Ford Mustang 1964 - 1968

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Ford Mustang 1964 - 1968



The Ford Mustang burst upon the American scene in April 1964. Within two years the first million had been built, and by 1968 there were two million on the road. Many questions we receive at Unique Cars and Parts today relate to "How much did it change during the first four years?". To answer these questions, lets take a closer look...

It's probably fair to suggest that the Ford Mustang revolutionized the American motor industry's thinking. When the car was first shown in a great blaze of publicity at the New York World's Fair in April 1964, the US market's sporting element had been sadly neglected.

Only General Motors, with their small-production plastic-bodied Chevrolet Corvette offered a sports-cum-personal coupe. But in the space of four short years the Mustang and Corvette would be joined by the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird, the AMC Javelin and AMX, the Barracuda and the Mercury Cougar (itself an offshoot of the Mustang).

A Car Built For The Very First Of The Baby Boomers



From the beginning, the Mustang was a triumph of market research over intuition and design. Styling studies began in 1961, significantly 16 years after the end of the war, when the post-war baby-boom was beginning to work its way through high school, and would soon become a new potential sales area. The compacts, all started in 1959, were well in their stride, and the American economy was showing all the signs of moving into yet another boom. Ford researchers thought deeply about the prospects, coming up with interesting conclusions.

By 1964 there would be many more young buyers, many existing buyers would be wanting more style and performance from small-sized domestic cars. The corporate decision to get involved in motor sport again was about to be made, and the Total Performance concept was only just over the horizon. A new brand of car was thought to be needed from Ford; researchers thought they knew what sort would do the job; and the Mustang was born.

Quite a lot of ex-Thunderbird owners (the original two-seater cars, built only from 1955 to 1957) kept badgering Ford for a successor; the T -bird had grown up to four-seat long ago, and was not a sporting car any more. Yet in spite of this vocal minority, Ford decided that the new car had to be a marginal four-seater at least if it was to sell in quantity. The two-seat die-hards didn't realize that only 53,166 Thunderbirds had been built in three years, whereas the first four-seat car sold 36,510 units in the first model year. They were right, dead right, to give the Mustang four seats; in the first eight months of sales, the first quarter-million Mustangs proved it, and would continue to do so for many years to come.

A Clever Smoke Screen - The Mustang 1



Here it was that a typically American smoke-screen was laid. Other manufacturers knew Ford were dabbling with sporting cars but had to be put off the trail, so-for the moment-had the buyers. While clay models of the production car were still being shaped, Ford built their Mustang 1 and showed it off to the sporting fraternity at Watkins Glen in the autumn of 1962, then as a very advanced two-seater!

The Mustang 1 was the ideal smoke screen. It was a mid-engined (unit between driver and rear wheels) open two-seater with fixed seats and adjustable pedals. The engine was a V4 1,700 c.c. Ford Taunus unit, and the design was entrusted to the same band of engineers, led by ex-Jowett and Aston Martin man Roy Lunn, who had developed the f.w.d. Cardinal before handing over the whole scheme to Ford in Germany. As a production project Mustang 1 was meaningless. but it certainly proved that the US public was interested in Ford's sporting attitudes, and served its purpose as an interest-raiser.

Meanwhile, Mustang's styling had been finalized after a number of internecine competitions, much chopping and changing, director viewing and midnight-oil burning in true Dearborn tradition. First clays were called Cougars, then -briefly- Torinos, and finally Mustangs; it's interesting to note that the rejected names were later resurrected for use on other corporate Ford designs. By August 1962 the engineers had been called in to turn clay into sheet metal, the button was pressed, and planners could only sit back and hope, remembering the debacle of Edsel, their last true market-research car.

1965 Ford Mustang

The Mustang A Compromise?



Like almost every car ever built, the Mustang was a compromise, Though its styling, structure, and (to some extent) its engineering were new, power packs and transmissions were taken from Falcons and Fairlanes, plus suspensions adapted from the Falcon. Because of the new "Total Performance" concept, the new car had to offer everything from basic motoring (by USA standards) to the makings of a track or rally car. It was a small car by US standards, so as a mere runabout it had to offer good economy and long life.

In addition, Ford wanted the car to be raced eventually, but were not prepared to sell racing cars off the production line. Several tuners, notably Shelby American, and Holman and Moody, were encouraged to develop racing engine, transmission and chassis parts to turn the hottest production car into a real winner.

By the middle of 1963, still nearly a year from the car's planned announcement, Ford decided to play another little game. With Watkins Glen in September (then site of the US GP) as the stage, they decided to show off Mustang II; this was rather less of a leg pull than Mustang I, being a true Mustang prototype with heavily disguised nose and tail styling, but finalized shell, and a removable hardtop looking rather like a squashed version of the eventual production top. Ford paid much more attention to comments on this car, so nearly representative of what they would be making, and were ready to make big changes to the layout, or even put off the announcement date, if it was unpopular. As with Mustang I, it was liked, planners breathed again, and everything was organized for the big splash in April 1964.

Two Engines Take A Long Walk Off A Short Pier



Because the original Mustangs had to fill several budding market sectors, there would have to be a big choice of engines, a problem made more ticklish because the mighty corporation was in any case going through a massive re-think of its immediate engine needs, with important change-overs due only months after announcement. Ford would dearly love to have brought changes forward to suit Mustang, or put Mustang back to suit the engines, but in the end settled for six months of engines that would be obsolete almost at once.

The economy minded engine would be the 170 cu.in. (2.8-litre) six-cylinder engine, which had only four main bearings and produced 101 bhp (gross) ; just six months later, when the entire 1965 Ford range was announced, the six-cylinder engine became a seven-main-bearing job with bigger bore and stroke in the same basic machining layout, displaced 200 cu.in. (3.3 litres) and produced 120 bhp. The other obsolescent engine which lasted only six months was the 260 cu.in. (4.2-litre) V8 boasting 164 bhp; this was superseded by a 200 bhp 289 cu.in. (4.7-litre) V8.

At this time, all the V8s were based on Ford's already famous thin-wall casting engine that had started life as a 221 cu.in. unit in the Fairlane. The 260 cu.in. unit was the first stretch (and was dropped at the end of 1964 - except on the British-built Sunbeam Tiger where it lasted until 1966), followed by another stretch to 289 cu.in. (4,727 c.c.) at which size this had become one of the most famous American V8's of all time.

1967 Ford Mustang

Two Versions Of The 289 V8



Two versions of the 289 cu.in. V8 were in the original Mustangs, the very significant one being the HP, or High Performance, version which produced 271 gross horsepower at an eye-brow raising 6,000 rpm. Not only did it produce a lot of power to start with, but such fittings as solid valve lifters, a 10.5-to-1 compression ratio and a four-barrel carburettor meant that this was the Mustang engine Ford were backing as the basis of a race unit. Even at the production line stage, there was an almost bewildering variety of gearboxes and final drive ratios to go with the engine options, not helped by the fact that three distinct final drive internals (non-interchangeable) from the Falcon, the Fairlane and the Galaxie were involved.

Public interest in the new car was fantastic, and Ford claimed to have taken 22,000 orders on the very first day! Within a week the planners were sure they didn't have another Edsel on their hands, and within a month it looked like the original gold rush all over again. If ever there had been a car that appeared at precisely the right time, Mustang was it. GM, Chrysler, and AMC looked aghast at this new phenomenon, started scribbling themselves and took years to catch up. Chrysler were quick with their Barracuda but didn't push the performance aspect enough, while GM's Camaro - a true competitor - took over two years to appear.

Shelby American and Alan Mann Racing Variants



Almost at once, sporting successes began to notch up. Shelby American produced some very fast Mustangs very quickly on the West Coast, and shortly blossomed with their own small-production variant, while in Europe Alan Mann Racing were entrusted with the preparation and running of a team of orange cars for the Tour de France. Peter Procter and Peter Harper both wiped the floor with all the Jaguar opposition (which had so dominated the Tour for years), but the first victory was hard to follow up in winter rallies. The same cars later found their way on to the tracks, some of them winning many races in the British Saloon Car Championship, where the just-four-seater hardtop was homologated as a touring saloon.

Into Production



As a production car, sales really rocketed. Within two years, by spring 1966, the first million had been built, even though there had been virtually no styling changes in three peak-buying seasons. The hardtop and the convertible had been joined by a fast-back 2+2 coupe in autumn 1964, perhaps the most successful shape of the three, and destined to form the basis of the highly-modified Shelby 350GT. But even the most successful American car had to be changed, and for Mustang this came in the autumn of 1966.

Ford claimed that the re-working of the styling cost many millions of dollars, but even seasoned observers had to look closely for the differences. The fast-back coupe, admittedly, was substantially re-shaped, with a new sleek roof-line sweeping down to the very tail without suggestion of notching as on the early body. The 1967 and 1968 Mustangs had a concave rear panel instead of the original flat one, different door pressings where the bottom fold disappeared, and a slightly longer nose with peaks to the front wings.

But it was the mechanical changes that were more important. Ford knew that Chevrolet were planning to announce their competing car, the Camaro, so had to keep up with, or even ahead of, the power race. The now-famous 289 couldn't be enlarged enough, so Ford had to bring in their biggest V8 engine, a much heavier (and older) design. For 1967, it was used in 390 cu-in. (6.4-litre) form; handling was not nearly as good as before, but there was a whole lot of really useful horsepower - 335 bhp at 4,800 rpm with a very flat torque curve. The High Performance version of the 289 had pushed out 271 bhp at 6,000 rpm, but with a much more "peaky" power curve, and was not as easy to drive. By 1967, Ford were trying to make the Mustang grow up anyway, with more sound-deadening and refinement being built in with every change, so the big engine, light body concept was an obvious change.

6-Cylinder Economy



During the Northern Hemisphere Autumn of 1967 Mustang development came right up to date, with a slightly revised six-cylinder engine for maximum economy, and a new option of the 302 cu.in. (4.9-litre) V8 - a "stroked" version of the familiar 289 - while the high-revving 271 bhp variant of the 289 was quietly dropped. What was difficult to understand at the time was the announcement of a de-tuned version of the race-winning 427 cu.in. (7.0-litre) engine for road use, especially as there was no call for such hot-rod Mustangs any more. Whatever the reason for announcement, the car was never built in that form.

The expensive-to-build 427 (a racing engine and very different indeed from the 428 which Ford like to link it with) was quietly dropped and the old 390, first shown for 1967, remained the top option. In April 1968 Ford complicated the story even more by announcing the "Cobra-Jet" performance package for Mustang and Cougar, a package that included a "tuned" version of the 428 cu.in. engine with 335 bhp. Since this was the power output already quoted for the 390 cu.in. option it was puzzling as to why Ford had bothered at all - perhaps there were buyers who wanted bragging rights when having a "seven-litre" badge affixed to their car.

The Shelby Mustangs



The Shelby Mustangs were distant relatives of ordinary cars in that they used standard cars as their basis with much modified engines and suspensions under the skin and some very obvious styling "improvements" as traffic-light bait. The first cars, the 350GTs, used the 271 bhp High Performance 289 cu.in. tune, further tuned by Shelby to push out 306 bhp (and you could still have it tuned for more power if your wallet was deep enough).

The Hertz rental car company were very brave and bought several hundred for their hire fleet, but these were really hot-rods or basic racing machines. They were also two seaters only, which reduced their general appeal in America. When the big-block engine option (390 cu.in.) appeared for 1967, Shelby dropped the 350GT and developed the 500GT to replace it. Its styling was even more obviously different - with a boot lid spoiler, scoops in the bonnet and in the rear wings - and the engine was exchanged for a Cobra-tuned version of the 428 cu.in., which shared the same block as the 390 cu.in. engine. This was a much "softer" car for road use, and sold well by Shelby standards. Production was taken away from the Shelby plant in 1967, and small numbers of the 500GT were then made near Ford's central headquarters in Dearborn.

One should not ignore the Cougar in this story, though under the skin it was precisely the same as Mustang in its variants and options. The Cougar's body represented two years later styling development, and was built (and priced) for a wealthier sector of the US market. It was certainly an attracctive shape by any reckoning, particularly in the versions with hide-away headlights. The styling of the Mustang itself evolved slowly over the first 4 years of production, which is a good thing. Very few cars today are so easily recognisable, nor as collectable!

Cylinders
Bore/Stroke mm
Capacity cc
Bhp x Rpm
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
6 cyl.
88.9 x 74.7
2781
101 @ 4400
Std
-
-
-
-
V8
96.5 x 73.0
4261
164 @ 4400
Opt
-
-
-
-
V8
101.6 x 73.0
4727
210 @ 4400
Opt
-
-
-
-
V8
101.6 x 73.0
4727
271 @ 6000
Opt
Opt
Opt
Opt
-
6 cyl.
93.5 x 79.5
3273
120 @ 4400
-
Std
Std
Std
-
V8
101.6 x 73.0
4727
200 @ 4400
-
Opt
Opt
Opt
Opt
V8
101.6 x 73.0
4727
225 @ 4800
-
Opt (65½)
Opt
Opt
-
V8
102.9 x 96.0
6348
335 @ 4800
-
-
-
Opt
Opt
6 cyl.
93.5 x 79.5
3273
115 @ 3800
-
-
-
-
Std
V8
101.6 x 76.2
4942
230 @ 4800
-
-
-
-
Opt
V8
107.4 x 96.0
6964
390 @ 5600
-
-
-
-
Opt
V8
104.9 x 101.2
7014
335 @ 5400
-
-
-
-
Opt (68½)
6944cc engine originally offered for production option, but no cars wre delivered to this specification.
7014cc engine replaced it, and the 6964cc engine was for racing only.


Recommended Reading:


The Mustang Story, Mustang Engines, Mustang Highlights, Mustang Prototype, Racebred Mustangs, Mustang Identification
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