Today’s Sunday commentary is all about Mustangs. The Ford Mustang is without a doubt one if not favorite choice of car people and none car people alike. From it’s beginnings it captured the hearts of it’s fans. The Mustang has evolved greatly over the years from a pony car, to a muscle car, to what is a pretty nimble and capable track goer these days. All along being highly desirable and so for today let’s dedicate this Sunday Commentary the legendary Ford Mustang.
The Mustang really began with modest beginnings by today’s standards with a 260ci V8 engine at first. The fastback 2+2 design was chosen over the two seat Falcon concept because of the iffy sales of the Thunderbird. So a legend was born. Ford had projected to sell nearly 100,000 Mustangs the first year, but much to everyone’s surprise that only took three months. In the eighteen months of production the Mustang would sell nearly a million units. That by any standard is a huge success.
By the late 1960s the Mustang had grown in size and weight. Gone was the light weight and nimble pony car that launched the trend and in was a full on outrageous muscle car. Oh sure the car was still technically a pony car going up against the likes of the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger but the Mustang had certainly taken on the styling cues of the muscle cars of the era. The results are some of the meanest looking Mustangs ever.
As with all cars in the mid to late 1970s the Mustang got considerably worse. Power was down as emissions regulations, fuel price concerns, and a rougher economy put the skids to the over the top styling and performance of the 1960s and early 1970s. Let’s be honest here no matter how drunk you are right now, this 1979 Indy Pace Car edition does not look good.
By the late 80s and early 90s though the Mustang while still not the best looking car was gaining some of it’s go back. This is the era of the 5.0. if you were fortunate enough to be rocking one of these with a sweet mullet you were king of your trailer park. I kid I kid. The 5.0 Foxbody Mustang was not terribly great from the showroom but with a little help under the hood they were wicked fast. Many an over confident Camaro, Corvette, or Honda Civic owner has been eaten alive by the 5 Liter.
By the time the new edge Mustang’s rolled around the Camaro had fizzled, I guess the Mustang won round one of the pony car wars. Fatter, a little less nimble, and many traditional fans never warmed up to the styling there was one bright spot of the new edge era. The Terminator. If you didn’t check out our piece on the Terminator from earlier in the week.
I suppose that brings us to today. What is old is new again in this world of retro styling. The “new” Mustang was a huge splash when it debuted in 2005 and sales were the proof. Ford knocked it out of the ballpark capitolizing on the huge aftermarket trend by getting Mustangs out to basically every tuner house they could. The results were tons of options from body kits, to forced induction. Everything to make the new Mustang a very personalized Mustang. We have seen many examples of highly custom Mustangs in our travels.
Like www.infinite-garage.com reader Jason Fralisch’s custom Mustang.
or this custom GT from the Barry Apple Festival.
That brings us to the future. We know the next Mustang will get lighter and smaller. It has to. That is a good thing though. Lighter, smaller, and with that great 5.0 engine that adorns the current Gt will make the new Mustang a rocket ship on wheels. It will probably have an ecoboost option to for the fuel economy minded. Sounds good to us.
So that will wrap up this Sunday Commentary which is a little different then normal but I thought it was a good way to cap off what has been a week largely about Fords. We will have tons of race recap coverage this week as well as any newsworthy items from the car world. Until next time keep it shiny side up!
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Apr 21
Sunday Commentary: Ford Mustangs
Sunday Commentary week in review
by Jason
Today’s Sunday commentary is all about Mustangs. The Ford Mustang is without a doubt one if not favorite choice of car people and none car people alike. From it’s beginnings it captured the hearts of it’s fans. The Mustang has evolved greatly over the years from a pony car, to a muscle car, to what is a pretty nimble and capable track goer these days. All along being highly desirable and so for today let’s dedicate this Sunday Commentary the legendary Ford Mustang.
The Mustang really began with modest beginnings by today’s standards with a 260ci V8 engine at first. The fastback 2+2 design was chosen over the two seat Falcon concept because of the iffy sales of the Thunderbird. So a legend was born. Ford had projected to sell nearly 100,000 Mustangs the first year, but much to everyone’s surprise that only took three months. In the eighteen months of production the Mustang would sell nearly a million units. That by any standard is a huge success.
By the late 1960s the Mustang had grown in size and weight. Gone was the light weight and nimble pony car that launched the trend and in was a full on outrageous muscle car. Oh sure the car was still technically a pony car going up against the likes of the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger but the Mustang had certainly taken on the styling cues of the muscle cars of the era. The results are some of the meanest looking Mustangs ever.
As with all cars in the mid to late 1970s the Mustang got considerably worse. Power was down as emissions regulations, fuel price concerns, and a rougher economy put the skids to the over the top styling and performance of the 1960s and early 1970s. Let’s be honest here no matter how drunk you are right now, this 1979 Indy Pace Car edition does not look good.
By the late 80s and early 90s though the Mustang while still not the best looking car was gaining some of it’s go back. This is the era of the 5.0. if you were fortunate enough to be rocking one of these with a sweet mullet you were king of your trailer park. I kid I kid. The 5.0 Foxbody Mustang was not terribly great from the showroom but with a little help under the hood they were wicked fast. Many an over confident Camaro, Corvette, or Honda Civic owner has been eaten alive by the 5 Liter.
By the time the new edge Mustang’s rolled around the Camaro had fizzled, I guess the Mustang won round one of the pony car wars. Fatter, a little less nimble, and many traditional fans never warmed up to the styling there was one bright spot of the new edge era. The Terminator. If you didn’t check out our piece on the Terminator from earlier in the week.
I suppose that brings us to today. What is old is new again in this world of retro styling. The “new” Mustang was a huge splash when it debuted in 2005 and sales were the proof. Ford knocked it out of the ballpark capitolizing on the huge aftermarket trend by getting Mustangs out to basically every tuner house they could. The results were tons of options from body kits, to forced induction. Everything to make the new Mustang a very personalized Mustang. We have seen many examples of highly custom Mustangs in our travels.
Like www.infinite-garage.com reader Jason Fralisch’s custom Mustang.
or this custom GT from the Barry Apple Festival.
That brings us to the future. We know the next Mustang will get lighter and smaller. It has to. That is a good thing though. Lighter, smaller, and with that great 5.0 engine that adorns the current Gt will make the new Mustang a rocket ship on wheels. It will probably have an ecoboost option to for the fuel economy minded. Sounds good to us.
So that will wrap up this Sunday Commentary which is a little different then normal but I thought it was a good way to cap off what has been a week largely about Fords. We will have tons of race recap coverage this week as well as any newsworthy items from the car world. Until next time keep it shiny side up!
Follow us on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Tumble us on Tumbler
Tags: Ford Mustang