The all-new 1969 Mach 1 took off in dealer showrooms. By adding a few faux intake air vents, a new “shaker” hood option, rear wing, hood pins, hood and rocker graphics and some inboard driving lights, they transformed the somewhat ordinary sportroof (aka fastback) Mustang into a high-performance street car with a plethora of engine options. However, by 1968, Ford designers in Dearborn were busy stealing out of the Shelby playbook. The Shelby Mustang continued to be sold through 1970. ![]() That said, by 1968 the Ford Motor Company had nearly taken over the Shelby model, and most Shelby purists consider the 1967 Shelby Mustang as the last “true” Shelby Mustang. Ford engineers thought they could capture more of the high-performance market by stepping up their game with the sporty Mustang platform. After all, Ford was building the cars that were supplied to Shelby. By 1967, the bean counters at Ford took a closer look at the bottom line. Ford wants more of the actionĪs the Mustang continued to trend forward with added engine choices and a body that continued to keep up with the times, so did team Shelby.īuyers continued to plop down large sums of cash for the tweaked drivetrains, suspension upgrades and muscular styling Shelby offered. The new Mustang coupe gave Shelby a chassis to tinker with, but it wasn’t until the beautifully designed fastback model debuted that the 1965 Shelby Mustang would be born.įord’s Mustang was sporty and could now be ordered with the punchy K-code 289-ci, 271-hp engine - and even a GT package - but gearheads gravitated to the Shelby model if they wanted the hottest car on the street (or track). The Cobra was, after all, totally impractical as an everyday driver. In 1965, Ford asked Carroll Shelby to transform the Mustang into something very special - a car that more people could afford than his side-winding Cobras. ![]() Sales just sped up from there, with dealers peddling 263,434 units by the end of 1964. (for you younger readers, we only had three television networks back then).įord sold over 22,000 Mustangs on the very first day they arrived on the showroom floors. The new Mustang would go viral - long before the Internet, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram were twinkles in programmers’ eyes - by old-fashioned word-of-mouth and Mad Men-created television commercials which debuted simultaneously on all three networks at 9:30 p.m. The Mustang was the first Pony Car, and Ford caught the top brass at General Motors and Chrysler with their assembly lines down when the first Mustang rolled off the factory floor on March 9, 1964. If we dive into the evolution of the Ford Mustang, we can watch as it progressed from a nifty - and wildly popular - 4-seater coupe and convertible to an all-out street bruiser with the introduction of the pinnacle Boss 429. And then it wasn’t sold.Īlthough this car is back on the market - more on that later - it still has an interesting story. ![]() This car, Lot 2459, sold for $97,000, including buyer’s premium, at Leake’s Dallas, TX, auction on April 17, 2015. Above starter (part number and date code only, no VIN stamp on block)ġ970–72 Plymouth 440 ’Cuda, 1968–72 Pontiac GTO, 1967–69 Chevrolet Camaro SS 396
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