|
Source: www.allfordmustangs.com Classic Mustang
At Ford in the late 50s and early 60s, the Fairlane Group was in charge of new product development. The group was comprised of Ford managers and led by Lee Iacocca. In 1961 and 1962, the group was looking at the need for a new Ford sports car. General Motors had just hit paydirt with the Corvair Monza. The Monza was a sports coupe. Gene Bordinat, a Ford designer, sketched out the plan for a sports car would look like something completely different from the current Ford cars. It would not be terribly expensive but it would be high performance. His suggested dimensions were: 90 inch wheelbase It would have a one-piece body skin riveted to a space frame and the seats would be part of the body. The steering column and pedals (clutch/brake/gas) would be adjustable. Ford engineer Roy Lunn was the guy to put the prototype together. With a history in designing racing cars, Lunn knew what needed to be done. The engine was a German Ford Cardinal 1500 cc 60 degree V-4. There was a 4-speed transmission. Ford employee John Najjar dubbed the new racing car prototype Mustang because he was a fan of the Second World War fighter plane, the P-51 Mustang and he though the new car was similar to the fighter plane being both sleek and small. Najjar was involved in the styling of many Ford vehicles in his 43-year career with Ford. This was to be his most celebrated design. Najjar was the lead designer on this project and he wanted a mid-engined design. Therefore the Ford Mustang I was presented with these elements it was small, mid-engined and 4-cylinder. The plan was to offer two choices of the V4 -- 89 hp or 109 hp. Being a sports car, it was a two-seater convertible, with a racing windshield and a roll bar. The body was aluminum. Troutman-Barnes did the work of constructing the hand-built Mustang I. The Mustang I was called the 100-day wonder. There were two Mustang I cars produced. One was a fiberglass mockup that did not actually run. The second was the same as the first except it was functional. Ford took it on the road at the Grosse Point raceway. The point of this was to test drive it and to see what the American public thought of it. On October 7, 1962, Dan Gurney drove it in front of the U.S. Grand Prix Formula One race at Watkins Glen, N.Y. The prototype was not as appealing to the general public as Ford has wished so for the next couple of years, the Mustang I became a show vehicle while Ford focused on a new and improved version of the soon to be famous Mustang. |
