars, and in the early sixties the marketing men (or the ‘Mad Men’) at Ford realised there was a demand in the US for something similar.

Indeed, the early Mustangs were described as a ‘pony car’ by Car Life editor Dennis Shattuck – a name that has stuck to this day to describe an affordable, sporty, compact four-person car that features a long bonnet (‘hood’ to use the colonial term), short boot (‘trunk’, ditto) and ‘open mouth’ front end, along with a wide range of feature options that allowed buyers effectively to personalise their car.

First manufactured in 1964, the two-door Ford Mustang came with three body styles (convertible, coupé and fastback) and was expected to sell 100,000 units in its first year. It beat this four times over, making it the most successful US vehicle launch since the 1927 Ford Model A, and within two years there were over a million Mustangs on American roads.

Production costs were kept low by utilising mass-produced parts shared with other Ford models, such as the Ford Falcon and Fairlane, and the car was aimed at the youth market in particular, which may go some way to explaining its popularity in films and music.

Early vehicles sported a 170 cu in (2.8 litre) six-cylinder engine and three-speed manual transmission, sold for a base price of US$2,368 (compared to $2,658 for an imported MGB GT) which included bucket seats, carpeting, floor shifter, sport steering wheel and full wheel covers. However, options such as a four-speed manual gearbox, air conditioning and power steering could increase the price by up to 60%, while the popular later option

Sound and Vision

Steve McQueen, Bullitt

Few cars have appeared in movies and popular music as frequently as the Ford Mustang. There are at least fifty pop songs featuring the word ‘Mustang’ in the lyrics (although some refer to the wild horse after which the car was named), from the classic ‘Mustang Sally’ by Wilson Pickett to the rather awful ‘Mustang Ford’ by T-Rex; other artists who have waxed lyrical about the vehicular icon include Dick Dale and the Del-Tones, Elton John and Rod Stewart.

In the movies, the car has at times become almost as much of a star as the actor driving it – if in any doubt think of Bullitt and Steve McQueen screeching around San Francisco in his ’68 GT Fastback (sold at auction recently for $3.74 million).

Other box office hits to feature the ‘pony car’ include Gone in Sixty Seconds, originally shot in 1974 then remade in 2000 with Nicholas Cage and Angelina Jolie. This particular Mustang even had a name, ‘Eleanor’, and it was played by a 1967 Shelby GT500. Seven Eleanor replicas were created for the 2000 production, with five being totalled during stunt sequences, while in 2019 the original Eleanor was sold at auction for $2.2 million.

A 1969 Mustang Mach 1 features in the John Wick series, while a ’71 Mach 1 (the heaviest and longest Mustang built) is one of the stars of the show in Diamonds Are Forever, escaping from the baddies on two wheels down a narrow alleyway with James Bond at the wheel (Sean Connery’s stunt double Bill Hickman actually did the driving). Observant viewers may note that the car enters the alleyway on its right wheels and leaves on the left wheels.

An earlier Bond movie, Goldfinger, was the first ever to feature a Mustang, in this case a 1964 white convertible with red interior, which was used as a product placement when the movie was released on 17th September 1964 at its London premiere. The convertible enjoyed the privilege of featuring alongside Bond’s Aston Martin DB5, while a turquoise coupé featured in the second Bond movie, Thunderball.

Gone in Sixty Seconds Diamonds Are Forever

Are you gonna put the surfboard on the bucket seat, honey?

of V8 engines, initially a 260 cu in (4.3 litre) with 164 hp then a 289 cu in (4.7 litre) producing 210 hp, also increased the price.

The V8 is an option still favoured today by classic car collectors, despite the associated increase in fuel consumption – my own V8 has a later 302 cu in (4.9 litre) engine, which averages approximately 15-20 miles per gallon, much to the irritation of my eco warrior friends; even so, the car is actually carbon neutral, given its age and thus actually more environmentally friendly than a new electric car, as well as being far prettier and much more fun to drive. Plus there is no road tax and no MOT required.

As mentioned above, advertising campaigns for the Mustang focused on the youth market, but not entirely – glossy magazine images of shiny young men and women removing their surfboards from the roof of their Mustang on a California beach pretty much summed up the sun-kissed, hedonistic mid-sixties US lifestyle that the rest of the world yearned for, but Ford were also keen to point out that the car worked equally well for families, with its four seats and (by American standards) good fuel economy, while period reviewers praised it for its handling.

That said, American racing car ace Carroll Shelby somewhat witheringly described the basic Mustang as a ‘secretary’s car’ before he set about upgrading the car for racing in the form of the Shelby GT 350, which put out more than 300 hp, had track-tuned suspension and racing stripes and is the version of the car that often comes to mind for many people when they picture a ‘classic’ Mustang.

Despite Shelby’s disparaging remarks, the ‘secretary’s car’ was a spectacular hit from day one, receiving over 2,500 positive reviews in US newspapers on the day it was launched. Its success forced other car manufacturers to come up with competition, including the 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird and the 1970 Dodge Challenger, in what became one of the most colourful periods in American motoring history and the start of the ‘muscle car’ invasion of American roads.

The Mustang’s influence also extended further afield, with Europe getting its own version of the pony car in the form of the Ford Capri in the early seventies, designed by Philip T. Clark, who was also involved in the design of the Mustang – the similarities in styling are very apparent.

As the sixties drew to a close, the Mustang was redesigned and as a result morphed into what we would now regard as the classic muscle car – the

The author’s 1967 Mustang Coupé

overall dimensions of the vehicle increased, which allowed a more powerful big block engine to be offered for the first time, but the original Mustang shape could still be readily discerned in these bigger models.

From 1969, various performance and decorative options also became available, giving the Mustang a more aggressive look – these included functional (and non-functional) air scoops, cable and pin hood tie-downs and both wing and chin spoilers. Additionally, a variety of performance packages were introduced that included the Mach 1, the Boss 302, and Boss 429, the two Boss models being built mainly to homologate the engines for racing. 1969 was also the last year for the GT option, while a fourth model, the Grandé, was made available, but only as a hardtop; it offered a softer ride, ‘luxury’ trim, including wood, and 55 pounds of extra sound deadening.

The Mustang was gradually moving away from the classic, stylish appearance of the original models and, as is the way of such things, it would never again achieve the success of the original in terms of sales or simple, timeless good looks.

My own love of the Ford Mustang harks back to Christmas 1969 and the gift of a Hot Wheels set from my parents, which included a model of a ’68 Ford Mustang. Somewhere at the back of my mind for the following fifty years there had been a hankering to own the real thing, which I finally gave in to last year, buying a 1967 Mustang Coupé in very fetching original lime gold paintwork with matching interior.

I have no wish to repeat the antics of my original Hot Wheels Mustang (I’m not sure exactly where one goes to do the loop the loop in a car in any case), but there is immense pleasure to be had in cruising along the Queen’s highway, V8 burbling away while bringing a smile to the faces of so many who see this archetypal American car pass by. n

FLÂNEUR

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