November Car of the Month: 1964 ½ Ford Mustang

Ford Motor Company introduced the Mustang on April 17, 1964 at the New York World’s Fair. First conceived as a car to appeal to young adults, its long list of options and low base price made it quickly become a car for all generations. Beginning with the base price of $2,368, the short deck car complemented by a stylish long hood could be optioned for family use, as a sporty daily driver or even an ample street racer. Ford projected sales to be 100,000 units for the first model year; sales orders in just the first week alone exceeded 22,000, with the first full sales year ending at just over 400,000. This made the Mustang introduction the largest since the Model A in 1927!

Much of the Mustang’s early success was due to the short design to production time. Ford utilized many already produced parts, mostly from the Falcon and Fairlane. Not only did this save time and money, but it also meant that dealers did not have to stock new parts - and mechanic training was also reduced by using familiar parts.

Early models (1964 ½) were only offered as a notchback coupe or convertible. The 2+2 fastback was introduced in August of 1964. All Mustangs produced for the 1964-1965 time frame are titled as 1965 models.

The early cars are referred to as 1964 ½ (121,538 units) and the cars built after mid August of 1964 are referred to as late 1965 models, and there are differences in the early model cars. The front of the hood is not rolled as in the late 1965 models, and the early cars have a generator vs. an alternator. The base 6 cylinder engine was a 170 cubic 104 h.p vs the 200 c.i. 120 h.p. engine offered in the late 1965 models. The V-8 engine offered in the coupes was the 164 h.p. 260 c.i. which was later dropped for the lighter more powerful 210 h.p. 289. Some of the early cars horn rings bore Ford Falcon badging covered by a trim ring with the Mustang logo. When other car makers saw the success of this new class of cars they all rushed to make their own “pony cars” spawning the birth of the Camaro, Firebird, AMX, and the Cougar. Mustang, now in its 60 th year, is the best selling continually produced car in the U.S.

Fun Fact: Ford utilized product placement in the September 1964 movie Goldfinger. Bond girl Tilly Masterson was in a spirited chase with James Bond driving an Aston MartinDB5 in the Swiss Alps.