Mustang alley

One of America's iconic cars is about to turn 40. Motoring editor ALASTAIR SLOANE takes a ride from the original model to the latest racing concept


Around 40 years ago, Canadian airline pilot Stanley Tucker was driving past a Ford dealership in Newfoundland and Labrador when he noticed a crowd milling around a new convertible.

He parked his Pontiac sedan and joined the throng. The car was a Ford Mustang, painted "Wimbledon White". Tucker liked it so much he went back the next day and bought it.

But the story goes that the dealer wasn't supposed to have sold it. It was the first Mustang built - No 5F08F100001 - and was being shipped around to promote sales.

Tucker had no idea he'd driven away in the first Mustang. But Ford executives at head office in Dearborn, Michigan, certainly did and talked to him about buying it back.

Some months later, as Americans were queuing for every Mustang built, Tucker and Ford struck a deal: in exchange for the first Mustang, Ford would trade him the one millionth.

On March 2, 1966, fewer than two years after he'd bought it, Tucker handed over his car at a ceremony in Dearborn. It had done 16,000km. Ford executives then took him to the Mustang assembly line, where vehicle number one million was about to roll off. The deal was done. Tucker took his new car and motored off back to Canada. Ford moved Mustang No 5F08F100001 around the corner to the Henry Ford Museum, now called The Henry Ford. The Wimbledon White convertible is still there today.

Next Saturday, April 17, the Mustang turns 40. Mustang clubs around the world are having a party. So is Ford. To celebrate, it has unveiled a racing concept of the 2005 Mustang, called the GT-R. "The Mustang GT-R signals a potential future race car, while honouring four decades of performance glory just days before Mustang's 40th anniversary," says the carmaker.

Adds the Ford group's chief designer, J. Mays: "Mustang's iconic image grew with every chequered flag so we think the Mustang GT-R is an appropriate tribute to the car's 40th anniversary and a hint at what's to come."

The original Mustang was an instant sensation in the Trans-Am series in 1966. Mustangs won four of the seven races, giving Ford the inaugural manufacturers' championship. Ford won it again in 1967, along with the driver's title.

America's carmakers dropped racing programmes during the 1970s energy crisis, but Mustang led Ford's charge back to the track in 1981 under the Special Vehicle Operations racing programme.

The GT-R Valencia orange car was inspired by the famous Grabber Orange 1970 Mustang Boss 302 Trans-Am race cars (the Yellow Mustangs) piloted by race legends, including Parnelli Jones.

The GT-R uses 85 per cent of the 2005 Mustang's body components along with the same suspension set-ups.

The engine is Ford Racing's 320kW (440bhp) 5-litre "Cammer" crate unit - a development of the 4.6-litre V8 - that can be tuned to produce more than 372kW (500bhp). Gearbox is a six-speed manual.

The car features the classic pony in the grille. The prominent GT-R logo is placed above the front fender and is flanked by the honorary "Mustang" and "40th Anniversary" words. This logo is repeated on the rear.

Despite the logo, the Mustang took its name from the World War II fighter plane, the P-51 Mustang, and not the wild horse, says Ford.

Although the abiding Mustang image is that of the legendary American wild pony, the first approach by designer John Najjar was to go with the fighter plane that he admired so much.

Although the name was cleared with the company's styling and legal departments, somewhere along the line someone preferred the pony image.

Next step was the galloping horse logo, arguably one of the most enduring automotive icons. Of the 8 million Mustangs produced in the past 40 years, a few hundred were officially imported to Australia.

Ford Australia brought in 48 1965 Mustangs and converted them to right-hand drive between July and September 1965. All models were 4.7-litre (289 cubic-inch) V8 hardtops.

Ford Australia also imported one 1965 convertible for promotional use, although there doesn't seem to be any official record in the archives.

In 1966, the company imported 161 1966 Mustang hardtops. Most were V8s; there were a handful of V6s.

The conversions were done in the Homebush assembly plant in Sydney, using Falcon steering boxes, drag links and steering arms.

New Zealand has about 1400 Mustangs with seven clubs - Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Manawatu, Canterbury and Southern.