Ford announced a
major milestone this week as the American car maker has produced its 9
millionth Mustang. The historic mark was reached just after the Mustang’s 44th
anniversary. The Mustang was first introduced at the New York World’s
Fair on April
17, 1964. At the time, standard equipment included a
170-cubic-inch six-cylinder engine, three-speed floor-shift transmission, full
wheel covers, padded dash, bucket seats and carpeting. It weighed just 2,572
pounds. The price at launch: $2,368.
It was way back
in the early 1960s that Ford decided to develop a fun-to-drive ‘personal car’
that would appeal to the post-World War II ‘baby boom’ generation. It would be
derived from the Ford Falcon. The winner of an in-house design competition establishes
the classic ‘pony car’ proportion: a long, sweeping hood, short rear deck and
sharply sculpted flanks.
The first
Mustang – the 1962 Mustang I concept – was a two-seat, mid-engine sports car
named after the legendary P51 Mustang fighter plane from World War II. It made
its debut in October at the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, New York where
race driver Dan Gurney drove it around the circuit. This was the benchmark for
the production model to follow in 1964.
Since the
Mustang’s launch back in 1964, it has dominated the sales charts. Ford expected
annual sales of about 100,000 units, but 22,000 Mustang orders were taken on the
first day and within the first 12 months on the market, Ford sold 417,000
examples and it only took two years to top the million mark. The Mustang is
also Ford’s longest-running nameplate.
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