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]

Great Mustangs from racing history

Jalopnik recently did a post about the so-called 8 greatest Mustangs from racing history and obviously there were some real classics in the list, if you know what I’m saying.

Take a look at this 1965 Ford Mustang A/FX for instance, a Mustang that was commissioned by Ford and built with express intent of drag racing. Exactly 11 were built, half with 427 cammers, and sold to drag racers for a princely sum of $1.

Or what do you think of this 1965 Ford Mustang GT-350R that raced in the SCCA series from 1965-1967.

 

And of course not to miss a 1970 Mustang BOSS 302, that raced the Trans Am from 1970 to 1973. Not my personal favorite Stang but sure looks mean ;)

And one commenter shows us this Coca-Cola BOSS 302 that got 101 wins out of 150 odd starts when it was still racing.

And last but not least – a little bit more extreme – this ‘Trojan Horse’ another commenter on Jalopnik asks: “How did you forget this one?”

Don’t tell me you don’t fancy a good old classic race now ;)

Check Jalopnik for the other – more recent – great Mustangs from racing history.

Mustang Ranch

After the Mustang Forest… we got the Mustang Ranch, and it can be yours for $700.000 (well if it ain’t sold already that is).

 

It’s a shame to see such a collection of fine cars rot away, anyway here’s the story on how it was discovered by a reader of Jalopnik:

“I have just returned from a vacation somewhere tropical. On the way back form a day excursion I chose an alternate way back to the highway. Ok, I made wrong turn somewhere and rolled with it. This "scenic route" brought us upon what was recorded by these images. It was my wife who first saw them. "Oh look, Mustangs!" I turned my head in time to see a metric shitload of vintage ponies. I immediately turned around and pulled into the driveway. There was a gentleman in the yard who turned out to be the caretaker for the owner of the house/treasure trove. It turns out that the guy who collected all these cars recently succumbed to cancer and his wife wants all these pretty ponies sold en masse for what is by local standards the princely sum of $700 large (I think there plenty of room for negotiation here).”

More images on Jalopnik.

Mustang atop of Empire State Building

Just like Jalopnik mentioned, it was pretty amazing to see Porsche put its Panamera on the 94th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center. Only to find out that Ford did something similar 44 years earlier…

Stunning view don’t you think? It wasn’t too easy to get it up there and no, it wasn’t by using a helicopter or anything:

“In October 1965, with the Ford Mustang the hottest-selling car in America, the general manager of the Empire State Building had a great idea – to display a Ford Mustang on the 86th floor observation deck of the iconic Manhattan landmark.

Officials at Ford agreed and dispatched a crew to take was careful measurements of the skyscraper’s doors, hallways and elevators. They determined that a white convertible Mustang could be disassembled into four main sections and transported – along with many smaller pieces – up to the building’s 86th floor in elevators to be reassembled.”

Dixit Leslie Armbruster, Senior Collections Archivist at Ford Motor Company… now there’s a person I would like to get to know ;)

I love stories like this. Send me some more Leslie!

[Via Jalopnik]

Mustang of the week #8

This week’s guest in my ‘Mustang of the week’ series is Rob from Austin (Texas / USA). Here are his answers to my 5 questions:

1. Which of your own photos in the Flickr group you like most?

Of the photos I have in the group, my favorite is the shot of the brake light, looking down the street ahead.

2. Is there a particular story around one of your Mustang photos that you would like to share? Something that happened when you took it? Or something related to the response you got on the photo so far?

A part of my work as a photographer includes shooting weddings. I was actually in the middle of shooting a wedding when I happened across this beauty. While we waited for the bridal party to arrive for their portraits, I cranked off several frames for the guy who had done the restoration.

 

3. Do you own a Mustang yourself? Which model? And would you like to have one if that’s not the case yet?

I don’t own one now, but my first car was a red 1965 Mustang Fastback, pretty similar to the one in the photos. I wish that I had never sold it.

4. Do you have a specific love for photographing Mustangs? Or is a coincidence? Or a passion for cars in general?

I love shooting all cars, but I particularly enjoy shooting classic Mustangs. Owning one gave me a special passion for them. Plus, the Mustang is the car that started the muscle car phenomenon. I have a special appreciation for that.

5. Which one of the other photos (in the Flickr group) are you jealous of as a photographer?

Though "The Boss" technically came later, I love the shot of the 1965 Fastback’s gills:

(From Cinemafia on Flickr)

Thanks for your answers and for your photos, great stuff. My personal favorite from your photos in my Flickr group is this one:

There are quite a few photos out there that capture the Mustang logo on the grille but yours is a really fine example of that.

More goodness next week.

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.

Late Xmas gift?

Mustang addict and didn’t know what to ask for Christmas? Maybe this would have been something for you:

“The Mustang Front End Shelf is ideal for displaying mustang themed collectibles and it makes a superb gift for any Mustang fan.”

And there’s also a Rear End Shelf for those who wonder. They’re $69.99 each and you can buy them here.

Top 10 of 2008: best posts of the year

Since I liked Cameron’s idea of putting together a top 10 of the most viewed blogposts, I decided to do the same here. Here’s the list:

1. GT 50%
2. Mustang for the cause
3. Ford Mustang Trike
4. Mustang is the new KITT
5. The Giugiaro concept, nah.
6. Junkyard jewels
7. Mustank?!
8. Yummie!
9. Why 1965?
10. Great 3D Mustang art

It’s worth noting that the number one most visited post won this little competition by far is it had more than double the amount of pageviews compared to the second post on the list. It also looks like posts such as number 1 or 3 generate the most heated conversations – people who love it, others that hate it.

In about a month this blog will be 2 years old, I’ll write something about my personal favorites when that moment has arrived.

Mustang forest!

So you’re scanning through your RSS reader as usual and then you read this: [Secret Garden] Massive Secret Junkyard found in Rhode Island Forest. Worth investigating don’t you think?

“Imagine a secret junkyard frozen in time somewhere around the 70’s with every bit of vintage hardware stretching for hundreds of acres. Classic Mustangs, Camaros, Cadillacs, Hemis; you name it, it’s here. But not for long: The law man’s saying to crush ’em. Massive mega-gallery below along with the location and what you can do to save them.”

Look at a selection of photos to get a taste of what is in the ‘Mustang forest’:

Seriously, this beats about everything I’ve written about on this blog. Here is what the guy who took all the photos (a ton of them) had to say about this:

“Thousands of these classics will go to waste. Here is mostly mustang pictures I took . There us Hundreds of 64-71 Mutangs. Boss, mach 1, many many convertibles, K codes, fastbacks.. Maybe Shelbys? The owner is crazy. He’s always drunk is very hard to deal with. He’s in another world. He said he personally DROVE nearly all the cars in a field in the 60’s-70 and left them there for dead. Many are rusted beyond repair. But there still many parts cars. It will take about two weeks of walking 5 hours a day to see all the cars here. Plus many of them are so buried in overgrown trees and prickers there is no way to see them. I seen a dozen complete 392 hemi cars. This guy refuses to advertise, so nobody knows about it. Believe it or not the guy is still buying cars and driving them in the woods. The last time i was there the owner bought a running 60’s mustang and drove it in the woods to be left for dead.”

Want to save a Mustang… and a forest at the same time? Here’s where you need to go. I looked it up on Live Maps and this is what it looks like from above:

Unbelievable! I have no other words for it.

Mustang of the week #3

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I found so many good Mustang photos on Flickr (preparing for this series of posts) that I created a Flickr group for it. Then I started wondering if it wouldn’t be cool to give some more background about the photographer instead of just sharing the on great photo. So from now on this weekly post will highlight one of the photographers in that Flickr group, and I will be asking them the same 5 questions.

First up is Evan aka evvvvs from Melbourne, Australia!

1. Which of your own photos in the Flickr group you like most?

I don’t have a favorite but if I had to pick one, this might be it. Both of these beautifully restored cars were recent concourse trophy winners. Congratulations Tony & Jim!

2. Is there a particular story around one of your Mustang photos that you would like to share? Something that happened when you took it? Or something related to the response you got on the photo so far?

I guess this photo stands out a little. The striking black paint work & the fact that it’s the same model as my own car, really dragged me in. I met Laurie the owner on this particular night & we had a good long chat about our cars. We bump into each other regularly at local events & he’s always got a kind word to say about the photos I post on Flickr. It’s great to get that sort of feedback from the owners of the cars you shoot.

3. Do you own a Mustang yourself? Which model? And would you like to have one if that’s not the case yet?

Yes, I own a 1965 A-Code Coupe which I’m currently restoring.

4. Do you have a specific love for photographing Mustangs? Or is a coincidence? Or a passion for cars in general?

I certainly do. I have a passion for early Mustangs & while I can’t enjoy mine (resto in progress) I figure I might as well enjoy the finished projects of fellow Mustang owners!

5. Which one of the other photos (in the Flickr group) are you jealous of as a photographer?

I think this shot by Steve Kay is pretty special:

Thanks Evan! Nice choice on the photos and good luck with the restoration of your own Mustang. Oh and Evan, I think I like this one most, but it’s a tough choice to make :)

More goodness next Friday.