Car News
Happy Birthday, Ford Mustang!
We celebrate decades of Ford’s iconic muscle machine.
APRIL17. 2018BY STEVE SILER MULTIPLE PHOTOGRAPHERS
Long about 1964 on this day in the Queens borough of New York City, the public got its first look at the Ford Mustang. The reception was, to say the least, buoyant.
“When the Mustang was unveiled, the reaction was so positive that there was no doubt it was going to be a success,” recalls Joe Oros, chief designer of the original Mustang (technically a 1965 model but widely known as a 1964½ because it was launched at an unusual halfway point in the year). The Ford folks were right: 22,000 orders were taken on the first day the car went on sale.
We loved it, too, and since then, we have had devoted hundreds of pages and five 10Best awards to Ford’s second-most-iconic automobile (after the Model T, of course). A quick perusal of our archives unearthed no fewer than 143 stories on the Mustang, including 32 comparison tests, 22 road tests, and dozens more news items, previews, and auto show stories during which we wax about its distinctly American take on performance—and barrage readers with an infinite number of horse- and pony-related puns and metaphors. Here on CARandDRIVER.com, a quick search of the word “Mustang” returned 199 results at the time of this writing and anniversary coverage will push us over 200, a milestone in itself.
We’ll congratulate ourselves privately for that, but know that Ford is spending the weekend dancing in the streets, corralling Mustangs and Mustang lovers alike in numerous locations from Dearborn, Michigan, to Buena Park, California. The biggest party is being thrown by Ford Motor Company and the Mustang Club of America in Birmingham, Alabama. Wanna go? Check out http://www.mustangevents.org for more info.
My, How You’ve Grown
Of course, the Mustang has evolved massively since its first showing at the New York World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens. Now in its fifth generation, the current vehicle looks more like the original than any Mustang since, well, the original. However, it goes faster, turns better, and is more comfortable, safer, and far better equipped than any previous Stang. Still, through the years, many Mustang qualities have remained constant: it has always been one of the most stylish American cars (save the Mustang II); it has appealed equally to men and women alike; and it has been generally successful in bringing automotive muscle to the masses.
Of course, the modern Mustang faces its stiffest competition ever now that the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger are back from the grave. But with fuel-economy concerns and economic woes dominating the headlines, we’re fearful this competition may not last very long. And so we join Ford and the rest of the automotive community in wishing a big Happy Birthday to the amazing Mustang.
8 comments:
Has "Southern Orders" been hacked?
There was a priest in South Carolina back in the ‘90’s who was a motorhead. He built race cars for one of the local circuits and drove them! They were always black and had something about his ministry on it, but mostly black. The cars were all built with contributions of the parts and a little money. His ministry was the prison system and he tried to use that as a traing and outreach venue. He also was a substitute in local parishes when the parish priest was out for some reason. He looked the part, too.
You don't love Mustangs? My sister dated a man, she eventually married in 1966, but in 1964 he got a brand new bright orange 1964 and 1/2 Mustang and I fell in love with it then and the affair hasn't stopped.
Plus my parish church's original church building was built by Henry Ford!!!! He named it after his mother and mother-in-law Martha and Mary, which is what it is still called today!
This post hit a sore nerve, in me. I do not want to sound boorish and anti-social, but I strongly believe we are stewards of God's wonderful creation. I see the private automobile as part of man's selfishness in rejecting God's creation. I see the private automobile as a destruction of His Creation: The layering of the surface of our planet with asphalt which entails destruction of beautiful nature; the poisoning of the air with carcinogens and toxins that derive from burning fossil fuels as well as the wear of toxic rubber tires and asphalt; the pollution of lakes and rivers with these toxins as well as road salt in the winter; the carnage of wildlife on the roads, not to mention the carnage of human beings.
Worshiping the private automobile is to me idolatry, an idolatry that pretty well is the foundation of life in our corrupt modern world.
Wow. Lots of trolls on the website today. It foretells six more weeks of fog.
Bee here:
Geez. I wonder how Victor feels about indoor plumbing... Or refrigerators.... Or even clothing...
:-)
God bless.
Bee
P.S. Father McD, my older brothers had GTO's in the 1960's, and the brother just older than me had a TransAm in the 1970's. We were not a Mustang family, but I secretly thought the Mustang was a much cooler car than a GTO. Alas, being a girl, my first car was a very practical and reliable Ford Taurus, per my dad's guidance. Whadda ya' gonna do?
"I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces." Henry Ford (1863-1947)
One of my favorite ways to relax and unwind is to take out my 1931 Model A Ford open phaeton (or my 1923 Model T Ford open touring) and cruise low traffic (no semi's to pass me) country roads in the late afternoons, enjoying "God's great open spaces" per old Henry's suggestion!
Driving becomes less of a pleasure when it only involves high-volume, high speed (or congested low speed or no speed) enclosed car driving. I could never stand to live in a large city!
The Mustang has never looked better. The epitome of continuity!
Post a Comment