Mustang

The Ford Mustang is an automobile produced by the Ford Motor Company, originally based on the Ford Falcon compact. more...

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The first production Mustang rolled off the assembly line in Dearborn, Michigan on March 9, 1964, and was introduced to the public at the New York World's Fair on April 17, 1964, via all three American television networks on April 19, and made an appearance in the James Bond film Goldfinger in September of 1964. It was one of the most successful product launches in automotive history. The Mustang sold over one million units in its first 18 months on the market. The Mustang created a new "pony car" class of cars by adapting the "long hood, short deck" look of sports cars to compact sedans. It spawned many competitors such as the Camaro, and inspired smaller import coupes such as the Toyota Celica and Ford Capri. The latest (Fifth Generation) Mustang has also been used as the new avatar of KITT in Knight Rider 2008. The Mustang has remained in continuous production to present day after many decades and numerous revisions.

First generation (1964–1973)

First conceived by Ford product manager Donald N. Frey and championed by Ford Division general manager Lee Iacocca, the Mustang prototype was a two-seat, mid-engine roadster. This would later be remodeled as a four-seat car penned by David Ash and John Oros in Ford's Lincoln–Mercury Division design studios, which produced the winning design in an intramural design contest called by Iacocca. To cut down the development cost and achieve a suggested retail price of US$2,368, the Mustang was based heavily on familiar, yet simple components. Much of the chassis, suspension, and drivetrain components were derived from the Ford Falcon and Fairlane. The car had a unitized platform-type frame, which was taken from the 1964 Falcon, and welded box-section side rails, including welded crossmembers. Although hardtop Mustangs were the majority of the sales, durability problems with the new frame led to the unusual step of engineering the (necessarily less rigid) convertible first, which featured the industry's first "torque box" structural system. Overall length of the Mustang and Falcon was identical, although the Mustang's wheelbase was slightly shorter. With an overall width of 68.2 inches (1,732 mm), it was 2.4 in (61 mm) narrower, yet the wheel track was nearly identical. The Mustang featured a lower seating position and overall height. Shipping weight, about 2,570 pounds (1,166 kg) with the Falcon's 170 cu in (2.8 L) inline-six-cylinder 101 horsepower (75 kW) engine with three-speed manual, was also similar. The GT model could be equipped with the US$443 optional "Hi-Performance" (HP) 289 cu in (4.7 L) V8 rated at 271 hp (202 kW) and weighed about 3,000 pounds (1,361 kg) with its "mandatory optional" four-speed . Despite its runaway success, some automotive experts could muster only qualified enthusiasm for the Mustang as most of the mechanical parts were taken directly from the Falcon, but the new car ushered in an era of automotive personalization that was key to its success and the numerous options contributed to the gross profits for Ford Motor Company.

Read more at Wikipedia.org