As I was writing about the Mustang fighter last week a reader, David Connor, was writing about another Mustang.
Today’s post is not just for petrol-heads, in fact I have omitted all the technical details. So welcome David Connor, guest blogger.
“Very few cars are as powerfully representative of time and place as a first generation Ford Mustang.
It has the stars and stripes running through it like a stick of rock and it instantly evokes a whole oeuvre of movies, songs, heroes and rogues that capture the freedom and excitement of a very different, determinedly rebellious, late 20th century American Dream.
When the Mustang was introduced in 1964, Ford hoped that it might sell as many as 100,000 per year. They sold 22,000 on the first day and surpassed their initial annual estimate within three months.
The Mustang’s winning formula was, partly, a combination of a beautiful and understated bodyshell allied to commonplace mechanical components. But it was the sheer number of options that really caught the attention of the widest demographic. With five different engine options, six different transmissions, three suspension packages, three braking systems and a whole host of performance, colour and cosmetic choices, there was a Mustang to suit everyone.
Even more importantly, it was cheap.
The Mustang’s launch price of under $2,500 enabled blue-collar workers across America to release their inner rebel and momentarily escape the grime, tedium and thanklessness of industrial labour.
Bruce Springsteen may have made heroes of the men and women working in mines, mills and foundries, but it was Ford’s pony car that gave them the freedom and opportunity to gallop off into the sunset.
We have driven this splendid car and can report that it goes like an angry steam train, that it handles, starts and stops perfectly well, and that it makes a noise that causes people to leap into hedges, run for cover or look to the heavens for evidence of an approaching storm, a squadron of Chinook helicopters or perhaps an exploding supernova.
It is thunderously Wagnerian in both tone and volume.
The merest blip of the throttle in this 289 ‘stang tears the air apart with a sonic assault that sounds much like someone gargling ball-bearings while submerged in a vat of treacle.
We say ‘someone’. We mean Brian Blessed.
This car has less history than Clint Eastwood in any of the countless films where he turns up at some desperate, fly-blown town inhabited by terrified Mexicans, wearing a poncho and chewing a cheroot.
We don’t think that the lack of history matters very much. We think it’s a good ‘un. These are simple, honest cars. There’s nowhere to hide any bad news. And this one seems to have a great deal of mechanical and aesthetic integrity.”
The technical details are here
and it’s up for auction at The Market, Classic and Collectable Car Auctions; a subsidiary of Bonhams. Estimate £19,000 – £25,000. Tempted?
While the Ford Mustang certainly captured the imagination of a certain type of American, at the other end of the spectrum were those who chose to drive the counter culture iconic car of the decade: the Volkswagen Beetle and, its larger cousin, the VW Bus. In 1960s America, the imported VW became the symbol of hippiedom on wheels and was beloved as a form of protest against the ideal of materialism and in opposition to Detroit’s gas guzzlers. By the end of the decade, owners of VWs plastered “Flower Power” decals on their cars’ hoods (“bonnets” to you Brits) to proclaim that the country must turn away from the militarism brought on by the Vietnam War and embrace a kinder, gentler America.
I’ve always assumed it was a Mustang that the Beachboys were referring to in ” I get around” viz:
“We always take my car ’cause it’s never been beat
And we’ve never missed yet with the girls we meet”
Possibly. Or a Thunderbird. Or a Corvette. Who knows?