Originally Posted by 97GT03SVT

I guess we have to agree to disagree. You don't think that Ford made the Mustang more of a Muscle car after it was getting spanked by the GM F-Bodies?

Originally Posted by 97GT03SVT

The original Mustang was marketed as a chick car.

Originally Posted by 97GT03SVT

In my opinion a 69-70 Mustang is dramatically different from the "cute" 65-66 model.

Originally Posted by 97GT03SVT

Even the 71-73 cars that get so little love today were fairly stylish and heading toward the luxury end of performance cars, that was kinda the trend of the early 70s. If not for the gas crisis these cars would have been strong sellers.

Originally Posted by 97GT03SVT

The sales numbers of the Mustang II were strong throughout it's entire run. It's worst selling year was 1977, and it still moved over 153,000 units. The last year of the Mustang II sold nearly 200,000!

Originally Posted by 97GT03SVT

I don't see these cars as any worse selling than the later 3rd, 4th and even 5th gen cars. I guess it's hard for any Mustang model to live up to the volume sellers of 64-67.

Originally Posted by jsaylor

Ford would have been working on the 1967 Mustang before they had the vagues notion of what the Camaro was even going to be, and in terms of character, the 67-68 is easily the 'benchmark' model by which all other Mustangs are judged. the Camaro outsold the 67-68 model Mustangs because it was the new kind on the block.....nothing more, nothing less. Did 69-60 models morph more into a muscle-pony car hybrid? of course, But then sales figures and current values tell us that wasn't a good idea.

Did the Camaro influence the Mustang's development? Yes. But again, outside of the 428 engines used in 68 you would be hard pressed to argue that doing so benefited Ford.

Ford didn't market the Mustang as a 'chick' car and even went out of their way with early efforts like the GT350 to try and eradicate any misconceptions about the model. Ford did market the car to women, understanding early on the growing importance of the female buyer, but every Mustang since has been marketed in the same manner so if this makes them 'chick' cars then they all are.



It's obviously different. But that doesn't mean the changes were an improvement.



My first car was a 73 Mach-1, so I have an obvious soft spot for these models. That said, sales figures for the 71 were surprisingly flat and we cannot blame it all on fuel issues or insurance problems since large sedans didn't take anything like the beating the Mustang did. After their restyle in 72 Ford's lineup of large cars moved nearly a million units for the year, making it more than a little difficult to use fuel economy as the sole issue.



Actually, I'm not.



The 160-190k units a year the Mustang II managed for most of it's production life wasn't anything like as impressive then as it is now. The big three were still the big three with imports still being an afterthought to most. Larger, thirstier two doors like the Granada and Thunderbird regularly bested the little II's sales figures....often by huge margins.....as did smaller two doors like the Pinto. For the era, and for a small fuel efficient car in an era when fuel economy was becoming important, the Mustang II's sales figures weren't very impressive after 1974. The only exception to this was the 78 model, but rebates and an extended model year could have played a large part in this. Things changed drastically, and quickly, during the early/mid 1980's but that is another chapter in the saga.



3rd and 4th gen, meh.......there are some comparisons to be drawn. The bigger problem is the very common misconception you are making here. Primarily, it isn't all about sales figures. What did Ford have to do to sell that many cars? SN95 models boast sales figures as impressive as the S197's until you realize that both SN95-based bodystyles wore large rebates through most of their production run. Doesn't matter how many units I can sell if I can't make money on them.

Could Ford have sold more S197's? Obviously, they could have chosen to crank 'em out as fast as they could in the 05MY and saturated the market. Thankfully Ford chose a wiser path with this car.

Originally Posted by m05fastbackGT

Agreed, it was never Ford that marketed the 64 1/2 models as chick cars. In fact it was Carroll Shelby whom referred to the 1st generation 64 1/2 models, as a secretary's car. Which was the main reason why Lee Iacocca brought in Carroll Shelby to help transform the Mustang's image from secretary's car to high performance pony car !

Originally Posted by jsaylor

The first major deviation was made by the 71-73 models, and while I personally have a soft spot for these cars, they were a sales disaster. The Mustang II which followed sold very well initially, but went flat later nearly taking the Mustang name with it in the process.

Originally Posted by V10

Not true, the orignial Mustang WAS marketed as a secretary's car in both print and TV advertising.

Originally Posted by V10

Even in it's last and worst sales year the Mustang II outsold the 71 - 72 - 73 Mustang

Originally Posted by V10

Not true, the orignial Mustang WAS marketed as a secretary's car in both print and TV advertising.

Originally Posted by m05fastbackGT

Just because it was marketed towards women, doesn't mean it was marketed exclusively as a chick car/secretary's car. The original Mustang was also marketed towards the 1960's youth market as well, which also included young adults, both male and female alike. Which was my main point to begin with.

Originally Posted by V10

I never said the orignal Mustang was marketed exclusively as a Secretary's car. But is WAS marketed that way, along with marketing to other type customers.

You said . That statement is simply NOT true as the original Mustang was market ed as a chick's car, as well as a guy's car.

There was a TV commercial that showed a woman "secretary" taking her Mustang to sky diving. There was another commercial that showed the vert, coupe and fast back, all shown with different types of customers, one of which was the sterotypical secrertary .