Poster Shows How The Mustang Profile Has Changed Over Time
Blue Springs Ford Parts is offering a free Mustang poster download that shows the evolution of all six generations of the Ford Mustang. This free poster is also available as a desktop background. Created in a minimalist style, the poster combines the art of the Ford Mustang profile with specs about each generation.
“We created this free poster to share with Mustang fans,” says Kyle Harris, Director of BlueSpringsFordParts. “It was especially fun to recall the most famous variants, from the 1968 Shelby GT500 to the 2010 Shelby GT500.”
When Lee Iacocca and his team created the Mustang, power was not the primary focus. The car was geared at the young adults, so it needed to be both affordable and attractive. To keep production costs low, the first generation Mustang shared its chassis with the Ford Falcon. That’s where the similarities ended though, as the Mustang was much sportier. On April 17, 1964, Ford showed off the Mustang at the World’s Fair while simultaneously debuting the car in Ford showrooms. Ford sold 22,000 Mustangs the first day.
“When the Mustang first came out in 1964, it was supposed to be a fun, affordable coupe,” says Harris. “But as our Mustang evolution poster shows, the vehicle has evolved into a performance icon, with big gains in horsepower over the last couple of generations. In fact, the Mustang’s base engine horsepower has nearly tripled since 1964 1/2 model was introduced.”
In the mid-70s, Mustang’s second generation responded to America’s need for fuel efficiency. The Mustang II’s four-cylinder only put out 88 horsepower and was built on a Pinto platform. The third generation “Fox” body arrived in 1979 with an available convertible option and more sports car appeal. This generation of Mustang weighed the least, with a curb weight of 2875 pounds, and was offered in a variety of high performance variants. This was also the Mustang generation in production the longest.
The last three generations of the Mustang have seen dramatic improvements in base horsepower, fuel economy, and safety. Of course, these improvements have steadily increased costs. Still, the newest Mustang is a vast improvement over the first generation car by almost any metric.