The Ford Mustang and I have one thing in common – our birth year.
The original Ponycar’s arrival into showrooms occurred a couple of months later – April 17, 1964, to be exact. Starting at $2,368 for a bare bones Mustang two-door notchback coupe, some 22,000 customers basically said “just take my money” upon first sight. I’m sure there were many of those first day customers who test drove one and slapped their hard-earned money on the salesman’s table for one.
Last year, the 10-millionth was produced at the Flat Rock Assembly plant near Detroit. This was a milestone given how the Mustang has grown to become the best-selling sports coupe in the world – not just in the USA and Canada. The painted pony is now sold in 150 countries, driving a share of 15.4 percent of the segment’s sales. Since 2015, a half-million Mustangs went into customer’s hands – seeing the roads around the Goodwood Estate, Mount Panorama, the Great Wall, Ipanema Beach, and everywhere in-between.
I had some experience with the Mustang. Well…OK…let me qualify this. My brother and I owned a Mustang that was less than spectacular – a 1974 Mustang II Ghia in Lime Yellow with an Avocado vinyl roof and matching vinyl interior. We experienced how the Cologne V6 was not-so-well-matched to the oft-recalled C3 automatic transmission. We felt quite embarrassed with its color scheme and lack of satisfaction it eventually gave us in the end.
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