The Ford Mustang has to be one of the great automotive design and marketing stories in automotive history. The concept, design and development was completed in a record 18 months and with its introduction in 1964, it define a whole new class of American automobile–the pony car. With success comes imitators and soon this segment also included the likes of the Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, and Plymouth Barracuda.
I remember the first Ford Mustang I saw when someone purchased and drove one to church on a Sunday morning–this was probably late 1964. The car was bright red and after church services there was a crowd of guys gathered around admiring it–I was 11 years old.
That type of interest and popularity led to more then one million Mustangs being built in the first 18 months, amazing for back then. The Mustang is Fords second oldest continually produced badge/nameplate, succeeded only by the F-series pickup truck, and was the most successful launch since the Ford Model A.
I would later own one of its first cousins, a 1969 Mercury Cougar with hideaway headlights and sequential blinking turn signals. I drove it to college–too cool! :-)
The photo is of a 1964 1/2 model year Mustang, one of only 121,538 early Mustangs so designated, and is located at the NC Transportation Museum, Spencer, NC.
I love the original mustang motif/badge of the running mustang horse. The image to right is of the new 2010 Mustang badge–still very close to the original design.
When I made this photo I noticed the car was a little dusty but I didn’t think they would appreciate me polishing it for them–museums are funny that way. ;-)
I wouldn’t say no to own one of those…
Where is this in the museum? We were there at the beginning of July and the Mustang was not there, or we missed it.
I had a ’67 fastback that I thoroughly enjoyed. Good blog and picture.
@Ove: I certainly wouldn’t say no either! :-)
@Tom: Thanks! This Mustang was in the “Bumper to Bumper” classic automobile exhibit. There was a sign which said it was on loan from a Robert Butler so it may have not been there when you visited.
Of course, when I saw the title with Mustang in it, my heart went pitty-pat. Earl is talking about mustangs. Wow. I know he mentioned once that his daughter is a horsewoman. Who knows what he has to say. I felt a little silly when I clicked through to the post. I must say I was not disappointed. I had a Mustang once that was a great car.
mustang is the most beautiful car ever and i really love it