Posted on 11/17/2018 7:47:23 AM PST by ETL
The Ford Mustang is an American car manufactured by Ford. It was originally based on the platform of the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car.[1]
The original 1962 Ford Mustang I two-seater concept car had evolved into the 1963 Mustang II four-seater concept car which Ford used to pretest how the public would take interest in the first production Mustang.
The 1963 Mustang II concept car was designed with a variation of the production model's front and rear ends with a roof that was 2.7 inches shorter.[2]
Introduced early on April 17, 1964[3] (16 days after the Plymouth Barracuda), and thus dubbed as a "1964½" by Mustang fans, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A.[4]
The Mustang has undergone several transformations to its current sixth generation.
The Mustang created the "pony car" class of American muscle cars, affordable sporty coupes with long hoods and short rear decks,[5] and gave rise to competitors such as the Chevrolet Camaro,[6] Pontiac Firebird, AMC Javelin,[7] Chrysler's revamped Plymouth Barracuda, and the second generation Dodge Challenger.[8]
The Mustang is also credited for inspiring the designs of coupés such as the Toyota Celica and Ford Capri, which were imported to the United States.
As of August 2018, over 10 million Mustangs have been produced in the U.S.[9]
Awesome. Beautiful. Toothsome. Then 1974 happens. Ugh. Puke. The suckage is strong in this one.
Now I have one like this. Not as nice in some ways as the 1970 I had but has a nice 4.6L V8 growl and better suspension. The 1999-2004 gen is known as the "Edge" gen due to the flat edge scoop on back/side. The previous gen was a Fox gen. It had a rounded scoop on the back/side.
Fox gen.
Had a 1970 Camaro for a time too. I couldn't tell you which one I liked better. Both were good looking fun cars.
Some interesting tidbits I spotted and never knew before:
* "minor design updates in August 1964 at the "formal" start of the 1965 production year contribute to tracking 1964½ production data separately from 1965 data." I always thought the '65 was the same as the 64½.
* "The Mustang I made its formal debut at the United States Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, New York, on October 7, 1962, where test driver and contemporary Formula One race driver Dan Gurney lapped the track in a demonstration using the second "race" prototype. His lap times were only slightly off the pace of the F1 race cars. That is hard to believe especially because F1 cars had just made the change to mid-engine layouts for better front/rear weight distribution and Lotus introduced the aluminum sheet monocoque chassis in 1962. But F1 rubber in those days was rather hard and engines were limited to 1.5 liter displacement (in 1961, in an attempt to curb speeds, F1 was downgraded to 1.5-litre, non-supercharged engines).
That was the end of the muscle car era and the beginning of gas shortages. It was also when the EPA killed the car industry, especially in CA, with all the smog crap that took a 350 Chevy V8 with 300 hp and turned it into a 200 hp dog due to the detuning and bad catalytic converters that plugged up.
It took 10 years to start coming out of that nightmare. Fuel injection was scary at first because it was new but then people started seeing the potential plus the better gas mileage. It was transformational. Now a carbed car or motorcycle seems ancient and low tech which of course is why some folks still like them. FI is more computery and not everyone embraces tech.
My challenger is 3500 pounds.
And that is without me in it :)
bump
$3,250 new.
Biggest mistake of my life was when I sold it.
Whoa...that’s one of those trick photos. If you stare at it just right, you’ll see a white Mustang.
People have forgotten that cars made before the 1980s rarely lived very long. The oils were very inferior to current standards, lead in the gasoline clotted up the engines, the sheet metal wasn't galvanized, a lot of salt on the roads, etc... .
I had a friend that in 1992 bought a restored 1966 mustang. He lived by the beach. By 1996, the thing was a piece of junk. The salt air completely rusted it out.
I have another friend who is a "car guy." He collects old cars and drives what he collects. About 15 years ago he bought a 1969 Camero that had about 110,000 on the odometer and was cosmetically in really good shape. The engine was worn out. My friend rebuilt the engine himself (including hardened valve seats, so he could use unleaded gas). He said that the engine was completely gunked up. After he got the engine rebuilt, he started using synthetic oil. Over the following years years he kept driving it while restoring it. When the engine had another 100,000 mile on it he did some compression tests and pulled the valve covers off. He told me that the engine was clean inside and the compression was almost the same as when he rebuilt it.
1976
Favorites by far are the ‘65-’66 fastbacks with the 289 cid hi-po engine with man. transmission and man. steering.
1985
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