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The Mustang is a medium-sized wild horse that originated in the western United States and is a symbol of the American West. The name comes from the Spanish word mestreño or mestengo, used to connote: a wild, stray, ownerless animal. |
My love affair with the Ford Mustang goes back to 1967, when my friend Prem had shared his sketch of the 1964½ fastback with its unique "Y" pattern styled-steel wheels.
Ford Mustang pioneered the “Pony car” concept. Affordable, compact, highly styled coupés and convertibles with rear-wheel drive, long hood, short decklid and wide range of options to individualize each car. Quick to follow in the tracks of the Mustang were other ponies such as the Mercury Cougar and Capri, Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, Dodge Challenger and Charger and Plymouth Barracuda.
Back in 1968, my classmate, Vijay David gifted me a customs clearance and forwarding company’s 1968 glossy brochure of importable cars. In those lovely pages, I fell in love with the even more aggressive styling of the 1968 Ford Mustang GT fastback. It had muscular curves, a coke-bottle waist, fluted wheel arches, roofline stretching to the trunk lip, concave taillights, three-point seatbelts and a 4.9 litre V8 engine.
A total of 42,325 fastbacks were made in 1968. The base price in 1968 was $2,712/=.
| Note the roofline stretching to the trunk lip and concave taillights |
| Note the muscular curves, coke-bottle waist, flared wheel arches |
| The 1968 Mustang got the two-spoke energy-absorbing steering wheel |
1969 is the year Ford introduced quad headlamps (four sealed beams) in the Mustang. 1969 was the only year in Mustang's history when four headlights were used. The outer lamps had chromed bezels, not painted ones anymore and the inner lights, set in the grill had overhanging shrouds.
My write-up on the 1969 Ford Mustangs is available here.
1987
When I lived in Everett, WA State, I owned a Rangoon Red “Fox” platform Ford Mustang hatchback, and became member of a club called Mustangs Northwest.
That was in 1987. This car, “Washington HTW 430” had Ford’s 2,300 cc Lima-four overhead camshaft engine made in Lima, Ohio. It put out 143 bhp and did 0-60 mph in 9.1 sec.
| My Fox Platform Ford Mustang Hatchback |
The car had an Alpine 4-speaker stereo and a console housing an electronic digital clock with day/date/elapsed time/stopwatch functions, plus a graphic warning display module that indicated low level conditions in the fuel tank and washer system, and signaled when a headlamp low beam or taillamp/brake lamp needed replacing.
It had a special suspension package with retuned shock absorber valving and front and rear stabilizer bars along with metric-sized forged-aluminum wheels and, for the first time on a Mustang, non-US tires (Michelin TRX 190/65R390 performance radials).
The Mustang would go very fast. I don't know how fast because the economy oriented speedo only went up to 85 mph where it had a stop to block the needle. I distinctly remember max’ing the speedo on that baby on the Interstate freeway I-5 zillions of times.
Back then, there was a whole wrecking yard called: “Wild West Classic Mustang Ranch” specializing in Ford Mustangs in Woodinville, WA. It was 15 miles south of my home, on the Woodinville-Snohomish Road and 228th Street SE.
Filled with about 400 Mustangs, vintages 1964 to 1998, they supplied Mustang parts to Mustang lovers in Australia, South Africa, the UK, Mexico, Canada and Kuwait.
Now long gone, the Wild West Mustang Ranch, sold their 3 acres of land, which is now part of the Brightwater sewage treatment plant.
I had occasion to see an Acapulco Blue 1968 Shelby Mustang GT500KR. It was love at first sight.
Nicknamed “King of the Road”, the GT-500KR was a powerful and luxurious Mustang with a 400 bhp 7.0-liter Cobra Jet V8 engine and 6.9 sec. acceleration from 0-60 mph.
From April 1968 onwards, Ford started installing the Cobra Jet version of the 428 engine.
With a displacement of 427 cid (6,997 cc) and breathing through a naturally aspirated 4-barrel Holley carburetor, it put out 335 bhp@ 5,200 rpm and 597 N⋅m torque @ 3,400 rpm. The Cobra Jet engine featured a unique, 16-bolt exhaust flange.
The car was known as The Shelby Mustang GT500 KR. Shelby's KR engine was left stock but the die-cast aluminum valve covers carried the letters "Cobra LeMans" to remember Ford's victory over Ferrari at Le Mans in 1966 and 1967.
| 1968 Shelby Mustang GT500KR in Acapulco Blue |
Starting life at Ford’s Metuchen, New Jersey plant, the Shelby Mustangs were completed with fiberglass hoods at A.O. Smith in Ionia, Michigan.
The Shelby GT500KR Mustang was a 1968 only car. Ford dealers sold 1,570 of them in 1968. That included 1053 fastbacks and 517 convertibles.
What excites me at the present time is Ford’s 2024 “Dark Horse” Mustang.
Available as a coupe only, the Dark Horse is powered by Ford’s 4th generation Coyote 5.0-liter V8 engine (500 bhp@5,000 rpm, 418 lb-ft torque@4,900 rpm) breathing through dual 80mm throttle bodies. It also features Twin-independent Variable Camshaft Timing (Ti-VCT).
VCT stands for Variable Camshaft Timing.
The camshaft phasers or actuators adjust the position (phase) of the camshaft w.r.t the crankshaft, to advance or retard engine timing based on whether the embedded software in the powertrain control module (PCM) orders power or fuel economy.
The camshaft phaser cavity is a cavity that rotates (advances or retards) the camshaft to change valve timing. Each camshaft can go from fully advanced to fully retarded in just 200 ms.
VCT uses solenoid-controlled hydraulic valves, to direct engine oil into the camshaft phaser cavity (valve spools).
The PCM activates the solenoids to move the Valve spools. The valve spools regulate the flow of oil to the phaser cavity.
Ti-VCT (Twin independent Variable Camshaft Timing) independently changes both input valve timing and output valve timing.
Opening of the intake valves is optimized to increase engine power and torque on demand.
Opening of the exhaust valves is optimized for reducing emissions.
The Mustang Dark-Horse can be had with a TREMEC TR-3160 six-speed manual gearbox.
| 2024 Mustang Dark Horse in Blue Ember met. |
These cars are assembled at Ford’s plant in Flat Rock, Michigan
I chose to assemble a Lego model of the Ford 2024 "Dark Horse" Mustang. It is made of 344 individual Lego components.
The completed model is
26 cm x 14 cm x 7.1 cm, or roughly 1:20 scale.
