You may wish to read up on your Mustang history from 1964. The original Stang was HEAVILY inspired by the European coupes of the day, and an attempt by Ford to introduce something similar in the United States after years of building "dreary driveway dinosaurs."

So I for one have no problem seeing a little bit of Euro flavor in some of the sculpting of the 2010. And I in NO way think it looks Japanese or Rice...which is a good thing. I'd rather emulate a little bit of Italy or Germany than anything from Japan (no offense to the Japanese).

 

The fact of the matter is that the Mustang evolved into an AMERICAN icon, with a style all it's own. It's as American as apple pie. I don't want to see any Euro or Asian influences in the car. Just my opinion... But I think you're crazy if you don't see Japanese in the details, especially in the rear. I showed my cowork the pics and he thought it reminded him of an Altima from the rear. Sure, the taillights are unique, but he was talking about the overall shape and slope of the back end. There's no doubt in my mind that the stylists were using non-American influences in this restyle.

 

By the way, is this your opinion, or can you cite a source of this if you're claiming it to be a fact? I read quite a bit on Mustang history over the years and I've never once read that the original DESIGN was inspired by European cars. I have read that the orginal Mustang's performance was inspired by the European sports cars of the time, but definitely not the styling. From memory, I remember reading that the original Mustang was inspired heavily by the two seater concept car called the Mustang I, which in no way was inspired design-wise by a European car.

 

Okay, so I went back and re-read much of Lee Iacocca's autobiography. I also glanced through some of my books on early Mustangs. Guess what? I can't find a shred of evidence supporting your claim that the original Mustang was inspired by European coupes. From a purlely styling standpoint, I think you are 100% mistaken.

If you have anything to support your claim, please let me know because I'd be very interested to read it.

 

The Mustang designs were only influenced by the European market of the day, not influenced by the designs of the Euro sports cars.......The "Baby Boomers" of the type that Iacocca and his team knew they were trying to reach with this new car would not go out and buy a flashy European Sports car.......but this new American Made Mustang was what he knew would sell to that crowd........Young professionals who did not have kids yet!! The Mustang was not inspired by, but only influenced by the market and the buyers then!!

My $0.02

 

The long hood/short deck design was loosely based on the european sports cars of the day (according to the narrator of the reveal the other night).

I don't have specific references to point at in print, but I've read the same thing many times over the last 30 years or so.

 

Maybe so, but a long hood / short rear deck is about as broad as you can get when it come to styling elements. European cars weren't the only cars with a long hood / short rear deck at the time. Ironically, this design feature is considered all-American when it comes to pony cars. I can't think of any other cars with those proportions.

 

wow!!! any black on that color to break it makes it look AMAZING

 

those sequentils are awesome.