Yeah, but don't forget, a good number of those cars were rusting
out before their warranties ran out!

 

I was thinking about this thread and production...What are the chances that Ford would open up another assembly plant for the Mustang? A million units for F-150's in multiple locations...how many locations? If they're building almost 200,000 out of one unit, would that validate another plant? Maybe demand won't sustain the test of time as would the F-150, so they'll stick with 1 plant. I suppose they could move the mazda platform somewhere else and make Flatrock solely Mustang, or visa versa.

 

If you think about it, 100% utilization of a factory (asset) is the ideal situation. It keeps costs down for Ford, which in turn may keep the cost of the car down. Ford needs a winner with this car and others to stay in business for the long term.

 

Back in the '60s-early '70s there were multiple plants producing Mustangs. There was a plant on west coast near San Jose (Milipitas) building Mustangs just to meet the demand in the Western US... That plant is now a mall...

 

Ahh it feels great to be riding the crest of this wave!! People rubberneck to look at these cars all the time. Funny none do that when I'm driving my Suburban! Our other Mustang is the commemorative Sprint edition 66 vert - for the 1 millionth Mustang celebration. I wonder when the millionth new generation Stang will be built and what commemorative edition will be offered for that milestone. Might be time to pass this one along to one of my sons then and buy another!

 

Ken,

You bring up a good point on your Sprint 200. Ford uses this trick in 66 when they could not meet demands for the V8. Maybe time for an 05 Sprint? For those not familiar:

1966 Sprint 200

Ford celebrated one million Mustangs by its 2nd birthday and Ford decided to advertise the occasion nationally and boost sales by offering a 'unique content' model. Beginning with a standard 200 cid six-cylinder coupe, convertible or fastback, Ford added many popular Mustang options: automatic transmission, console, wire wheel covers, and some exterior trim deleted side scoop trim and pinstripes following the Mustang character line, all topped off with a chrome-plated "Sprint 200" air cleaner. These Mustangs were promoted as the Millionth Mustang Success Celebration Editions, or 'Spring Sprint' Mustangs.

 

Kinda surprized production is still only 192,000 cars.That would place it #15 on list of yearly mustang output.However it would make it #2 in last 15 years...

ps: even the 74 and 78 II's had greater production output

 

Yes, I believe the number they are quoting is for calendar year 2005 which would, therefore, include 2006 models built this year.

 

Yeah it seems like they didn't produce that many of the 05's last year

 

Yet in this modern era of efficient production lines and mechanized assembly lines we struggle to hit 200k.
[/b][/quote]

You're comparing apples to bannanas

Back in 1964 the Mustang was nothing more than a Falcon with "sporty" sheet metal draped on it. The Falcon had been in production for 4 years, the kinks were already worked out. In addition, Ford built the 1965 - 66 Mustangs in 3 different assembly plants.

Fast forward to 2005 and the Mustang is all new and is built on a unique platform for the 1st time in it's history.

If you want a Focus with sporty sheet metal, I'm sure Ford could build a million of them for you. If you want the best Mustang Ford has ever sold, sorry, you'll have to wait your turn.

 

And that's the last time I speak about production numbers. :bang:

 

Back in the '60s-early '70s there were multiple plants producing Mustangs. There was a plant on west coast near San Jose (Milipitas) building Mustangs just to meet the demand in the Western US... That plant is now a mall...
[/b][/quote]

With Flexible Manufacturing, adding production with other plants should be possible.
I guess Ford is not quite there yet.

Milipitas is a shopping mall, and now the old Dearborn Assembly Plant is part of a visitors centre.
I guess that is called progress!

 

With regards to factory capacity, the component suppliers are (typically) under contract to produce a specific quantity of parts per schedule and have invested $ in tooling and machinery accordingly. So if Ford wants to increase production, it can take while for the whole system to gain the momentum.

 

Isn't this increase in production a direct result of them discontinuing the Thunderbird?

 

I though the new mustang shared it's platform with the thunderbird and another model (maybe a Lincoln). In fact aren't most cars built this way to simplify the process and save on costs? Just a question.

 

The 65's I6 were Falcon base the V8 drive train was Fairlane.

The 65 had zero competition we only had what the big 3 had to offer, GM and MOPAR had NOTHING to compete with the Mustang. Imports were not on the radar then.

Today nothing directly competes with the 05 Mustang but the market is defused with 100's of choices.

 

Here are some quick questions I sent to David Reuter in Ford Division Public Affairs:

The Mustang Source: Does increased Mustang production mean fewer Mazda 6s?
David Reuter: No. Our Mustang production increase will not have any affect on Mazda6 production at AAI. The plant will continue to build the same number of Mazda6's that they planned to at the start of the year -- which is about 75,000 units.

TMS: Is there any talk of expanding Mustang production to a different plant?
DP: No, not at this time. We are comfortable that we will have appropriate supply from AAI. We always continuously evaluate our production vs. demand situation but right now this has not been discussed.

TMS: How many Mustangs have been built and are waiting on rail cars to get to customers?
DP: We've sold over 46,000 of the new 2005 model since its debut last fall. About another 25,000 are either on their way to dealers or are already in dealer stock. The plant has additional orders for 50,000 or more cars, not including several thousand which are in production as we speak.

 

Thanks for the info Brad

 

Any idea how many will be convertibles ??????????????????????????????????????

 

16+ weeks here. :ranting: