Some Historical Dates - First 40 Years of Mustang
| 30 April 2004
September 10, 1962 - Lee Iacocca convinced Henry Ford II that the Mustang (called Cougar, at the time) should be built. $40 million was allocated, initial production was set for 150,000 units, and Job 1 was set for March 9, 1964.
October 7, 1962 - The Mustang I concept car was introduced at Watkins Glen. It was a 2-seat mid engine design.
November 1962 - “Mustang” was selected as the name for the new car. Other names in the running included Cougar, Puma, Cheetah, and Colt.
October 6, 1963 - A Mustang II preproduction show car was unveiled at Watkins Glen. It was a 4-seat front engine design. I was at the Glen that day and saw the car. I wish I had taken some pictures and been more interested but at the time, it was just a passing moment in another race-day at the Glen.
March 9, 1964 - Job 1 was realized and the first production Mustangs began rolling off the line at Dearborn Assembly. The first scheduled VIN (although maybe not the first car off the line) was 5F08F100001, a white convertible.
April 13, 1964 - The Mustang was introduced to the press at the New York World’s Fair.
April 16, 1964 - An estimated 29 million television viewers saw the first Mustang commercials as they aired on the three major TV networks.
April 17, 1964 - The Mustang was introduced to the public at the World’s Fair and it went on sale in Ford showrooms across the country. Ford produced 16,000 units for opening day sales but by the end of the day, they had sold 22,000.
May 30, 1964 - The Mustang was the pace car for the Indianapolis 500. Holman-Moody prepped three convertibles for race track duties.
August 1964 - The fastback body style was introduced.
January 27, 1965 - The Shelby GT350 was introduced.
February 14, 1965 - Driver Ken Miles took a Shelby GT350 R-model to victory in SCCA B-Production at Green Valley Raceway in Texas. That was the first race for the GT350 and an indication of how good the car was. Mustang won the B-Production championship that year. (You should have heard the B-Production Mustangs thundering up the back straight at Watkins Glen as the approached Big Bend. It was enough to give you chills. - Ed.)
April 17, 1965 - On the first anniversary of the Mustang, the GT and the Interior Décor Group were introduced. Most of us refer to the Décor Group as the Pony Interior.
November 2, 1965 - Hertz ordered the first of 1,000 GT350H rent-a-racers.
February 23, 1966 - Mustang number one-million rolled off Dearborn Assembly, less than 2-years after introduction of the marque.
April 1, 1968 - The 428 Cobra Jet was introduced. (We’ve all heard the story about how Bob Tasca’s group at Tasca Ford developed a hotted-up 390 Mustang; how he called the car the KR-8; and how Hot Rod Magazine tested the car. Hot Rod was so impressed that they asked readers to write to Ford and demand a high performance big block. Ford listened and the 428 CJ was the result. - Ed.)
Autumn 1968 - The Mach I was introduced as a 1969 model.
October 17, 1968 - The movie Bullitt opened and every Mustang owner’s favorite chase scene lit up the screen as Frank Bullitt chased the black Dodge Charger round and round the Volkswagen Bug.
January 15, 1969 - In order to homologate the 429 NASCAR motor, the Boss 429 was introduced. Kar Kraft did the final assembly work on the Boss 9.
April 17, 1969 - The Boss 302 was introduced to legalize the engine and other parts of the car for Trans-Am racing.
September 20, 1970 - Parnelli Jones captured the Trans-Am championship in a Bud Moore prepared Boss 302. Parnelli and George Follmer both had a successful year in Bud Moore Trans-Am Mustangs. (The Trans-Am cars put on a great show wherever they went. At Lime Rock I especially remember them getting air borne at the top of the hill. - Ed.)
August 28, 1973 - The Mustang II was introduced. Iacocca had wanted to down size the Mustang for some time and finally got his way for the ‘74 model year. The car bombed in the showroom until OPEC shut off oil deliveries. When that happened, sales took off like rocket establishing 1974 as the 4th highest production year in Mustang history. Timing is everything.
Autumn 1979 - Mustangs built on the Fox platform were introduced. The platform would remain in use for 25 years.
September 1981 - Ford ads said, “The Boss is back.” The car was the first Fox-body GT.
April 1984 - The turbocharged SVO was introduced as an ‘84-1/2 model.
June 1, 1984 - The first Saleen was built, one of three in 1984.
Fall 1986 - After several years of mediocre power, the 1987 5.0L H.O. was bumped to 225 hp.
July 1987 - A letter writing campaign by Mustang owners and enthusiasts urged Ford to drop plans to revise the Mustang on a front wheel drive Mazda platform. The campaign was successful, the Fox lived on, and the Probe was born as the front driver.
December 17, 1992 - The Special Vehicle Team (SVT) was created in 1991. Its first car, the 1993 SVT Cobra went into production on December 17, 1992.
December 9, 1993 - The 1994 Mustang went on sale. This was a huge event because the Mustang was about to expire when John Coletti agreed to open a “skunkworks” manned by Ford employees who were also dedicated Mustang enthusiasts. The purpose of the operation was to produce an updated Fox on a meager budget. Coletti and the “skunkworks” crew worked on their own time after hours and brought a revamped/rebodied Fox to market as the 1994 model. It was produced under code name SN-95. The SN-95 version of the Fox would prevail for 11 years.
Fall 1995 - The 1996 model went on sale. V-8 models received the 4.6L SOHC modular motor for the first time. Cobras got a DOHC aluminum version of the engine.
Spring 1999 The 1999 Cobra went into production with an independent rear suspension (IRS), the first ever in a Mustang. IRS was reserved for Cobras with the stick axle continuing in other models.
January 4, 2001 - The limited production Bullitt GT was introduced as a special model linked to Frank Bullitt’s 1968 car.
February 7, 2002 - The 2003 Cobra was introduced early as a hairy beast delivering 390 hp and 390 lb.-ft from its supercharged iron-block mod motor. There was a “real” transmission behind the motor and it sported six forward gears.
November 8, 2002 - Production of the 2003 retro Mach I began.
Apparently, retro is good because the Mach and the Bullitt before it were successful market ventures.
January 6, 2004 - The 2005 Mustang was introduced at the NAIAS in Detroit. Job 1 is slated for late 2004 at the AAI plant in Flat Rock, MI. The 2005 model will use a modified DEW platform, replacing the 25-year run on the Fox platform.
The ride continues!