Later Model Mustangs. A design analysis. Part One.
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Have it your way, Broghammy or
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Everyone is pretty familiar with Classic Mustangs. The first generation was produced from 1964 1/2 to 1973. Then there was the malaise era special, the Mustang II. The are fans and haters, okay, mostly haters, but it turned out to be the right car for the times. The rebirth of the sporty Mustang was in 1979. Although it was more up to date, there was a loss of heritage. The iconic running horse never graced any of these models. It was supposed to be a kind of Euro flavored design. It became distinctly more American in appearance and attitude as the 1980's progressed. Culminating in the legendary 5.0 GT. The Boss was Back! Even Vanilla Ice had to give it a shout out!
Everyone has an opinion and here's mine. Of the Classic era the last beautiful Mustang model in my eyes was the 1970 edition. The following three years the Mustang grew in perceived size and market intentions. It is a distinctive and muscular design, but it was reaching into the Personal Luxury Coupe playbook with it's cousin the Mercury Cougar.
As I stated the Mustang II was the right car for the times, smaller and more economical. Just what most of the buying public was looking for. I thought that the design was smoother and well integrated with the color keyed bumpers and flush tail light panel. My Dad bought my brother a very nice Ghia coupe, Bright red with a white vinyl half top. The interior was deep red vinyl with deep shag carpeting that would have done a T Bird Justice. Outside it sported whitewall tires with wire spoke wheel covers. The power train wasn't anything to get anyone's blood boiling, a four cylinder paired with a manual four speed transmission. Overall it was very sharp, a shrunken Thunderbird. I like fancy, Broughammy cars so I thought that it was pretty nice.
In an issue of Street Rodder magazine they did a design analysis of Detroit's new compact cars. They stated that this would be the one to do a mini- Mark IV treatment on.
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| 1979 was a good start. |
The Fox bodied generation that followed eventually restored the Mustang back to it's roots as a sporty looking and potentially very capable automobile. Besides the choices of engines during this model run, you could also choose between the coupe, fastback, and convertible. Just like the original models. Though they got off to a slow start, they could later be spec'd out as real runners. For most of this period, these were the real American high performance standard bearers. It wasn't until Chevy brought back a more potent 5.7 V8 that they took a back seat. Though nothing could beat a Mustang for Bang for the Buck!
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| This what I'm talking about, Baby! Rollin' in my 5.0! |
I'm really a fan of these last Fox bodied Mustangs. I was looking for one, but couldn't find a decent one in my desired price range. The next model, the SN95 was introduced in 1994. It mated a new body on a modified Fox platform and used the traditional 5.0 small block Ford V8.
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| The ultimate SN95 the Saleen. |
The car was improved in many ways. Ford touted it's relationship to the original Classic Mustang of the 1960's. It even reintroduced the running horse emblem. The design was fresh for the time. The wedge shaped profile has also aged well, and it's profile blends in with contemporary traffic. There were many that did not like the new styling. Dave Freiberger, editor of Hot Rod magazine was not impressed. He said that it looked like a Toyota Celica!
I think that it does harken back to the original Mustang. The long hood, short deck, in a compact package design was a sales winner. It took a few model years for the modular motor to receive factory power updates, but over the years there was steady progress. As a Pony car it was successful. It looks sporty and purposeful. Some might say that it looked a bit stubby, when compared to the contemporary Camaro and Firebird. While those come off a bit stretched out looking. The seating position of the GM twins is also marred by a floor pan with a huge catalyst converter bulge. And those ridiculously long doors! But the LT 1 made up for a lot of shortcomings.
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| The flatter body sides are evident in this shot. |
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| The rear end tapers down to the widened rear axle. Not an unattractive look. |
The car did receive steady development. Ford did a mild refresh of the Mustang for 1999 and dubbed it "the New Edge" look. The sides of the body were flattened out, and now sported prominent wheel arches. It was clearly recognizable as a Mustang but a bit sharper and more athletic looking. It was kind of an example of automotive muscular definition. My only real beef with the styling is the fake hood scoop. I much prefer the hood vents on the earlier model. There were subtle chassis improvements and what really mattered was more horsepower.
These SN 95s are quite good, relatively modern, cars. I like them enough to have bought one. I've been quite satisfied with it. It's interesting that my car has lately been attracting attention as a vintage model.
Like an answer to a prayer, the redesigned S197 model debuted in 2005. Finally, the real Mustang was back!
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