From Concept to Reality
1960–1963: Ford Motor Company decides to develop a fun-to-drive “personal car” that will appeal to the post-World War II “baby boom” generation. Ford’s still-unnamed personal car is to be derived from the Ford Falcon. The winner of an in-house design competition establishes the classic “pony car” proportion: a long, sweeping hood, short rear deck and sharply sculpted flanks.
The first Mustang – the 1962 Mustang I concept – is a two-seat, mid-engine sports car named after the legendary P51 Mustang fighter plane from World War II. It made its debut in October at the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, New York where race driver Dan Gurney drove it around the circuit.
