Not many cars can be said to have created a new market sector – the Golf GTi, the Mini, the VW Beetle and the Lamborghini Miura would perhaps be among those. In the US, the Ford Mustang was undoubtedly responsible for what became known as the “pony car” sector – named after the Mustang’s own logo.
Based on the same platform as the Ford Falcon, the Mustang was launched on April 17th 1964 and has been in continuous production since, now in its sixth generation. It has been a major success for Ford, beyond any initial projections. Predicted to sell 100,000 models a year, it sold four times as many in its first year, a million in just two years, and was influential in making rival manufacturers produce their own small (by US standards) sporting models.
Incidentally, the Mustang was launched a couple of weeks after the Plymouth Barracuda…so perhaps the entire segment should be re-named “fish car”? Or maybe the Studebaker Avanti should be credited as the first American car of this type? Moving on…
I think it’s true to say, however, that without the Mustang, we would not have had the Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird or AMC Javelin. The European take on the theme gave us the Ford Capri, Opel Manta A and Vauxhall Firenza, all with the long bonnet, short boot styling as the common thread.
Three body styles were available – soft and hard-top versions were on sale from the start, and a few months later they were joined by a very purposeful looking fastback. The period advertising emphasises fun and performance and the ability of the Mustang to help men attract women – check the copy in the ad with the schoolteacher!
On its introduction, the Mustang came with a 6-cylinder, 2.8-litre engine producing just 101bhp – you could argue that this entry-level model was no more than a Falcon in prettier clothes and this engine was soon replaced by a slightly beefier 3.3-litre six but more power was available from two V8’s – the 4.3 from the Ford Fairlane and a 4.7-litre unit, pushing out 164bhp and 210bhp respectively, the latter giving the car a top speed of about 118mph, more what one might expect from a car with sporting pretensions. I should add here that the 4.3 lasted about as long as the 2.8 – Ford were nothing if not proactive in updating and improving the Mustang, which makes me wonder whether it was rushed to market somewhat. For those demanding more performance, a high-performance version of the 4.7 was soon made available, with 271 horses at the driver’s disposal.
Car & Driver tested the new Mustang in May 1964 and it made a good impression on the magazine, garnering praise for its handling and overall comfort. The brakes however were deemed inadequate, and interestingly, were less than impressed by what was really the car’s main selling point, the styling, considering it “inexplicably amateurish”.
There are far too many variations in terms of engine, trim and specification levels to go into here, but suffice to say there were plenty. There were also annual model changes and upgrades, and the compact Mustang quickly got bigger, with the 1967 re-design resulting in greater overall size, more interior space and a bigger boot. Engines got bigger too, with the high performance 4.7-litre option now replaced by no less than a 6.4-litre 320 bhp powerplant, yet even this wasn’t enough – the ultimate Ford Mustang was the 7-litre Cobra Jet, producing 335bhp and propelling this no-longer compact car to a top speed exceeding 125mph/200kmh, which sounds impressive at first, but is no faster than a base Porsche 911T 2.0….
The Mustang – already a resounding sales success – was made even more famous by its appearance in Bullitt, with Steve McQueen at the wheel chasing a Dodge Charger around the streets of San Francisco in one of the most famous car chases in movie history. McQueen’s Mustang was auctioned in 2020 for $3.7m, a bit more than our Prime Find this week.
One variant worth special mention is the Shelby Mustang GT 350. These were built by Shelby American in 1965-66, and versions were made available in all three body styles. To distinguish them from the standard Ford factory product, they featured the trademark dual stripes down the bonnet and Shelby 350GT decals at the bottom of the doors. The biggest difference was under the bonnet, where the same 289cu in Windsor V8 was heavily breathed upon to deliver 306bhp, 35bhp more than the standard car. In 1967, the GT500, with 7-litre V8, was added – even for a car built in limited numbers, there were numerous versions over the years, but the Shelby Mustangs are probably the most desirable of them all.
The following years saw the Mustang grow ever heavier and bigger, with the 1969 model most easily identified by having quad headlamps placed inside and outside the front grille, giving the car a very aggressive aspect. Nine different engines were available, and again, there were numerous options.
In 1970, the Mustang was substantially restyled, and while still considered to be part of the first generation of the model, it looked different enough for it to be considered second-generation, or perhaps generation 1 ½ , to my eyes at least.
So we come to our Prime Find of the Week, which is a 1966 hard-top Mustang. It’s not often that a Mustang that isn’t a project becomes available for less than £20,000 – indeed, sale prices vary almost as much as the plethora of engine/trim combinations, but our car is not a project; indeed, the auctioneer’s details say that the car was subject to a ground up restoration in 2015 – fully documented – by the current owner, who imported the car from Florida ten years earlier. although it does now need some cosmetic work.
It’s also had a long list of performance-based modifications carried out – I won’t detail them here but you can see them in the auctioneer’s full lot listing. Whether these mods are in-period or inappropriate, I can’t tell you. What they do do, however, is enable the car to complete a quarter-mile in a claimed 13.44 seconds, which seems pretty quick. The auctioneers – Manor Park Classics in Cheshire, North-West England – confirm that the car is “very lively on the road with good brakes, suspension and gearbox and above a fabulous exhaust note”,
The engine would originally have been the 4.7-litre Windsor V8 (I think) but this one has had a larger and more powerful 4.9-litre Ford Racing unit fitted (according to the lot details), and features a manual ‘box with Hurst shifter.
From the photos that we’ve borrowed from the auctioneers’ website, the car looks in generally good order – as it should if the restoration was only six years ago. Red is not my favourite colour on a Mustang, but this metallic shade does suit the car well, and the black vinyl upholstery is OK though there is a visible split in the driver’s seat, which is no doubt part of the cosmetic work required.
The car goes under the hammer on Wednesday, September 22nd with an estimate range of £14,000 to £18,000, which strikes me as on the low side, but I’m going to guess this has been influenced by the relative lack of originality. Having said that, if you’re looking for a good, driveable Mustang that you could improve over time, this might be the car for you, especially if you’re not too troubled by the lack of 100% originality. Either way, it will be interesting to see what this Mustang goes for. As always, if you’re interested in this piece of classic Americana, we recommend you arrange prior inspection.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk