The History of the Ford Mustang
by Falcon McCluer
Staff Writer FMH Blog
Sometimes, on very rare occasions, a fad becomes something more. Take the Beatles, for instance. They came over to the U.S. with their “long hair” and “rock music.” They were dismissed as a mere fad by frowning adults the Beatles would go on to influence modern music for decades to come for many of us. However, that fad grew into a cultural icon and the Beatles set the pace for much of the rock music that we have today.
The Ford Mustang is another cultural icon. It was one of the first muscle cars and it raised the bar when it came to performance and handling. The unveiling of the Ford Mustang in April, 1964 sent other car manufacturers scrambling to create their own versions of high performance cars, but the Pony car was in a class by itself. The Ford Mustang did for cars what the Beatles did for rock music - it set a standard by which all other muscle cars would be compared.
The Ford Mustang was America’s sweetheart from the moment it rolled off of the production line. Touted as one of the most successful product launches in automotive history, the unveiling of the Ford Mustang generated quite a buzz with the American public.
Within the first 18 months, more than one million Ford Mustangs were sold. This serves to a testament of the effectiveness of Ford’s promotional campaign of the Mustang. With this wild success also came legends. There were stories of men sleeping in their Mustangs at the dealership while waiting for their checks to clear, sometimes for several days.
Not only one genius for its day, Ford’s marketing campaign of the Mustang is also considered one of the most profitable in history. Ford ran Mustang commercials before the unveiling. These appeared at 9:30 p.m. on ABC, NBC, and CBS. This served to create a buzz about the car. The goal was to create excitement, which would result in a successful sales campaign, and it hit its mark. On April 17, 1964, the day following the airing of the commercials, Ford unveiled the Mustang at the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows in New York and the buying frenzy began.
Henry Ford II introduced the Mustang at the Ford Pavilion at the same time that he introduced the Walt Disney’s Magic Skyway ride. The ride placed guests in Ford vehicles as they rode through history.
The early Mustangs came with four engine options, one of which was the 289 cubic inch High Performance V 8 with 271 horsepower. The American public got its first taste of a real muscle car and they were hooked. Dealerships were inundated with people who wanted to be among the first to own the Ford Mustang.
The very first Mustang was a Wimbledon White convertible. With a 260 cubic inch V 8 under the hood, it rolled off the production line with the legendary first Mustang VIN: 5F08F100001. Ford used it to promote the Mustang and it toured the United States. Then a Canadian airline captain, Stanley Tucker, acquired it and it left the country.
Tucker kept Mustang 5F08F100001 in Canada for some time, but in 1966, the then executive director of the Henry Ford Museum, Donald Shelly, requested acquisition of the car. Shelly indicated, in a letter, that he believed that the Ford Mustang would become a milestone in the automotive industry. He was right on the mark.
