Mustang

On April 17th, 1964, 50 long years ago last month, Ford Motor Company debuted its Mustang at the New York World’s Fair.
The Mustang is a landmark car, although I always felt it was a little after my time.
1964 is my sophomore year of college. My high-school years were 1959-1962, shortly after Chevrolet introduced its phenomenal SmallBlock V8 for the 1955 model-year.
“SmallBlock” is a late ‘60s term, after Chevrolet launched its new“Big-Block” V8 in the mid-‘60s.
The SmallBlock was a game-changer. It more-or-less put Ford’s Flat-head V8, the foundation of hot-rodding, out to pasture.
Hot-rodders were ripping out their souped-up Flat-heads to install Chevy’s SmallBlock.
The SmallBlock responded well to hot-rodding. Plus they were light and cheap and small. And above-all they’d rev. With their light-weight valve-gear, they’d rev like European sportscar engines, the Ferrari and Alfa-Romeo.
So what I wanted all through high-school is something with a SmallBlock Chevy, like the white ’55-Chevy Two-Ten hardtop pictured.


(Photo by BobbaLew.)

It had a 283-cubic-inch SmallBlock V8, plus a four-on-the-floor Corvette transmission.
The SmallBlock was such a success Ford more-or-less copied it.
Ford’s Y-block V8 of 1954 was a disaster compared to Chevy’s SmallBlock.
Ford developed a SmallBlock of their own by the early ‘60s.
So Chevrolet had the motor to do an attractive sporty-car, but they missed the boat.
Ford’s Mustang came first. GM responded with the Camaro and Firebird, but two years after Ford’s Mustang.
GM should have seen it. Its Corvair sold well as a sporty-car as well as an economy-car.
But the Corvair was weird. With its air-cooled motor out back, it was meant as a Volkswagen Beetle clone, but also sold as a Porsche (“poor-SHA”) clone.
Ford’s Mustang, a takeoff of the Ford Falcon, was more normal. Its engine and transmission were up front, unlike the Corvair.
It could generate heat.
Gasoline-burning heaters for the Corvair were marketed. With air-cooling there was no hot engine-coolant to circulate in a heater-core.
What heat you got, and there wasn’t much, came from engine-cooling air blown into the back of the car.
I had a Corvair myself, and it was frigid. Windshield defrost was my breath.
At least with a Mustang you weren’t making excuses.
It could be used as a normal car.
Yet it looked great. Its passenger compartment had been moved back relative to the Falcon, so it had the “long-hood-short-deck” look of a sportscar.
Chrysler more-or-less debuted the concept of the sporty-car two weeks ahead of Mustang with it’s Plymouth Barracuda, a variation of its Valiant economy-car.
The Barracuda lacked the long-hood-short-deck look. Chrysler had to redesign its Barracuda to emulate the long-hood-short-deck look.
The Mustang almost didn’t make it. Ford CEO Henry Ford II (“the deuce”), grandson of Henry Ford the founder, was hesitant after the Edsel debacle. Market-research said the Edsel would succeed, yet it failed miserably.
The Mustang may have been a Falcon remake, but it was a standalone car. A giant gamble for Ford Motor Company.

Lido (years ago).

But Lee Iacocca could see the market.
The public wanted a sporty-car, yet GM’s Corvair was weird, and its Corvette was over-the-top. Plus the ‘Vette lacked four seats.
Ford’s Mustang was a smashing success.
GM and Chrysler were caught with their pants down.
GM had to re-engineer its Chevy-II compact into the Camaro, and dump its Corvair.
Chrysler had to give up on its original Barracuda, and engineer a new sporty-car out of intermediate (larger) components.
Ford’s Mustang has continued production 50 years. Camaro bailed for a while, but has since been reintroduced.
Chrysler’s sporty-cars, its Barracuda and Dodge Challenger, also bailed, but the Challenger has been reintroduced. (Plymouth is gone.)
Over those 50 years Mustang became bloated and heavy. The first cars were best, although by 1971 the Mustang had grown too big and was no longer attractive.
Then there were the Pinto years, when Mustang was a Pinto derivative.
It was a return to basic smallness, except the Pinto was a slug.
Mustang then became a variation of the Ford Fairmont platform.
It was even marketed as a police-car.
Such cars had the hot-rodded 5-liter Ford V8, and a regular consumer version was available.
With that motor, Mustang returned to being a sporty-car.
In 2005 Mustang was reintroduced as a “retro” car. It looked like the original Mustang, yet was on a modern chassis.
I’d get one myself — it is attractive — but it’s still on a solid rear-axle. It needs Independent-Rear-Suspension. Supposedly a new version will be introduced in a year or two, and that will have Independent-Rear-Suspension.
Ford’s V8 motor, a double overhead-cam 32-valve engine, available in current Mustangs, is what GM’s SmallBlock should have become.
The SmallBlock, now almost 60 years old, is impressive, but Ford’s V8 skonks it.
Every once in a while I hear a double overhead-cam 32-valve Ford V8 being wound through the gears: glorious!


The first Mustang (’64&1/2 through ’66).


The second Mustang (’67 and ’68) — not as good as the first.


The most desirable Mustang (’69 and ’70). —This is a ’70 Mach-One, the car I’d choose.


Too bloated; it’s becoming a Thunderbird, no longer a sporty-car.


A Pinto-based Mustang — Mustang-II.


(’85-’86.) Back in the right direction, based on the Fairmont platform.


The police-car Mustang.


Not bad, but not as good as the first. The proportions are debatable.


First of the gorgeous “Retro” Mustangs. The Retros began in 2005, and were slightly rebodied in 2010 — although they don’t look as good as the first retros.

During 1969 and 1970 Sports-Car-Club-of-America (SCCA) put on a road-racing series for Mustang type cars — “pony” cars. It was called “Trans-Am.”
Just about every brand was racing, Camaros, Firebirds, Chrysler’s Barracuda and Challenger, even AMC Javelins.
It was some the greatest road-racing of all time.
Since the cars were essentially modified stock, an entrant could use his NASCAR tricks.
Old NASCAR racer Bud Moore fielded a team of Boss-302 Mustangs, and in my humble opinion his cars were fastest.
Anything entered by Roger Penske (“penn-ski”) driven by Mark Donohue, first Chevrolet Camaros, and then AMC Javelins, was probably as fast, but Moore’s Mustangs were mind-blowing!
The factories were involved, and the “Boss-302” (302 cubic-inches) was essentially Ford’s entry.
Moore’s Boss-302s were raced by Parnelli Jones, winner of the 1963 Indianapolis 500, and sportscar racer George Follmer as the number-two driver.


George Follmer in a Bud Moore Mustang at Bridgehampton Raceway out Long Island. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

Every once in a while you’d see a stock Boss-302 racing Trans-Am. They were nothing compared to Moore’s Boss-302s.
In 1969 I was at a Trans-Am race at Bridgehampton Raceway. Jones and Follmer had the front row; Jones the pole.
I was past a downhill curve after the start-straight. Race started Jones and Follmer came over the crest into the blind downhill curve FLAT-OUT, 165 mph, no quarter AT ALL!
I will never forget it! That’s goin’ to my grave.