Over the years, we've tested a plethora of American muscle cars and have been there for each drastic refinement since the 1960s. Straight-line speed is one obvious improvement. And it's unfair to describe muscle cars as one-trick ponies, as they've started carving up corners at speeds unthought of even 10 years ago. But, if you're looking at a benchmark that accurately reflects how much a single model, such as the Ford Mustang, has improved over the past few years, you can't go wrong with the old-fashioned zero-to-60-mph time*. It's easily relatable and comparable, unlike a skid pad number or a Nürburgring lap time.

Thanks to our extensive history of gathering our own performance data, we have decades of revealing numbers captured by our editorial staff that not only offer a unique look into a vehicle's evolution but also serve as a performance barometer of sorts for any given era. Jump in and flip through more than five decades of Mustang acceleration numbers pulled from some of the hottest (and not so hot) performance ponies ever strapped with C/D test equipment.



*Acceleration times using 3-mph rollout, not our current rollout standard of 1 foot with the exception of the newest 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 time.