MUSTANG BRAKES If You Look Back to the ‘50S, the Car Manufacturers Were Only Offering One Car Line Using a One Car Fits All Philosophy
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MUSTANG BRAKES If you look back to the ‘50s, the car manufacturers were only offering one car line using a one car fits all philosophy. The problem was many of the younger potential buyers couldn’t afford a new full size car so they had to buy a used car. Some marketing surveys also showed that there were many buyers, espe- cially women, who wanted a small economical car that offered respectable gas mileage. Ford paid at- 1965 Mustang Coupe tention to the surveys and the Fairlane, which started out as a full size car, was downsized to a smaller Ford took out full-page ads in many of the largest mid-size car in 1960. The Fairlane could be pur- newspapers in the country announcing the intro- chased with a six-cylinder engine or with the all-new duction of the car on April 17, 1964. The marketing 221ci V8 engine. The displacement of the new V8 campaign worked because the dealerships were was a thoughtful throwback to the cubic inches of filled with potential buyers and other people who the first Ford Flathead engine. It didn’t take long be- were just curious. On the first day, Ford sold fore the V8 grew to 260ci, 289ci and eventually the 22,000 Mustangs and by the end of the year 302ci engine. When some of the other car manufac- 263,434 Mustangs were sold. turers were introducing even smaller cars such as the Nova, Ford introduced the Falcon and it became The 64 ½ Mustang as it was called, was available a successful competitor. The Fairlane and Falcon in two body designs, the coupe and the convert- were nice cars but they weren’t sporty so many ible. A 101 horsepower 170ci six-cylinder engine young buyers weren’t interested. In 1961 Lee Ia- powered many of the initial cars sent to the deal- cocca, the Vice President and General Manager of erships. The other engines that were available in- Ford Division decided that Ford needed a nice look- cluded a 260ci two-barrel V8 engine featuring 164 ing sporty car that would seat four people, feature horsepower, a 289 four-barrel engine featuring bucket seats, have a floor mounted shifter. He also 210 horsepower and a high performance, solid wanted the car to be no more than 180 inches long, lifter 289ci engine featuring 271 horsepower. The weigh 2,500 pounds and sell for less than $2,500. new Mustang was available with a three or four- He felt that if the car was reasonably priced the speed manual transmission or an automatic trans- young buyers who were purchasing used cars would mission. purchase a new sporty car instead. There were many discussions and market surveys held before In 1965 the very sporty fastback 2+2 Mustang was the final approval was given in September 1962. introduced and the engine options were also up- graded. The base engine was a 120 horsepower Using the Falcon/Fairlane platform a new car was 200ci six-cylinder engine. The 260 was replaced built that featured a beautiful new body design. The by a 200 horsepower two-barrel 289ci engine fol- new Mustang was available with a coupe and a con- lowed by a 225 horsepower four-barrel 289 en- vertible body style when released in ’64 ½ and a gine. The high performance 271 horsepower fastback 2+2 design would follow. The fastback de- engine remained the same. In April 1965 Ford sign took a little longer to get into production be- came out with the GT package that was only avail- cause it was a little more complicated to produce. able with one of the two high horsepower 289 en- Using the proven platform, the Mustang only took 18 gines. The package included a five dial instrument months to get into production. The Mustang was a cluster, disc brakes, a larger sway bar, quicker well-kept secret while it was being produced and just ratio steering, dual exhaust, grill mounted fog lights before the car’s introduction it was advertised in and a lower body side stripe with a GT emblem. magazines, newspapers and on television so that 1965 was a good year for Ford because they sold the entire country was fascinated by the new Ford 559,451 Mustangs. Needless to say the other car offering. After the initial marketing of the Mustang, companies were watching Ford’s success with the Mustang and were working on cars to compete. more attractive’65 GTO was introduced it started The ’66 Mustang was essentially the same as the selling very well, even though it was more expen- ’65 with only a small number of trim changes. Ford sive than the Mustang. Many of the other car com- had another good year in ‘66 because 607,568 panies were also coming out with high horsepower Mustangs were sold. mid-size cars so Ford had to respond. The ’67 Mus- tang was similar to the earlier models but it was a little longer and wider than the previous model. The car was wider because Ford wanted to squeeze a 390ci engine into the Mustang. Now the top of the line Mustang engine was the 320 horsepower 390 that could be hooked to a four-speed transmission. New options included tilt-away steering, an over- head console, power disc brakes, and an FMX transmission that allowed manual or automatic 1967 Mustang GT500 shifting. Ford sold 472,000 Mustangs in 1967 so the new Camaro and the other muscle cars were neg- It should also be mentioned that the Mustang was atively affecting sales. a natural road racer and in the hands of Carroll Shelby it became a winner. Ford management and The ’68 Mustang was similar to the ’67 in appear- Carroll Shelby teamed up to introduce the per- ance but a few new options were added. Now the formance oriented GT350 Mustangs in 1965 in- Mustang was available with an AM/FM stereo radio, cluding the race versions. In 1966 the cars were a rear window defogger, new redesigned front tamed down just a little to entice more buyers and power disc brakes, and an all-new 302ci engine some were even sold to Hertz as rental cars. In producing 230 horsepower. Two unique models 1967 the GT350 Mustangs that were equipped with were introduced, the California Special and the high performance 289ci engines and the GT500 High Country Special in the rocky mountain cities. Mustangs that were equipped with 428ci engines Some people were complaining that the 390 pow- became more refined so the sales increased. In ered Mustang wasn’t fast enough so late in the year 1968 the cars became even more luxurious and a special 428 was installed in a small number of that continued until they were dropped in 1970. Mustangs and several factory cars were drag raced Shelby became disenchanted with the luxury op- and did very well in their class setting low ET and tions Ford wanted so he became less involved and top speed records. In 1968 Ford sold 317,404 Mus- Ford management became more involved in the tangs so it was easy to see that the market was flat- cars in ’68 and later. The Shelby Mustangs as they tening out because of the stiff competition. The became called were popular performance vehicles Shelby Mustangs also received the special 428 en- when they were new and today they are highly de- gines and they were known as GT500KR Mus- sirable collector cars. tangs. KR stood for King of the Road. In 1969 Ford introduced a new body style that in many enthusiasts opinion is the best-looking Mus- tang ever produced. The new fastback design was called the Sport Roof and the top-of-the-line model, the Mach I was very popular. The Mach I featured a semi-gloss black hood, reflective side stripes, and chrome plated rally wheels making the car look 1968 GT350 Mustang race ready. Options included a rear spoiler that was Many young buyers wanted more performance so designed for the Boss 302 version, a front spoiler they were attracted by the new Pontiac offering, also a Boss item and the original wheels could be the GTO, that was also introduced in 1964. That upgraded to Magnum 500 wheels. The genius be- car sold well in the first year, but when the much hind the Mach I was it was available with several engine options from a two-barrel 351 engine to a Mustang. The Boss engine was rated at 290 horse- ground pounding 428 Cobra Jet engine that was power, but test showed that the engine was pro- underrated at 325 horsepower. It was obvious that ducing over 325 horsepower for the street version. the engine was underrated because in road tests the Cobra Jet Mach I Mustangs were running the same quarter mile times as the 435 horsepower Corvettes. The Mach I Mustangs sold well be- cause they offered something for everyone from an economical driver to a ground pounding drag machine. 1970 Calypso Coral Boss 302 Mustang Ford was also involved in NASCAR racing and the old 427 engine was having a difficult time compet- ing with the Chrysler Hemi. Ford developed a sin- gle overhead cam (SOHC) engine but it was too powerful so NASCAR disqualified it. Ford believed 1969 428 Super Cobra Jet Mach I Mustang in fighting fire with fire, so they designed their own Ford was actively involved in road racing from Hemi engine, but they twisted the valves so that the their introduction in 1964 ½, so for a few years intake valves were located on the top of the com- they were very strong contenders in the Trans Am bustion chamber very close to the intake ports and racing series.