Cars 23 Things You Didn't Know About Ford Mustangs

Really, how would you like to be the guy remodeling the clay while a bunch of chain smoking suits watch over you? The pressure must have been immense, especially since the car's main purpose for existence was to draw attention to the company. Shown: The Mustang I, being sculpted as a bunch of designers and managers look on.

The original target was to beat Chevrolet’s rear-engined Corvair. Instead, when Dan Gurney hopped in the working prototype and drove it around the Grand Prix circuit at Watkins Glen in upstate New York, he was only a couple seconds off of the Formula 1 cars of the day, which is incomprehensible by today’s standards. Shown: The Mustang Mach I being scrutinized prior to being built as a car.

Imagine trying to run this ad today? You'd be thrown in jail. "Surgeon General's Warning: Owning a Mustang will get you extremely laid." Shown: A guy reaches over the Mustang I to light a woman's cigarette in this 1962 Ford ad.

Look at the way it gleams! It's the future! It's 1963! My clothes smell like cigarettes! Really, though, the Mustang II was built on a 1964.5 Mustang chassis as a way to transition the design from the wild Mustang I concept, and as sketched would have been a pretty far out way to whip around town. Shown: This sketch shows how much of the Mustang I concept was carried over to production.

Well, at least until Ford got the hint and quit going down that road. Shown: This model from 1964 would've been a very strange looking update.

It was a one-off 1900 CSS built by design firm Ghia, after being commissioned by a San Francisco-area restauranteur who wanted a back seat area for his Great Dane:

"Although championed by Lee Iacocca, the Mustang's design team of Joesep Oros, L. David Ash, Gale Halderman and John Foster made no secret that this particular Alfa Romeo was the main basis of the Mustang design," said Bill Noon of Symbolic Motorcars. Little surprise that Ford later bought Ghia... Shown: The Alfa Romeo 1900 CSS.

Depending on who you ask, though, you'll get a different answer to the urban legend's veracity. This sketch from 1963 does seem to support it, however. Just look at that 3/4 panel and those gills! Shown: The lines on this pre-production sketchdo bear an awfully strong resemblance to that Alfa.

Other names it almost took included Panther and Torino. Rather unsurprisingly, they conducted extensive market research to reach their decision. Can you imagine a world without that shiny silver horse? Neither can we. Shown: These early sketches show the Mustang as a Cougar.

They even had a whole slate of badges and emblems ready to go. At least they got to use modified variants of them when the Mustang's Mercury sister debuted as the Cougar. Shown: Cougar badges and emblems from 1963.

The SMU Mustangs fought hard against the Michigan Wolverines on September 28, 1963. They lost, 27-16, but the father of the Mustang, Lee Iacocca, walked into the SMU locker room after the game and told them they fought so tough, Ford was going to name their new sports car after them. Legendary coach Hayden Fry also claims Iacocca gave him the first one off the line for a buck. Shown: The famous Mustang Pony, as a carving, before ever being placed on a car.

As this picture shows, however, the name was decided earlier. The real story is far less glorious, involving tons of market research and A/B testing. This picture is of a Mustang, as a Mustang, the day before the game even took place. In all likelihood, Iacocca really did walk into the locker room, but as a showman, not a wish granter. Shown: Mustang had its name and iconic pony emblem on or before September 27, 1963.

The Mustang produced with the lowest serial number to be sold to the public went to this guy, a Canadian airline pilot, Captain Stanley Tucker. However, a few days prior, a woman named Gail Wise managed to snag one from a dealership, with no clue as to how important it was. She still owns it to this day. Then, of course, there's Hayden Fry's claim of the $1 'Stang. Shown: Captain Stanley, with both his car and his (airline's) plane.

Clearly, every secretary in the 1960s played guitar, wore short skirts, and smiled a lot. They also had no issue slamming a four on the floor V8 around town with your rolodex on the dash. The sixties were friggin' amazing. Shown: The Mustang in an early advertisement aimed at secretaries.

As you can see from this clay model that was shot on October 28, 1966, the idea of making a Mustang into a station wagon happened kinda early on. Allegedly two of these actually were made. Once in a very blue moon, an aftermarket Mustang wagon will pop up at a Caffeine and Cars event and everyone collectively loses their minds over what they're seeing. Shown: This Mustang 'Aspen' station wagon never got past the clay model stage.

Most people alive can’t remember, and those that do aren’t commenting, but the theory is that it looks like east to west on a map, and unconsciously reminds people of the freedom of the Old West. Shown: A pre-Mustang Mustang, with its emblem running from right to left.

Until August of 1962, the emblem was running eastward and the headlights were straight up ovals. Mercifully this was corrected. Shown: A pre-Mustang Mustang, whose emblem runs left to right. Note the oval headlights as well.

The deep up front and the smooth lines made it look distinctly European (GT40 meets Miura?). It’s a shame this one didn’t get developed further, as it was the mid-rear engined spiritual successor to the Mustang I and, built using a modified Mustang chassis, was legitimately plausible from a production standpoint. Shown: The Mach II was a sleek, plausible sports car.

Without a doubt, this hood is one of the coolest features they never produced on a Mustang. This sketch eventually became the Mach I prototype, and while it sadly never saw production, it did influence the design of the 1969 model's Sportsroof. Shown: This sketch was part of a series that was so well thought-out, Ford went ahead and built the trial model.

We’re not sure how safe that would’ve been, and evidently, neither were the engineers. It was still pretty cool, though. There are so many awesome features on the car they never produced that there's almost definitely a market for them if Ford decided to build a few of them today. *cough* hint *cough* hint *cough* Shown: The original Mach I prototype's interior.

They took up too much room on the grille in front of the radiator, so in some conditions, they didn't allow enough air to cool everything down. Shown: A Shelby prototype, from 1967.

The look might not have been as sexy, but it was still better than sitting on the side of the road. Shown: Later Shelby fog lights that are spaced out for better cooling.

As you can see by the fact that it actually has an interior, it came pretty close to fruition, too. The Mustang Milano was a full seven inches lower than a regular Mustang, and the tail lights went from green, to yellow, to red, depending on if you were accelerating, coasting, or braking. Shown: The Mustang Milano, in all its glory.

Shown: The Mustang IMSA, with its huge fender flares.

It was slated to have Recaro seats, proper racing harnesses, fluorescent lighting in the dash so you could see the gauges even if the sun was in your eyes, all sorts of Top Gun switches in the steering wheel for lights, wipers, etc., and warning lights built into the friggin' hood. Shown: The Mustang IMSA's fully kitted-out interior.

This Italian-designed Mustang is called the RSX. It was basically a concept rally car, with essentially the same 2.3l turbo four cylinder that later wound up in the SVO. The wheelbase was shortened by nearly six inches to make it better over rough terrain. It was a pretty cool concept car, to be sure, but even more cool are the stories surrounding this photo shoot. We were sworn to secrecy though. Really. Shown: A girl in gold. An Italian-designed rally-ready Mustang. What's not to like?

In 1981, they built 11 of these bad boys to show off the then-still-new Fox body Mustang. A couple of years later, they teamed with American Sunroof Company to make a series of McLaren Mustang convertibles first designed after an engineer’s wife wasn’t allowed to park her Mercedes SL in the parking lot. Shown: A 'Full Bleed' advertisement for the McLaren partnership.



The man has designed everything from Nikons to Berettas, with stops at Lamborghini, Lotus, Maserati, Ferrari, DeLorean, and Bugatti along the way, among many others. In a word: Legend. Shown: Guigiaro's concept Mustang, complete with Lambo doors.