Standing at a podium within the Ford Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair, Lee Iacocca spoke like a proud father as he introduced the new Ford Mustang to the world’s press reporters on April 13, 1964. “We think people will want the Mustang because it offers them a ‘different’ kind of car at low cost,” Iacocca said, “because it satisfies their need for basic transportation and their desire for comfort, fresh style, good handling, and a choice of performance capabilities. This is the car we have designed with young America in mind.”
For Iacocca, everything was on the line—his reputation, his legacy, even his career. Ford Motor Company CEO Henry Ford II, still reeling from the Edsel failure, had made it clear when he approved the budget to develop Iacocca’s new model: “You’ve got to sell it, and it’s your ass if you don’t!”
In hindsight, we now know that Iacocca’s job—and successful future—was safe. Bolstered by a creative (and expensive) marketing campaign, Ford dealers sold 22,000 Mustangs during the first on-sale weekend, over 120,000 by the end of summer 1964, and more than 680,000 before the 1965 model year ended. Sales topped 1 million by February 1966, making the Mustang the most successful vehicle launch in American automotive history.
Although based on the Falcon, the Mustang’s combination of sporty styling, low cost, long list of options, and practicality as a four-seater with a trunk transformed Ford’s economy compact into a trendsetter, one that spawned an entirely new “Pony Car” segment—named after the Mustang, of course. Soon, the American highways were filled with Mustangs, Camaros, Cougars, Firebirds, Barracudas, and Challengers.
But unlike its upstart competitors, Mustang production has continued uninterrupted for over fifty-three years, something no other American vehicle nameplate can claim—not even the Corvette, which was introduced eleven years before the Mustang but skipped the 1983 model year entirely.
For millions of owners worldwide, the Mustang is more than a car. It’s also a lifestyle, one supported by clubs, parts manufacturers and suppliers, magazines and websites, and specific model registries. The Mustang Club of America alone boasts over one hundred regional clubs, not only in the United States but also worldwide in countries like France, Italy, Taiwan, and Brazil. These enthusiast organizations host thousands of shows, cruises, races, and rallies each year, bringing owners together to celebrate their common allegiance to the Mustang. Few other brands, automotive or otherwise, can claim that kind of loyalty and devotion.
Over the years, popular models like Mach 1, Boss, Grande, and Shelby have expanded the Mustang’s reach. The Mustang has become so ingrained in American culture that it was selected in 1999 for a US Post Office “Celebrate the Century” stamp alongside the Woodstock Music Festival and man walking on the moon. Mustangs have appeared in over five hundred movies, including starring roles in Gone in 60 Seconds and Bullitt, featuring actor Steve McQueen and a Highland Green fastback that inspired special Bullitt-edition Mustangs from Ford. The Mustang’s free-wheeling and fun attitude has made it a popular subject for songs, topped by Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally,” to this day a popular sing-along tune for dance band and DJ audiences.
Over half a decade since Iacocca stood at that World’s Fair podium, the Mustang is still going strong. It has survived pony car competition, two major fuel crises, economic downturns, and even an unsuccessful effort by some within Ford to abandon the traditional rear-wheel-drive for a radical switch to front-wheel-drive based on a Japanese chassis. Through it all, the Mustang has remained true to its original objective as conceived by Iacocca and his team in the early 1960s—fun transportation with style, comfort, good handling, performance, and practicality.