There’s a gag associated with the iconic Mustang vs. Charger chase scene in Steve McQueen’s Bullitt. The story goes that the sound editing for the titular character’s pony car seems to have around 10 upshifts in a row, with some counting more. We may look back and chuckle at this cinematic goof, but no one could’ve predicted the once laughable notion of a Mustang with a 10-speed transmission would one day end up becoming a reality.

According to Automotive News, the latest-generation Ford Mustang is already set up for some significant upgrades in 2018, including a new transmission and a return of the Mach 1 nameplate. The transmission rumor has been floating around for a while now, but it gains a little more substance now that it has a date attached to it, as well as being packaged with other details.

Naturally, the rumored 10-speed will be an automatic, which will most likely see some action in the F-150 first and there’s even talk that it’ll find its way in whatever Lincoln Motor Co. is cooking up.

As for the Mach 1, this will be the first time a Mustang will bear the name since 2004. The previous generation certainly saw its share of variants, bringing back a few classic badges, but the most notable one was the return of the Boss 302. This popular edition saw time on track as the 302R customer race car and the street-legal 302 and 302 Laguna Seca, the latter of which was track-day-focused street car. Its 444 horsepower output from the 5.0-liter V8 under the hood made it the nimble sibling to the more powerful Shelby GT500, but a step above the standard GT, both in output and handling.

If the Mach 1 is this generation’s Boss 302, then we already can’t wait.

Editors' Recommendations