Ford Mustang

1978 Ford Mustang II

The original Mustang prototype was a mid-engined vehicle with hidden headlights. It was named after the WWII P-51 Mustang fighter plane. The production Mustang was actually developed under the name Cougar. The Mustang made it's debut at the New York World's Fair on April 17th 1964. With an original base sticker price of $2,368 the Mustang was a bargain. One hundred thousand were sold in the first four months. The decision by Ford to use many Falcon components in the Mustang greatly reduced development costs. The Mustang was targeted at the Baby Boomer generation. Economical 170 c.i. straight six engines with a manual 3 speed floor shift were standard. The list of options was almost endless. The first V-8 mustangs were 260 c.i., however in June of 1964 the 289 c.i. V-8 was made available in the Mustang. Performance continued to be touted by the Mustang as a High Output 271 H.P. V-8 was introduced. While early Mustangs are considered 1964 1/2 models there was little change for 1965. Alternaters replaced the generators of the first Mustangs. Ford counted the 1965 model run of the Mustang as April 1964 to August of 1965 and they sold a record setting 680,989 cars in the first year. The one millionth Mustang rolled off the assembly line in March of 1966. Ford had designed and produced a winner which would be emulated by the other auto makers. I've owned a 1966 Mustang Sports Sprint Coupe, the 1978 Mustang II shown above and I recently owned a 1986 Mustang Coupe. If you are interested in connecting with other mustangers you could try the Mustang Club of America.