Brent Mustangburger

Meet Brent Mustangburger (voiced by Brent Musburger), a new character for the sequel to the Disney Pixar hit, CARS. CARS brings some style with a 1964½ Mustang that plays an well known sports broadcaster.

Brent Mustangburger is an American sports broadcasting icon. With the self-proclaimed “best stall in the garage,” the excitable 1964½ Ford Mustang is widely considered one of the most recognizable voices in the history of automobile sports television and associated with some of the most memorable moments in modern sports.

Looks like I will have to join my kids to the movies once more this summer ;)

[Via Mustang Evolution]

Marketing the Mustang: An American Icon

Apparently there’s a documentary titled "Marketing the Mustang: An American Icon." on the Mad Men Season 4 DVDbox-set extras. It tells how Ford executive Lee Iacocca persuaded a very reluctant Henry Ford to build the Mustang by citing research his agency guys gave him about the target demo (newly affluent boomers), and lays out the groundbreaking marketing of what would become an instant automotive classic.

Among the revelations in the doc: A lot of the Ford Mustang’s initial marketing was directed at women — the focus of the clip below. There are also a whole bunch of print ads shown in the this 2 min clip but if you’re a regular reader of this blog you have seen most of them already ;)

Thanks for the heads up Steven.

[Via Steven / AdAge]

The birth of the Mustang

“This is the spirit of the wild Mustang”. A conversation at today’s classic car show in Ghent learned that not everybody knows that the Mustang like we know is actually quite different from the original Mustang concept car. Here’s a great video of the real ‘first’ Mustang.

“One of the treats in the video is seeing Phil Clark at work on the original Mustang logo. We also see Clark hard at work shaping the clay on the buck and his sketches adorn the walls of the studio. It’s a tribute to an extremely gifted designer who died when he was only 32 but left behind a legacy of automotive design and a daughter, Holly, who’s dedicated to making sure the world remembers her father’s contribution to the Mustang. This Ford PR film captures the inside story of the team’s efforts that put the first Mustang on the road.”

GM’s original 1956 four seat sports car proposal

"Let’s revert to the slab stern and high luggage compartment, the nearly vertical rear window, the leather strap and ‘chunk of road machinery’ feeling."

That’s from a multipage document describing the need for an American four-passenger sports car, a text leading to one of the most successful product launches Detroit ever enjoyed, Ford’s April 1964 Mustang. Written in 1956, it was presented to — and furiously rejected by — Harley J. Earl, General Motors’ styling chief. Its author, Barney Clark, wrote Corvette advertising copy at the time. A few years later, working for J. Walter Thompson on the Ford account, he talked with product planner Don Frey about it. Lee Iacocca may be the "father of the Mustang," but he got the notion via Frey and Clark, and thus indirectly from GM. Even the final 108-inch wheelbase was first determined by GM’s Anatole Lapine, who subsequently became Porsche’s design leader. Nothing’s simple in the car-design business.

Read the original document here.

[Via Automobile]

1964 Mustang road test

Nice little story found on the blog of my Mustang buddy Cameron in Sidney, check out the images. Could this be images of one of the earliest of Mustang road tests performed for Motor Trend? It reads:

“…appears to be 289 High Performance V-8equipped ‘64 1/2 Mustang hardtop. Although this is clearly a 289 High Performance V-8 with four-speed, we’re not convinced this is a K-code hardtop because the vehicle identification number is filled in and painted over, which means this is likely an engineering mule.”

More on this story on Cameron’s blog.

Happy birthday!

45 years young, you wouldn’t tell indeed. Glad you got your act back together in the last couple of years, I’m more than happy to forget about your ‘puberty’ during the eighties, not something we want to remember right? ;) Kudos to all people involved with developing this great car that went into production today 45 years ago on March 9th, 1964 in Dearborn, Michigan.

$5.5 Million Ford Mustang? (Update!)

Only a day after posting about this pretty expensive Mustang, I read it escaped a fire at the Northern Illinois Classic Auto Museum! Luckily it was saved from the fire:

“An early fire detection system and fast response from the Wauconda Fire Department saved one of the most iconic pieces of automotive Americana.  Damage to the museum is estimated to be about $250K with most of it being smoke related.”

I want to add that my blogpost so close to the fire is a pure coincidence ;)

$5.5 Million Ford Mustang?

Is this Mustang actually worth $5.5 Million? Apparently it is and the reason for all that is that it would be the first ever built Mustang.

“It’s a 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang Convertible which should cost the new owner, $5.5 million which include a letter from William Clay Ford, full ownership history and of course the original registration plates. As you can see the Convertible Mustang looks extremely well, and that is because it was restored in 1983.”

According to Racing Daily this Mustang hasn’t just been discovered, as their seems to be quite some documentation about it already:

“Mustang 212 is not a mystery vehicle that has just been discovered. This Convertible is well known in Mustang circles, chronicled in Mustang publications, and entered in Mustang Registries. It was also displayed at the Towe Museum in San Diego, CA for a period of over ten years. It was loaned to Henry Clay Ford’s granddaughter to use at her wedding in December 2006.”

Well, it sure looks nice but the price tag is maybe just that little bit too much for me ;) If you fancy it however then here’s where you can buy it.

‘64 New York World Fair

I’ve already blogged about the Mustang history a couple of times, with the mention of the Mustang launch at the 1964 New York World Fair, but never had the photos I wanted to go with that… I do now. Here’s a photo of the Ford pavilion (courtesy of Mustang Source and copyright by Bill Cotter).

“A white convertible and a black hardtop are presented together with the other 1964 Ford/Lincoln vehicles. You could also take a "ride" in the "Magic Skyway", Walt Disney’s adventure through time and space. Sponsored by Ford, so you could get lucky and sit in a mustang during the tour!”

More photos right here. Thanks to the Belgian Mustang Drivers.

The 1964 Mustang Indy 500 Pace Car

It’s undeniable that the Mustang has a great history. And I’ve written about it on many occasions, but still today I stumble upon great stories – parts of history – that make are worth writing about.

 

The story I came across this time is about the 1964 Ford Mustang Indy 500 Pace Car. Only 3 of those convertibles were prepared by Holman & Moody to pace the Greatest Spectacle In Racing-the Indianapolis 500.

“Ford produced three consecutively numbered Wimbledon White (not Pace Car White) Mustang convertibles for this purpose-5F08F100240, 5F08F100241, and 5F08F100242. Only one of them is known to have survived, 5F08F100241, belonging to Bruce Weiss of Florida. It is a beautifully restored showpiece with all of the original appointments, including the two-way radio and chrome hand holds. Bruce showed this car quite a bit during the ’90s. It hasn’t been seen much since.”

The other 2 are “missing in action” hence the call out to all Mustang enthusiasts to help us find out where they are or what has happened to them. Read all about it here.

These 3 aren’t to be confused with the promotional Mustang Pace Car Edition Coupes of which 190 were built (also in 1964) as an incentive program for Ford dealers:

“Only 190 of these Coupes were built under the direction of Lee Iacocca as an incentive program for Ford dealers. This promotional competition was planned to distribute Pace Car Editions to dealers nationwide as a sales performance reward. Many of these coupes were lost and destroyed over the years. It is estimated by experts that approximately ten restored, roadworthy examples exist.”

Funny part of all this as well is that those Coupes apparently were in Pace Car white where as the 3 real pace car Mustangs were in Wimbledon white. Kinda weird.

So, had one of these in your barn and didn’t think it was all that important? Or maybe you know where the 2 missing Pace Cars are… you might be in for some money.

And just in case you were curious as to what the other pace cars were in the long Indy 500 history, they’re all here.