9781422279601

M U S T A N G

As he developed his plans, he jotted down his ideas and observations in a little black book, which he always carried with him to record his thoughts as they occured. Reflecting on the staid, conventional McNamara legacy, Iacocca knew that something had to be done to create a new and youthful image for Ford. With the baby boomers in mind, he initiated the Total Performance Program, which returned Ford to racing, whipping up a storm on the NASCAR ovals with stylish fastback Galaxies. In Europe, Ford won with the compact Falcon in the presti- gious Monte Carlo Rally, and then moved on to the world’s greatest road race, the Le Mans 24 Hour event. Having caught the attention of the younger generation, Iacocca presented his idea for a sporty, four-seater, small car to Ford executives. He was bolstered by market research which showed that the age 15 to 29 segment of the population would grow by fifty percent within the next ten years. Furthermore, a survey of people under the age of twenty-five indicated strong interest in an affordable car that offered four-speed manual transmission, bucket seats, optional engines, and sporty good looks. Getting It Right Though it wasn’t hard to decide to build such a car, designing it was another mat- ter. At first it seemed that the first try, known as Mustang I, would be a success. It was a two seater, like the Triumph and MG, and was an instant hit with racing drivers and the automotive press. It was not a hit, however, with Lee Iacocca. He insisted that Mustang I was too expensive to build, and since it was impractical as a family car, would not be popular with the general public. More evidence was coming through that the babyboomers wanted four seats, not two. A new concept had to be designed. To ensure he got what he wanted, Iacocca assigned all of FoMoCo’s design teams in a competition to see who would build the right car. With four separate design studios working night and day, the styling teams prepared seven different clay models for evaluation. In the end, it was the design Ford Styling’s Dave Ash that won the day. Ash’s car was based on the Falcon floorpan, had a 108-inch wheelbase and 186-inch over- all length, six inches longer than the specifications called for. This would be corrected in the production version. Actually there was very little modification to Ash’s original design. SinceV-8 powerplants were popular, the Mustang II was designed to take both six-cylinder and V-8 engines. As it turned out, the six was the entry or standard en- gine, but the great majority of buyers opted for the range of V-8s Mustangs would have up until 1973. Soon the car was ready, and the production lines tooled up. The Mustang Arrives Just prior to its public introduction on April 17, 1964, the Mustang was the sub- ject of a massive media campaign, with cover stories in both Time and Newseek, prime time commercials on all three television networks, and articles and advertisements in 2,600 newspapers. So succesful was this coverage, that on the first day the dealers hardly knew what hit them. They were expecting a crowd,

The interior of a 1965 Mustang Fastback displays the sporty nature of design. Note the fake steering wheel spokes.

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