As part of our Mustang month, the series dedicated to the iconic nameplate continues with an extensive overview of the first-generation pony car. This article focuses on the development process and examines the first three production runs built from 1964 to 1966.
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This month, we’re celebrating one of the most famous nameplates in automotive history, the iconic Mustang. Throughout a series of articles dedicated to the legendary car, we’ll take an in-depth look at how it evolved in over half of century. Before we examine the production models, let’s begin by remembering the spectacular concept car that introduced the Mustang to the world.
The Forgotten Story of the Wild Concept Car That Led to the Very First Mustang 10 May 2021, 9:39 UTC ·
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It all begins in the summer of 1962 when a committee of Ford managers called the Fairlane Group was assembled to analyze market trends and suggest new products.
You knew the idea of a smaller Bronco isn t a new one, though, right?
By our estimation, Ford has built more than 160 car models in its 118-year history. Add to that 18 vans, 6 MPVs, 20 SUVs, around 50 trucks; then there s its back catalog of tractors, military vehicles, race cars, and concept cars. That s not an exact count, but it s close enough to show that we have a treasure trove of vehicles to hunt through to see what we ve forgotten.
For the sake of our sanity and to keep this list manageable, we ll focus mainly on the more modern Ford models time has been unkind to. Unfortunately, though, most of these models have good reasons that time has been unkind to them. We don t mean to go all clickbait on you, but the last one is quite a shocker if you haven t heard of it before.