As the swinging sixties swept across America, Ford vice president and general manager, Lee Iacocca, hatched a plan to create a car for the people. A playful, luxurious, four-seater, that was both affordable and desirable. A car that represented the times and was different from all the rest. A car that reflected the newly acquired affluence of American society, but that was big enough to accommodate the burgeoning families of the original baby boomers.
Times were changing and Iacocca wanted Ford to lead the way in providing luxurious, mass production cars that could be affordable and flexible. It was his aim that the Mustang would be tailored to each customer’s needs, being as fancy or functional as required.
To achieve this, he incorporated a wide range of optional extras, including various engines and interior options, along with a choice between coupe or cabriolet models. He set about the task, busied him self with planning, design and production, and on 9th March 1964, the first Ford Mustang rolled off the production line, in Dearborn, Michigan.
These first Mustangs had the distinctive elongated bonnet that typifies the Mustang we know and love today. They looked as imposing and muscular as ever and America lapped them up! Such was America’s love affair with the Mustang that 22,000 were sold by the end of its first day, by the end of the Mustang’s first year, a whopping 418,812 had been snapped up.
The Mustang was the car of the time and the people loved it: flashy, bold and fast enough for dad, whilst maintaining a four seated, sizeable, family feel to please mum. Iacocca had created car history and a car that would nestle itself firmly into car lore forever.
Since its inception, the Mustang has seen some design changes and improvements, none more so than in 1971 when the original Mustang received a full on face-lift. New for ’71 was a wider, longer, faster and generally more imposing Mustang. Still with the, by now archetypal slender bonnet and colossal grille, but with added design flourishes such as colour coded bumpers and flush mounted door handles. The internal instruments were overhauled and, for the first time in it’s history, the Mustang had electric windows.
Continuing subtle design changes have brought us gently to the Mustang we know and love today. They have improved upon the original but remained true to the initial premise, and brawny beauty, that Iacocca dreamt up back in ’61.
The current Mustang harks back to its 1960s classic roots like no other modern Mustang. Exterior tweaks such as rounded headlights, triangular rear windows and sleeker roofline, all hail back to the Mustang’s classical ancestry: it is still very much a Mustang.
Its distinctive design balances all mod cons you’d expect from a modern car, without betraying its heritage in the process. This is a vehicle for the car enthusiast, for the fun-loving connoisseur, for the driver who wants to evoke the freeness of spirit and essence of fun, which was typical of the era in which the Mustang was born.
It's just a pity that we rarely get any of these fabulous cars in stock at Motor Range! We say 'rarely' but you never know - with stock deliveries several timea a week, one might just pop up on our forecourt. To learn more about some of the more unusual used cars that we have for sale, pop into our showroom or give us a call.
Until next time…
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