Posted on 10/05/2004 9:41:38 AM PDT by yankeedame
Can the Pony Ride Again?
Jerry Flint,
10.18.04, 12:00 AM ET
Remember 1965? We had Vietnam and watts, free love, Vatican II, the Beatles, Joan Baez. And we had the Mustang. Back then cars were really important, and the Ford 1965 Mustang, introduced at the New York World's Fair in April 1964, created a wave of car excitement in America never seen before or since. The Mustang and its evangelist, Lee Iacocca, were on the covers of Time and Newsweek the same week.
Mustang made Iacocca the most famous executive in America. Later he was president of Ford and then savior of Chrysler, but above all, he was the Mustang man.
Mustang had a personality. It wasn't "longer, lower, wider," the Detroit mantra back then. It had no tail fins. It was no Grand Prix racer, and it couldn't carry six bags of fertilizer for the new lawn.
Iacocca had discovered a great secret. We wanted our cars to be fun. They didn't have to be perfect. They just had to be fun, and the Mustang brought fun back to the American street.
Ford sold 542,000 through the end of 1965. Only the big pickups sell more today. Other pony cars came and went: Chevy's Camaro and Pontiac Firebird, the Plymouth Barracuda and American Motors' Javelin, but nothing--from Detroit or Japan or Germany--ever caught Mustang.
Eventually Ford mucked it up. There were fat Mustangs and even ugly Mustangs. Once Ford executives tried to kill the pony, and an honest-to-God citizens' revolt forced them to keep it.
Now here comes a new Mustang, available mid-October. I was told that on the first day design chief J Mays gathered his staff, someone suggested a research effort to find out what to build. And Mays said something like, "No studies. If we don't know what a Mustang is, we should be working someplace else."
The new Mustang looks like a Mustang. It's got two terrific new engines, a six-cylinder with 210 horsepower and a V-8 with 300, and they both go like stink. The interior is lots better than the old one.
Problems? Well, I think the interior and the dash should have used more color, and the instruments are really hard to see in bright sunlight.
But the real threat to Mustang's future success is the conflict between the buyers and the builders. The Mustang is a "girl's car." Most Mustangs had six cylinders, and many buyers have been women. Why? Because it was a good-looking car for not much money, and young women had good taste and not much money. But the boys who built it wanted it hot, with bigger V-8s and more speed. They called the car the Boss, the Cobra, the Mach 1. More weight and cost chased away the customers who bought the car.
Could it happen again? Absolutely. The designers can't wait to turn up the power.
At least Iacocca knew he needed a low price--$2,368 was the base. The new 2005 Mustang starts at $19,410 for the V-6 coupe at 210hp (the '65 had 101). The V-8, with 300hp, starts at $25,000, and you can run it up to $30,000 with extras. These are reasonable base prices, too, but Ford has to be careful it doesn't fill the dealers' lots with option-laden models that cost too much and turn off potential customers. (That's what Chrysler did initially with its Pacifica.)
So how many will Ford sell? Not as many as in 1965, but more than the 140,000 sold last year. They are built in a factory just outside Dearborn, Mich. that also makes Mazdas. So figure 150,000 Mustangs can be built on two shifts with no overtime. Ford could probably sell 200,000 if it can build them.
The beginning paragraph of that Time magazine cover story 40 years ago told of Iacocca rolling through suburban Detroit in an unmarked preproduction model. But people knew what it was. The driver of a Volkswagen gave it the V-for-victory sign. The driver of a Chevy Impala pulled up and mouthed through closed windows, "Is that it?" The white car approached a school bus, the windows flew up, and the children inside chanted "Mustang! Mustang! Mustang!"
Well, this isn't 1964, and we don't get that excited about cars anymore. But this new one is a Mustang for sure, and it might just be the car that makes driving fun again. One more thing: This pony isn't German or Japanese. It's pure Detroit.
============
Jerry Flint, a former Forbes Senior Editor, has covered the automobile industry since 1958. Visit his homepage at www.forbes.com/flint.
They will sell like hot cakes.
Oh, give me a break. Would it make you feel better if my family of Ford owners voted Democrate? Liberals perfer Chevs. Always have, always will.
My parents bought one of those (1980) Mustang with the 2.3 liter engine. I swear that thing had less than 100 hp. It was almost as if you had to start the car by pulling a lawn mower cord!!!! Good thing we got rid of it after 3 years....
We used to call them F**ked Over Repaired Datsuns.
Buying a Ford is like voting for a Democrat.That's not the opinion of THESE guys:
What You Drive May Indicate Who You'll Vote For
thedenverchannel.com ^ | 1:16 pm EDT October 4, 2004
Posted on 10/04/2004 11:39:06 AM PDT by mjp
Someone looking at your driveway may be able to get a good idea who you'll vote for on Nov. 2, even if you don't have a yard sign proclaiming your choice.
According to the new study by Kelley Blue Book, you're more likely to vote for President George W. Bush if you drive a Mercury, Ford, GMC or Chevy.
If you drive a Hyundai, Toyota or a Subaru, you'll likely go for Sen. John Kerry...
CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread
Oh yeah!
That front end reminds me of Shelby's GT cars.
I saw the GT40, Mustang and Shelby (concept car) at Bacarra in Laguna Beach back in August when Ford was getting ready to their dog & pony show.
I didn't even know Ford had re-designed the Mustang, but it is a great looking car. Each had a lot of people milling about - of course, the GT40 is what all the kids want.
The best is still yet to come. The Cobra version of the new Mustang will be out in 2006 and will have a supercharged 5.4L engine making 500hp. I traded in my 01 WS6 Trans-Am for an 03 Cobra and after $2k in performance mods enjoy spanking corvettes and other assorted bow-tie cars.
My black with black vinyl roof, 4 speed , 289, '67 was one of my favorites. A real good looking car.
"And the bodies of tens of thousands of Iraqis"
You have no proof to back up this statement, nor others in your profanity strewn post.
Besides, it has NOTHING to do with the thread topic.
May you be banned, and your handle assigned to one of the Mods to use for future humor against you.
May the Mods use your handle with more honor and integrity than you have.
Thank you AM for reducing him to an ash heap and restoring this thread.
It looks so much like the old 65s, even the inside, with the addition of the headrest of course.
You'd have liked the one I drove in High School. 56 T-Bird, 68 GTO Judge engine and tranny.
*sigh* Ahh, the Mustang. I was a little girl when they came out in 1964 and immediately fell in love, although I have to say they got really ugly by 1968 or so. I finally got one - a 1966 - in 1978. I regret having sold it several years later.
I agree. I think it will drive a whole lot better than the old one's did, and it has that classy look to it.
Cars just work better now. Thank goodness they made this one rear-wheel-drive. I can see the rubber burning.
I can see a lot of tickets in the making with this baby. LOL I've owned several Fords and I've never had any problems with them. Three Lincoln Town Cars and two Explorers. In fact, I own a Ford Explorer now and it's a great ride.
"Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up and Drive Chevys"
Thanks
>>Buying a Ford is like voting for a Democrat.<<
Congratulations. You just made the absolute stupidest comment I've read on FR in almost 7 years on here.
Author Comment
rolla121
Registered User
Posts: 12
(8/4/03 9:46 am)
Reply WRECKED MY DADS MUSTANG
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