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Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang arrived on the scene in the early sixties with huge success appealing to young and old alike. It heralded the start of the muscle car era, winning on the drag strip and race track, read on to learn more about the original pony car.
The first generation Ford Mustang rolled of the production line in Dearborn Michigan on the 9th March
 1964 and was introduced to the motoring world at the New York worlds Fair on the 17th April 1964.The basic body style of the Ford Mustang lasted from 1964 thru to 1966 with minor cosmetic changes both inside and out,the basic package came with a 170 c.u. in line six 3 speed gearbox,but could be optioned up to a 200 c.u. six or 260 and 289 c.u. V8.The first major redesign of the Ford Mustang came in 1967 thru to 1968 with the 289c.u.V8 as the base engine and the 390c.u. being the top of the range,a stock 390 V8,4 speed equipped Ford Mustang could cover the standing ¼ mile in the mid 13’s at a speed of 105 mph which was moving for a production vehicle.
In mid 1968 a special drag racing version of the Ford Mustang was produced equipped with a 428 cobra jet V8 that was rated by ford at 335bhp but actually produced in excess of 400bhp so as to cater for drag racing which was growing in popularity as a motor sport. The 1968 Ford Mustang Fast back was made famous by the movie Bullitt where actor Steve Mcqueen who performed all his own stunts drove the Ford Mustang in a car chase with a Dodge Charger.
There were also two versions of the Boss series of Ford Mustang developed, the Boss 429 that was intended to satisfy the homologating rules for Nascar and the Boss 302 for Trans Am Racing. After 1971 and thru to 1973 saw the end of the big block 429 and the introduction of the 351 in both Windsor and Cleveland design.
Carroll Shelby was called on to add his name and performance enhancements to the Ford Mustang,he produced the first GT350 and then the GT500 in 1967 the GT500 being made practically a household name as Eleanor in the movie “Gone in 60 Seconds“starring Nicholas Cage but for us auto buffs the real star was the Ford Mustang called “Eleanor.“
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