jsaylor

Not from day one when they drew up the 05 . [/b][/quote]
Um yeah, I would say it was. Generally, cars that sell this many of both models are designed side-by-side. Not to mention Ford even commented that the transformation to convertible works great because the car was designed to work with no roof. If you have some reason to doubt Ford I would be curious to know what it was.

slavehand

Awesome!

jc526760

I totally dig the convertible. Like it much better than others. Just bought the coupe (torch red, red leather, shaker 1000) November 14th though, so I'll hold out for the next step (when should I expect a Cobra convertible to be on the market?)

TMSBrad

Not from day one when they drew up the 05 . [/b][/quote]
There is no point arguing with me on this.

6505pony

According to some guy in the Mustang Into Booth at the Baltimore Auto show last Jan who stated he was "within the design department of Ford". Since Ford was planning on 1/3 of the sales were going to be for verts and the previous verts had a bad rep. So when the design of the 05 was started, it was designed as a vert right alongside as the coupe from day 1 because that is where they knew their major structural hurdles were going to be. They figured if they could get the structural integrity solid with no roof then adding a roofline would be easy.

TMSBrad

jsaylor

Always easier to add a roof than to take one off from a rigidity standpoint.

6505pony

Where di that concept drawing come from, Brad. Do you have a date on it?

jsaylor

TMSBrad

Motor Trend, October or November 2002.

justme97

Any idea when we might start seeing other colors? I would love to see some lime green or sonic blue pics...I know there's a sonice blue convertible pic on here but I don't think it gives the color justice given the circumstances of the photo.

6505pony

Thank you. And thanks for starting the Sticky. Some of us who were anxiously but patiently waiting for their vert build dates were feeling deprived since none of us have cars yet.

Great pics.

Dave99GT

gotta love the hips on the concept drawing above from Motor Trend. Too bad that did not make it into the production vert.

05_John

Stunning! Makes me wish I got red

steve19970

Perhaps it's just my monitor, or maybe the lighting of the pics, but that looks a bit deeper red than torch...could it be the Colorado Red?

Domainer

Yep, they also built corvettes side by side as well ( at least the year I bought my vette vert) .. And, it doesn't matter really. Laws of physics apply, and the structural integrity of a vehicle is much stronger with the coupe. With a vert, rattles and loose ends are much more prominent than the coupe version of any vehicle.

This vette is the last vert I will ever own. Never again.. That's 2 now.

jsaylor

Agreed, and I prefer coupes myself. But, the point of contention was not that coupes are stiffer by design, they are. It was that the vert was planned-designed from the outset, it was.

rhumb

The '05 was designed from day 1 to accomodate a convertible version. Ford well knew the popularity of that body style from day one and certainly had every intention of having a convertible version. Of course, it won't be quite as stiff as a coupe, but given that convertible design consideration were always taken into account, the difference should be far smaller than the outgoing Stang.

Now there was a car, at least in its initial Fox body iteration, that was never intended to be a convertible but was only converted into one well after the fact. If I recall, the first versions were all done outside the factory for a couple years. The result was the heavy, wobbly, trussed-up chassis that we all know and, well, tolerated. The updated SN97 was girded up a bit better for topless duty, but given that it was essentially little more than a spring freshening of the, even then, hoary old Fox platform, it was still pretty much in the Flexi-Flyer class of chassis rigidity.

tom_vilsack

Looks like colorado red to me too...oh brad?

CelticNut

I read on an earlier thread that the convertible is actually considered a 2006 model. As of January 1st of any model year, a manufacturer is within their right to give their car NEXT YEAR'S model designation. I also read this years ago in a trade publication. I don't necessarily understand the logic, but I have heard this more than once.

Perhaps the fanblade wheels WILL BE available, since Ford may consider the convertible 'Stang a 2006 model. Sorry if this information (or worse, MISinformation) has been shared before...