The Mustang will celebrate its 45th anniversary this Friday and to celebrate we take a trip down memory lane.

Where were you in 64

Mustang sketch

Sketch of original Mustang (badged "Cougar")

This is from the Ford press release:

“Flash back to the spring of 1964. The mood of the country is still sullen, following the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy. Lyndon B. Johnson is leading the nation forward as president of the United States. “Beatlemania” is sweeping the country, with hits like “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Can’t Buy Me Love” at the top of the Billboard charts. The price of gas is 30 cents a gallon, and it costs 5 cents to buy a postage stamp. “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “Bonanza” and the “Dick Van Dyke Show” are among the most popular shows on television, and “From Russia with Love,” starring Sean Connery as James Bond, is playing at U.S. theaters.”

Mustang

I was there and I remember it. Up until that fateful day in April of 1964 (before the Mustang, all previous new models had been introduced in September, so Ford actually called it a 1964 ½ model), the only sports cars (or sporty-looking cars) on the American road were either the handful of imports (such as the MG’s, Fiats, Jags and Austin Healeys) that were impossible to own without a mechanics license or the very American but equally impractical and/or expensive Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Thunderbird.

64 Mustang

1964 1/2 Mustang

But in a single moment, that all changed. Instead of having to settle for a proletarian sedan like the Falcon (or the Ford Fairlane, Chevy II, Plymouth Valiant or Dodge Lancer), you could get a car that veritably oozed “cool” for the bargain-basement price of $2,368.

It was unreal. It was so unreal that Ford’s original sales target of 100,000 units per year was blown out of the water the first day the car went on sale as dealers submitted orders for 22,000 Mustangs. That’s 22,000 orders on the first day!

1964 Mustang

In total, 417,000 were sold in the first 12 months and, within 2 years, sales of the “pony car” had reached 1 million.

A hint of future success

Don Frey, product planning manager for the original Mustang, sensed that the car was going to be a hit when, months earlier, the design team gave Ford employees a look at one of the prototypes.

“We built the first prototype in an experimental garage, and employees flooded the place to see it,” he said. “Their reaction was spectacular, and it was very revealing to us. We knew the car was going to be roaring success from the start.”

The long hood and short rear deck lid gave the car a distinctive, sporty appearance. “The design was very European, particularly the front end,” Frey said. “There was no other car like it in North America at that time.”

1964 Mustang

Any way you want it

The Mustang could also be ordered in one of three body styles – hardtop, convertible and (for 1965) fastback – with a laundry list of options that enabled owners to customize their Mustang just the way they liked it – something unheard of, at the time, for a vehicle in this price range. Owners could opt for a “base” car with the six-cylinder engine or go “all the way” to the top by ordering a 260 cubic inch (later changed in 1965 to a 289 cubic inch) V-8.

1964 Mustang

Inside, bucket seats were standard as was a floor-mounted transmission lever. Options included sun visors, integral door armrests, a round gauge cluster (later made standard), remote mirrors and a center console. Full wheel covers (with a $17.82 knock-off spinner option) were also standard and, for ’65, a GT option package was added that included special instrumentation and grill-mounted, integrated fog lights. Muss my hair and call me Freddy!

1966 Mustang

1966 Changes

Not wanting to mess with success, 1966 saw just a few cosmetic changes. A new trim piece replaced the original vertical trim on the rear quarter panel “scoop” just behind the doors. A new gas cap and wheel cover design replaced the originals, while the honeycomb grill was replaced with small horizontal bars and the large horizontal and vertical bars flanking the Mustang logo were removed allowing the emblem to “float” in the center of the grill. New audio system options included an AM/FM monaural radio or an AM/8 track sound system.

1964 Mustang