Full Throttle

I like the front end, hood, hips, glass roof, and interior. Hate the rear 'plastic' bumper and the taillights. Small HP increase (is a 5.0L coming?). Overall, I like it nice refresh but I don't see myself trading in the 05 just yet.

ford4v429

just another opinion...really dont care for the taillights at all, the frontend just dont seem right(small buckets + the 'droopy eyes' look on the fogs like the Challenger- but I like it on the Challenger...) and the side crease behind the rear arch dont quite click with me for some reason...not only wouldnt I trade in our 06 or 07, after seeing the reveal we called and found a matching Vista Blue 09gt/stick we should be picking up monday- I really think the 05~09 will be 'the next 69' 20 years down the road, so looking at getting one just to store away. a lot of folks will love the '10 I'm sure, but gotta predict within 3-6 months the hoopla will die down and they will be offering incentives, unlike the 05 that was a PITA to get at msrp for almost 2 years...I just dont see that happening with the '10- dont get me wrong, I truly hope for Ford's sake it sells better than ever, but I cant see one in my driveway (certainly wouldnt want 3 of them- but its just one opinion). I'd love to hear Hau Tai-Tang's unofficial comments on the '10- but personally I think his crew captured the 'mustang' look better 5 years ago... the tapered taillights especially look out of place- perhaps a aftermarket bumper/lenses will come along, but again, time will tell.

gotta say the interior looks freakin great- wonder how many 05~09 guys might retrofit the dash into thiers- I mean it should be fairly easy to update at least the plastic right?

2K6-GT

Thanks Torr, Saw the pic with the red interior earlier but somehow missed the auto shifter.
Is it me or does that red interior look like it belongs in 1978 ?
Looks like probably same tranny just nicer handle. Leather is def easier on the hands on cold New England winters. Notice the OD On\Off under the interlock, just like my 95 T-Bird

Eights

goesfast: Oh, yeah...Ford really built winners with the leviathan '71s thru '73s, which sported more overhang than Dolly Parton. How 'bout those cutesy '74s thru '78s? The drab Foxes sure set the world on fire, too! And is it the "SN95" that looks like a two-door Taurus with a "C" scoop and a crease down each side?

No, Ford doesn't know "exactly what it is doing when it comes to the Mustang and where it is going"--and the models I mentioned shows how lost they were in much of Mustang history.

How else would it have survived all these years? Two things: 1. It is affordable performance in a really good car, and 2. GM, Chrysler, and AMC had no clues at all--they were just imitating a phenomenom they could not understand. They're so clueless that they're doing it again!!!

A decade from now, anyone strolling through the graveyard of bygone car companies will find this epitaph inscribed on the tombstones of GM and Chrysler: "But WE built Mustangs, too!!!"

Greg "Eights" Ates

Eights

"just another opinion...really dont care for the taillights at all, the frontend just dont seem right(small buckets + the 'droopy eyes' look on the fogs like the Challenger- but I like it on the Challenger...) and the side crease behind the rear arch dont quite click with me for some reason...not only wouldnt I trade in our 06 or 07, after seeing the reveal we called and found a matching Vista Blue 09gt/stick we should be picking up monday- I really think the 05~09 will be 'the next 69' 20 years down the road, so looking at getting one just to store away. a lot of folks will love the '10 I'm sure, but gotta predict within 3-6 months the hoopla will die down and they will be offering incentives, unlike the 05 that was a PITA to get at msrp for almost 2 years...I just dont see that happening with the '10- dont get me wrong, I truly hope for Ford's sake it sells better than ever, but I cant see one in my driveway (certainly wouldnt want 3 of them- but its just one opinion). I'd love to hear Hau Tai-Tang's unofficial comments on the '10- but personally I think his crew captured the 'mustang' look better 5 years ago... the tapered taillights especially look out of place- perhaps a aftermarket bumper/lenses will come along, but again, time will tell."

ford4v429: Your posting says it all--the 2005 is the next classic Mustang body style, and joins the '65 fastback (officially the "2+2"), the '67 fastback, and the '69 fastback (which might officially be the "sportroof") and will be the one collectors seek out by the time the 2005s have been around as long as these three legendary ancestors! Somebody send up the Batsignal to bring Hau Thai Tang back to Gotham City!

Greg "Eights" Ates

Brewman

I think the Car looks Great in this picture. Angle, Lighting everything works it just looks really good in this shot. Make me think it was designed from This point of view. LOL

Denver50

Honestly... I'm dissapointed in a way. I mean the front looks like a camaro in a way. The back.... Uuuggghhh.. I dont even know. The tailights?? eeewww.. The interior is alright. But honestly... I think they need to go back to the drawing boards AGAIN! come up with some sort of A TRUE fastback with factory striping. IT seems they are getting worst.. BUT I gueSS!

holderca1

You were just looking in the wrong places, I bought mine for $500 over invoice in December 2004.

zzcoop

You're right. Ford should have stopped updating the Mustang's design in 2005 and just let it stagnate for another fifty years. That's the way to sell cars.

By the way, where do you guys get your time machines? 'Cause I want one too. I feel left out not knowing exactly what's going to happen decades from now.

Eights

zzcoop: Coop, although you seem to be seeing the words OK, you miss the message yet again (sighs audibly here...).

What you see in the 2010 is not an improvement--it is "change a little this, change a little that" with no real cohesion in the update. The '70 Mustang--loser to the '69 in "Best Mustang Ever", which proves the point--is a case in point: Dorky fake bi-level scoops were placed in the front fenders where the '69 Mustang had its headlights. OTOH, Ford removed the dorky scoops off the tops of the rear fenders in '70 to clean up the extra-busy rear fenders of the '69.

Change for change's sake is bullshiite. Change that actually produces a measurable improvement is progress. It actually takes time to learn this--even I was as flakey in my criticisms when I was your age. Now--older and much wiser--I appreciate the classiness of getting it really right and then refusing to f**k with it thereafter.

I ain't Raymond Leowy (an architect by trade, but who designed the timelessly clean Studebaker Avanti) or Hau Thai (Mus)Tang, but I coulda done better than the "designers" who did the 2010 if assisted by a techie type who could photoshop the changes as I described what needed to be done to the 2005 to make it even more of a blockbuster classic (such as: (a) trash that effin' faux gas cap and leave a smooth, body-colored panel between the taillights; (b) replace the hockey sticks on the sides with the classic "C" scoops of the '65s; (c) replace the plus-sized full-figured fat chicks--I mean taillights--with six separate units three to a side (as in '67, '68, and '69); replace the side mirrors with body-colored true teardrop side mirrors from earlier Mustangs & Torinos; restore the classic rear fender kick-up--as was actually done in the 2010s, thankfully; and I woulda had Ford spend the extra bucks to put that nasty antenna into the glass (as many cars did in the last century). At least Ford's "designers" had their heads outta their a***s far enough to move the dorkstalk to the passenger rear fender (I hope it's retractable, at least). Inside, I woulda put bigger wheelwell tubs to allow rear tires so wide that they nearly touch each other, and I woulda kept the round center HVAC vents. Other upgrades by Ford--materials, stitching, lighting, etc.--meet with my approval.

You don't seem to get what I and others are saying here. You must be very young. You're forgiven.

Yeah, I'm a *****, but mediocrity p****s me off. I can't help it--I'm that way.

Greg "Eights" Ates

zzcoop

I'm 32, so you make the call. I get what you're saying, but I think your criticism is juuuuuust a bit over the top. I feel like I need a nap after trudging through your rambling posts. Maybe if you'd simply make your point without trying so hard to be clever and witty... like a bad Dave Barry impression. It doesn't enhance your argument in any way. But I digress.

And a bit of a geezer, if you ask me!

RedCandy5.0

Greg love you rants. You make this board so much more entertaining. I check this board often just to see if you have posted. You may be like everyone else on here regurgitating the same ole crap over and over just on different posts as i do also but at least you do it with flare and thought.

zzcoop

Don't encourage him!

Zoomie

Trust me, Greg doesn't need encouragement. He's been doing this a looooong time...

zzcoop

Well, crap.

Eights

Well said, Zoomie! I may not get people to agree, but it's a start if I can at least get them to listen (well, read, actually...).

Step two is to get them to actually think about what they've read, and then imagine what the Mustang I'm describing would look like--my lack of photoshop skills doesn't help my case, unfortunately...

Changing things is something anyone can do--improving things is what designers should do! The 2005 Mustang was a vast improvement in design over all the Mustangs since the 1970 model. The 2010 Mustang is a 2005 with styling gimmicks--beveled corners, effin' cladding, a hood bulge, nasty turnsignals in the headlight bezels to match nasty taillights with backup lights in the taillight lenses! It'll be remembered as the J.C. Whitney Mustang--there's a mis-matched item from every page in their catalog...

It would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

Greg "Eights" Ates

Zoomie

Too true, my friend, on all counts. Especially getting people to think instead of react.

The interior of the '10 truly seems to be "improved", although I will reserve final judgment until I can get first-hand experience with it. The exterior seems to just be "changed".

While I acknowledge that it was the appropriate time to update the car, I can't help thinking that they could have done better. Seems like too much change for the sake of change and too little styling.

$.02...

RedCandy5.0

Another classic from Mr. Mustang. You are the true prophet from Mustang heaven.

goesfast

Yes, the Mustang is still around after all these years. But I never said that Ford built winners each and every year. I did say that Ford is still making the Mustang successfully and that it has survived many eras of car design changes. Even the "dud" years that you pointed out have brought us to where we are today with the Mustang still going strong. Make sure you read the posts correctly, just like you advised. No car company can ever say they made widely acceptable models every year. That's how one evolves and makes improvements. And the affordable performance claim I trust applies to the non-V8 Mustangs of which Ford sells more of.
To say that the 2005 design will be the classic of the future? Well, that's a stretch! I don't have a crystal ball to determine this, but go ahead and buy all you can for the day when they pop in price and make you countless dollars of profit. Good luck with that one............
I normally don't do this, but your advanced years of knowledge have left you stuck in some particular time in a car design era, claiming to know exactly what is needed or lacking in the next great model. By all means offer yourself and talents up to the car gods as we await the next revelation from you. It's obvious to me at least, that you've never been on a design team and seen what regs and stips you have to dodge/comply with to bring about an effectual and acceptable change that you can firstly sell to the company's higher-ups, then costed-out to the production floor, and finally to the consumer, not to mention SAE concerns.
The 2010 Mustang represents a mild tweaking from the 2005 model which is exactly what it was supposed to be. There is more to come, but you'll have to wait.

TampaBear67

You Must Have Missed Several of My Posts....

You Wanna Talk Cohesion in the Design of the 2010 Check this out.

http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.php?t=474658

or This:




As for bringing Raymond Loweys name into this I'm a Big Fan of his Guidance and Inspiration, but He was Not the Designer of the Avanti. It was a team of designers that designed this Classic. Tom Kellog, John Ebstein and Robert Andrews are the True Designers of the Avanti, Lowey only got the Credit, as he was the one who gathered these three together in a rented house outside Palm Springs California, where they designed the Avanti in a Record Breaking Week!

Believe Me, I know More About Avanti's than Most People Alive, Including the fact that they were still in production until last year, being built on a Modified Mustang, S-197 Chassis.
I've Owned an 83 Avanti and My Brother Currently Owns a 63 R-3 Supercharged Avanti with a motor Hand Built by Andy Granetelli, of Paxton Supercharger Fame.




This is A BMW Concept that Raymond Lowey Himself Designed, before the Avanti, but Nowhere Near the Classic the Avanti is.


And yet Another Studebaker that Lowey was Credited as Designer , but Didn't Actually Design, the 53-55 Studebaker Coupes and "Starliner" Hardtops, which were actually designed by Bob Bourke, working for Lowey's Design Studio.



As for your Vision of a "Blockbuster" Followup to the 05-09 Mustangs, Getting rid of that "Effin Faux Gas Cap" would be getting rid of a Part of Mustang Heritage, and isn't referred to as a "Gas Cap" It's a Medallion, AKA Badge. The C Scoops You would incorporate only represent part of Mustang Heritage, as the 69-73's Have No C Scoop, and You Yourself Love to Point out the 69's were voted "Best Mustang Ever". Your Wheel Well Tubs are Fine for a Modified car, but Production reality? C'Mon Man Get Real! The same goes for the "Teardrop Side Mirrors from a 70's Mustang or Torino" Do you have any Idea How Out Of Place that Would Look on a Modern Car? As for Keeping the Round Center HVAC Vents, Again this is just another of my posts you missed, as the Center HVAC Vents on the 2010 were changed to Rectangular for 2 Reasons, For One, they did this as a Heritage cue from the 67-68 Mustangs, Secondly the Most Obvious Reason was to Incorporate the New Larger Nav Screen further up to Improve the Ergonomics of the 2010's Cockpit.

The thing I gather most from You, as well as most others that Dislike or Hate the 2010, is Simply the fact that you are Clinging Too Desperately to the Past. If You Really Love those "Pure Mustangs of the 60's and 70's Then Buy One of Them, if You can Find One let alone Afford One in Nice Condition! This is a NEW MUSTANG! Designed for Today, not the 60's. It is Something Fresh and Modern with All of the DNA of the Mustang Still Intact. It has all of the Safety and Convenience Features of a Truly Modern Car, while still having the overall Look and Feeling of the Classics, Without Being a Direct Copy or Clone.