Ford Mustang

The Mustang is a sports car marketed by Ford since 1964. It was conceived as a smaller performance sedan, and due to its success spawned competition from Chrysler and GM. These new muscle cars were known as "pony cars" after the Mustang. The model was originally introduced in 1962 in a more aerodynamic model. Early production Mustangs came in a sporty fastback version with a slotted rear window. At the end of the sixties the Mustang received the Boss edition, after a slang term for cool or hip. It came in the seven liter 427 or the Trans-Am caliber 302. The latter was very competitive in the Trans Am Series in its day, competing against the Dodge Challengers and Chevrolet Camaros. In the late sixties Ford introduced the Mercury Cougar as the companion the Mustang. It too was competitive in Trans Am until after the Oil Crisis when it went over to NASCAR after switching over to the Ford Thunderbird platform. It would not be until the nineties before the Cougar switched back to the Mustang platform. The Mustang competed in Trans Am beyond the Crisis after the series switched to an IMSA GTO format. It was already being used in IMSA GTO at the time. The Mustang has continued to be used in IMSA and Trans Am ever since. It has also been used in the Michelin Challenge, IMSA's support series which has undergone several name changes, as well as the Pirelli World Challenge. The Mustang's original logo was a galloping horse in front of red, white, and blue stripes. It later switched to simply a horse before dropping that in favor of the Ford oval in the seventies. It would not be until the nineties before the horse would return. Original Mustangs had tri-bar taillights which lit up sequentially with the turn signals. In the seventies these were dropped in favor of more conventional taillights. The tri-bar would not return until the nineties. Carrol Shelby, famous for his iconic and revolutionary sports car the Shelby Cobra, created his own versions of the Mustang beginning in the sixties. This would be carried over as a package on subsequent Mustangs. The infamous Mustang II has a King Cobra package with a Pontiac Trans Am like hood design. The Shelby GT350 was commemorated at the Monterey Historic Automobile Races, confusing to many because they had only just tributed the Cobra a few years prior. The Mustang also competed in the Rolex Sports Car Series. After the Mustang was redesigned to resemble the late sixties models, the Boss 302 was revived. These were used in the Michelin Challenge with Trans Am tribute livery. In the seventies the Mustang came with a Mach 1 edition.