CARVERSAL

Since its introduction in the 1960s, the famous Ford Mustang has developed a sizable cult following, making it impossible to envision a world without it. There are many reasons why the Mustang has become a legend, but taking part in the greatest movie vehicle chase of all time with Steve McQueen remains the pinnacle for the stallion. Of course, we're referring to the suspenseful film Bullitt from 1968.

Humble Beginnings

Lee Lacocca, the Vice President of Ford at the time, saw a gap in the market in the 1960s. He analyzed that no car brand was producing 2-door spacious coupes, which are performance-oriented, so he decided to make a model that would fill this place before anyone else did. Lacocca gave birth to the first Mustang and handled its design and production aspects within an impressive deadline of one and a half years. After that, in 1964, the first Mustang was created.

1964 Gen-1 Ford Mustang 

The First Generation of Mustang was based on the Ford Falcon’s platform and had a long hood design and a short deck at the back, which was inspired by the European cars of the time. The Mustang was originally released with four engine options, the biggest being the 4.7L V8 which made around 271hp.

The Mustang debuted at the 1964s World Fair in Flashing Meadows, New York. After its debut, it was immediately placed in dealerships across America and became an instant success, with 22000 units sold on the first day of the showcase. The only thing stopping Ford from here on was its production capability. Ford made around 1200 cars daily but still could not meet the demand, that year, Ford sold around 400,000 units and made a billion dollars in the process.

Shelby

Enter Caroll Shelby. In 1968, he reimaged the Mustang’s potential and modified its V8 to produce 340 hp. He also gave the car blue strips, which soon became the mark of Shelby Cars and named it the Shelby Mustang GT350.The GT350 then competed in the SCCA production B-Class Championship and won the same championship thrice in a row.

67’ Ford Mustang Fastback

In 1967, the most iconic model of the Mustang was launched, featured in Steve Mcqueen’s Bullit car chase. The Fastback was a facelift of the original Mustang and featured sweeping lines and an aggressive look that made the vehicle the perfect car for the American sex appeal in the late 60s. The Fastback had a bigger grille opening, concave taillights and a longer deck that instantly made it a classic masterpiece.

The Mustang Mach-1

In 1969, Mustang received a comeback from the companies like Dodge, Chevrolet, and AMC with their models Charger, Camaro and Javelin, respectively. It launched its Jet-inspired Ford Mustang Mach 1 as a reply to the competition, featuring a matte black hood, a front splitter and hood pins and under the hood, it carried a massive ‘Cobra Jet” engine, a 7.0L V8.

The Mustang II - The 2nd Generation Mustang

When Ford was updating the Mustang with its new looks, the gas prices in the country rose, which changed the consumer mindset to buy efficient cars with small engines. So what did Ford do? Discontinue its Mustang lineup for a while? Rather they launched a new version of Mustang known as Mustang II, which inherited no components and spirit from its previous models. The Mustang 2’s showed more resemblance with The Ford Pinto, which was well known for its reputation for bursting into flames on collision.

In 1974, the Mustang II was available with an Inline four and a V6, which both did not make adequate power outputs to maintain the Mustang’s reputation. At the time, the reputation of the Mustang preceded itself, so it sold around 300,000 units that year, making it the 6th best-selling Mustang ever.

Later in the 70s, Ford only introduced appearance packages to the Mustangs and even offered a Cobra package to honor the original Shelby Cobra. The Cobra package also turned out to be an appearance package extension for the Mustang II.

Foxbody Mustang- The 3rd Generation Mustang

When the Gas Crisis finally ended, consumers were back to buying big-guzzling V8s, but Ford knew that this trend wouldn't last forever, so they moved on to make smaller, fuel-efficient cars. Ford made a new platform to support this ideology: the Fox platform, which was meant to be a multicar platform. The Fox platform was more lightweight, smaller and had a wider engine bay than the Falcon Platform used in previous Mustangs. There were two versions of the platform, The Longer Wheelbase, which supported the sedans like the Fairmont and a Short Wheelbase which underpinned the Mustangs, Pinto and Cortina at the time.

Foxbody Mustang 

The Foxbody Mustang was styled by Ford’s designer Jack Telnack, also the Vice President of Ford Europe. He thought that European-shaped cars could work well in the American market.

The Foxbody Mustang finally debuted in 1979, featuring a square quad headlight design with a slanted grille on the front. The tradition of louvers on the quarter window was also started with the Foxbody. Overall, the Foxbody was a completely redesigned version of the Mustang.

The Foxbody came with five engine options, from an 88 hp four-cylinder to the signature 5.0L V8 which produced 140 hp at the time. It was also offered with three different trim levels: the Basic trim, The luxurious GHIA trim, and the legendary COBRA trim. But unfortunately, this Cobra was also an appearance package with non-functioning performance components.

The Foxbody SSP models were used in Police Services in the 1980s, and it had a 5.0L V8 with a four-speed manual transmission specially curated for the forces. The police forces used these cars up until the Foxbody was retired.

1980s Mclaren Mustang 

In the 1980s, Ford Collaborated with Mclaren to build a car for the IMSA series racing competition. The car was named the Mclaren Mustang, and it featured a 4-cylinder Codsworth BDA engine mated with Ford’s four-speed transmission and a quick change rear end. With only two cars built, the second chassis raced in the GTX class of the 1981 24 Hours of Daytona.

With this came the production of Mclaren Mustangs; the consumer variant came with BBS wheels, a WayScape hood, suspension upgrades, front and rear sway bars, and even a roll bar on the inside. Under the hood, it had the same 2.3L turbo four-cylinder, which was tuned to produce 190 hp with 145 lb-ft of torque. It also had variable boost control up to 11psi.

Makeover of the Foxbody

In 1987, the Foxbody Mustang got a serious makeover, featuring aerodynamic headlights, a smoother nose, triangular-shaped parking lights, and wrap-around turn signals at the front and at the back, it got new taillights, and a Ford emblem slapped on its right side of the boot.

In 1988, Ford brought back the 5.0L V8 in the Mustang and gave it 200+ hp figures, which was impressive for a production car then. The success of the higher output motor brought the old muscle back to the Mustang line-up. It led to more than 200,000 units to be sold annually, making it the top American muscle car of the time.

 It soon became a classic, and started to feature in movies like Menace to Society, Arnold Swazenegger’s Twins, and The Toolman in the 1990s

The Saleen ‘Stang

Ford and Saleen went off and made their own American supercars. With the Foxbody Mustang in their arsenal, they modified the car to compete in the SCCA races. With its success in the races, Saleen also began to offer consumer variants of the Saleen's stangs. Saleen’s fundamental upgrades in the Mustang were upgrades in the suspension, brakes, and chassis. Steve didn’t even touch its engine, mainly to maintain the Ford factory warranty for the consumer. The Mustang had a racecraft suspension system, custom wheels and an aero body kit which was well ahead of its time.

Later, Saleen launched its SSC and SC variants of the Mustang, including modified engines. Saleen tuned the 5.0 V8 to 290 hp for the SSC and further tuned its SC engine to produce 304 hp.

Ford Mustang SVT COBRA Foxbody

In the 1990s, people got to experience the most powerful version of the Mustang, made by the Special Vehicles Team, which was responsible for making the most powerful cars from Ford, such as the Ford Lightning and the Ford Focus SVT. 

The 1993 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra was launched during the 1992 Chicago Auto Show that showed off the performance division of Ford. The Cobra featured an upgraded engine with 235 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque. It could go from 0-60 in 5.9 seconds, which was impressive then. It also featured an upgraded transmission and rear disk brakes and had the best-looking wheel of the time.

Shortly after its debut, the Cobra R was launched, which took over its predecessor in performance prowess. The Cobra R featured massive weight reduction, with no rear seats, no air conditioning and no sound-damping materials. It was specifically built to compete in the Class B of SCCA racing, hence only 107 cars were built as a result.

The SN95 4rd Generation Ford Mustang

With the discontinuation of the Foxbody Mustang in 1993, the ’90s was continued with the fresh SN95 Ford Mustang, which was sportier-looking and rounder than previous generations of the ‘Stangs. In 1996, the Mustang was no longer supported by the old 302 Windsor engine and was replaced with the Romeo 4.6L SOHC V8, which produced around 215 hp and 285 lb-ft of torque.

The SN95 also received new packages like the Terminator and the SVT Cobra. Both of these cars had supercharged V8s and independent rear suspension.

The S197 5th Generation Ford Mustang

In 2005, The 4th gen Mustang brought back the original styling of the Iconic Mustangs of the ‘60s. This was termed the best-looking car and contributed to the auto industry's retro trend. The S197 Mustang featured the same 4.6L SOHC V8 which now produced around 310 hp and 320 lb-ft of torque. Also, it was the first time in history that a Mustang was offered on its own platform.

In 2010, Ford updated the Mustang yet again with refreshed body panels and gave it a new look. The Mustang also featured the familiar 5.0L Coyote V8, which replaced the old 4.6L V8. The Coyote produced 412 hp and 390 lb-ft of torque from the factory and sold for around only $30,000. It completed the Nurburgring faster than the BMW M3.

Shelby GT500

In 2013, Ford paid tribute to Caroll Shelby's passing in 2012 by launching the Shelby GT500, which made a whopping 662 hp and had a top speed of 202 MPH.

The S550 6th Generation Ford Mustang

In 2015, Ford launched the S550 Ford Mustang, which ditched the styling of the S197 with a more rounder body panels giving off a more tourer-type look overall. The S550 Mustang dropped the rear axle for an independent rear suspension and used the same Coyote 5.0L V8, which made around 460hp and 420 lb-ft of torque. The changes introduced in the S550 were more on the technical side.

Later, Ford released many packages for the Ford Mustang, like the Shelby GT500, which had the low-revving muscle Cross Plane crankshaft Predator V8 and The Shelby GT350, which had the high-revving Voodoo performance V8. The Bullit version was also reintroduced, which borrows parts from the GT350 and makes 20 hp more than the standard GT. The 2021 Mach 1 Mustang replaced the Bullit version and introduced some new performance pieces and major cosmetic upgrades.

The S650 7th Generation Ford Mustang

Now In 2023, Ford Mustang S650 was launched. On the first look, it only looks like the facelift of the previous generation, but it's completely revamped from head to toe. On the front, the Mustang gets LED DRL mounted upon its headlights like eyebrows, and the trapezoidal grille is flanked with two vertical side scoops. However, from the side, it resembles its predecessor, but at the back, it gets a pushed-forward crease that gives it a more dynamic image.'

Under the hood, the S650 gets the same Coyote 5.0L V8 which is paired with either a ten-speed automatic or a six-speed manual transmission.

In 2024, Ford plans to launch the Dark Horse version of the Mustang S650, which will have updated accents and bigger air intakes in its side scoops. A functioning wing is also inserted at the rear to provide downforce, along with 19” alloy wheels fitted as standard. The Dark Horse will come with the Naturally Aspirated Coyote engine, which will produce around 500 hp from a 5.0L V8 and mated to either a Tremec manual gearbox or a ten-speed automatic.