Ford Mustang Resource

Ford Mustang Evolution

Ford Mustang evolution information, from the muscle car of the 1950s to present, and how the car has evolved.

From the 1950's to now.

The Ford Mustang is THE American muscle car, and was definitely one of the main cars to have in the 1950's and 1960's.

Ford Mustang Evolution

If there's one vehicle that has undergone a lot of evolution from its birth to the modern times, it's the Ford Mustang. Born in the 60's, the original Mustang was based on the Ford Falcon Compact during a time when full sized muscle cars were slowly being replaced by medium sized muscle cars with big block engines. The first Mustang with a backseat sold more than 22,000 units in its first day and more than one million in two years. Today, the 2008 version of the Ford Mustang still sells and needless to say, this wonderful automobile breed has become one of the most successful in the history of automotives.

As a simple sports car, the 1965 Ford Mustang was powered by a 170 cid six cylinder and a pair of V8's and had a sports motif that became the primary emblem of the Mustang, even up to this day. The 1965 Mustang was a great success and was copied by a lot of other leading manufacturers. From this original power horse came a series of revolutionized versions over the years. For instance, due to the decline of demand for pony cars in the 1970's, Ford implemented a downsizing of the original Mustang into a more compact yet efficient Mustang II that became the second generation of the Ford Mustang. Evading the Energy Crisis of 1973 by mere months, the second generation of the Mustang was also a smashing hit with sales of about 385, 993 units in its first year, not far from the success of the Mustang I.

In the years 1979 to 1993, a more spacious Mustang was created. It was based on the Fox platform and had a completely restyled interior with excellent styling by Patrick Schiavone. This generation also marked with the return of the sinister-looking Cobra model with 305 bhp. Furthermore, this was when award-giving bodies started to give recognition to our power vehicle, with Motor Trend magazine naming it Car of the Year for three times.

From the year 2005 to the present, the Ford Mustang has continued to evolve and has gotten more recognition, being included five times in the Car and Driver Ten Best list, bagging the first ever Tiffany Gold Medal for excellence in American design, and winning the title of Canadian Car of the Year. This is on top of the continuous sales that inspired the company to continue releasing wonderfully evolved versions of the Mustang. In 2004, Ford launched a redesigned Mustang called the S-197 in the North American International Auto Show. The S-197 is part of the fifth generation Mustangs that are inspired from the original Mustangs of the 1960's. To develop the prototypes, the Ford design teams were said to spend ages looking at the silhouettes of the early pony cars to get the proportions right. Ford wanted to emphasize and highlight the galloping pony logo and Mustang' scripts all in 60's style. The term "retro-futurism" is often attached to the latest breed of Mustangs, which are manufactured in the home plant in Michigan.