Ford Mustang
It's from 1964, before you were born.
- Iconic generation
- 1964½ Mustang (original)
- Origin
- Dearborn, Michigan, USA — public debut April 17, 1964
- Conceived by
- Lee Iacocca's product team
- Engine
- Top launch engine: 289 cu in (4.7L) V8 — base 170 cu in inline-six
- Power
- 210 hp (gross) 289 4-barrel at launch; up to 271 hp Hi-Po 289
- Production
- Over 400,000 in the first year; 126,538 in the 1964½ run
- Price when new
- $2,320 (coupe); $2,557 (convertible)
About
As of 2026, it's 62 years old.
On April 17, 1964, Ford pulled the sheet off a sporty little coupe at the World's Fair and accidentally invented an entire class of car. The Mustang wasn't fast, exotic, or expensive — it was a Falcon in a leather jacket — but it was gorgeous, cheap, and let you check option boxes until it became whatever you wanted. America lost its mind: Ford hoped to sell 100,000 in a year and moved over 400,000 instead.
The genius was Lee Iacocca's: a long hood, a short deck, a low price, and a name that sounded like freedom with a V8 idle. The 'pony car' was born, and the badge — a galloping horse — became one of the most recognizable shapes in automotive history. Everyone from secretaries to street racers found a Mustang that fit their wallet and their ego.
Then it got mean. By 1969 the Mustang had bulked up into the Boss and Mach 1 era, with the homologation-special Boss 429 stuffing a NASCAR engine under the hood. Steve McQueen jumped a Highland Green fastback over San Francisco hills in 'Bullitt' and locked the Mustang into pop-culture immortality forever.
It has never stopped. Through fuel crises, malaise-era horsepower droughts, and one fox-bodied decade everyone has opinions about, the Mustang outlived nearly every rival it inspired. The modern S550 finally gave it world-class handling to match the swagger — proof that the original recipe was right all along: make it look incredible, make it sound angry, and let the buyer dream the rest.
Ford Mustang through the years
The debut
The Mustang lands at the World's Fair and single-handedly creates the pony car.
Bigger & badder
Restyled to swallow big-block V8s — and to star as the fastback hunted in 'Bullitt'.
Boss & Mach 1
Peak muscle: the Boss 302, Boss 429, and Mach 1 turn the pony into a thoroughbred.
Mustang II
Shrunk onto a Pinto platform to survive the oil crisis — the era purists pretend didn't happen.
S550 goes global
Independent rear suspension at last; the Mustang finally handles as good as it looks.
