When I bought my first car in 1963 I paid around $2700 for a Impala SS 409, gas was 21 cents a gallon. Gas stations had GAS WARS and prices often dropped to 19 cents a gallon. My monthly car payment was $46.00 a month, less than a tank of gas today.

All car prices are out of sight and still climbing. I wish I still had my 1962 Corvette, 1963 Impala SS 409, 1966 Mustang 2+2, 1967 GTO, 1970 Chevelle SS 454, 20?? Camaro Z28...imagine what those would be worth today,

Exactly why I bought a 2014 Base GT. A similarly equipped redesigned 2015 will be more I am sure.

 

You had some nice cars ...

p.s. There was a 2006 Camaro SS? I thought Chevy didn't start the production again until 2009 ...

 

Had SS on the brain..Z28 sorry.

 

Camaro didn't exist from 2003-2008. Are you sure its the 2006 that you had?

 

Uh 2006 ?

 

Holy crap!! I am getting old. I can't remember the year. I remember is was green, 4 speed and lots of fun. I didn't even know Camaro didn't exist from 2003 - 2008. Really makes me wonder... thanks for the correction. Called my car nut brother, he doesn't remember either. I will correct my post by removing the year.

 

Adjusted for inflation a 69 BOSS 302 was cheap...about 1/3 more than a base 69 I6, it's the new one's that are expensive....double a base V6 (click on the link). I've seen and driven a "loss leader" sales ad 2013 base V6 Mustang (in GTHIG) for $18.5K.

And as I mentioned earlier there is no Falcon anymore to base a cheap Mustang off of. It's a unique chassis. That cost $$$$.

 

No, the Mustang has moved too far from its roots to be America's darling. The original Mustang was essentially a sporty-looking economy car. The 120 HP I6 was not a particularly inspiring motor. The 289 was a fair motor, but not to be confused with any big block of the time.
It was an everyman kind of vehicle, a secretary's car, that guys who were handy with a wrench could massage into a weekend racer. The key to its success was that it was affordable.

Zastava_101 nailed it--the Mustang is a better car, but a much more expensive car today, perhaps much closer to a true sports car in terms of performance (and price) than the original. I recently looked at a V6 convertible that listed for over $37K. I looked at a 5.0 today with a sticker of $41K. (I also saw a GT500, dark gray with matte black stripes--I'm not sure if I have all the drool wiped off my chin or not. But the sticker was $67K!) I don't know of too many secretaries that can afford $37K for a convertible (unless it is the Secretary of the Treasury). And, $41K is simply too much for a family man to pay for a weekend cruiser when he and his wife and kids want a nice DD.

If any car in Ford's stable has the potential to be America's next darling it could be the Focus. It is small, but with an agile chassis and like the original Mustang it has econobox roots. All that is lacking is the performance offerings. The ST and the Shelby variant is a fair start. If Ford would take that to the next level, i.e. an RS offering, the Focus would offer a wide range of functionality and performance to a worldwide stage.

(For those not familiar with the RS500, the last gen Euro Focus pumped 345-HP through the front wheels--Holy torque-steer!)

 

Don't let those stickers scare you, all but the boss and Shelby can be had for 5-7k under sticker.

 

This. And it's so easy to get X-plan these days

 

I think this is it right here, the cost is at or more then a 4 door car for the family. It also is a car everybody looks at but some can't afford or just need a 4 door and not 2 doors. Milage isn't really the best even with the V-6 at 31mpg when there are some out there getting 35-42. I ran my kids around in the back of my 1965 coupe and later in the Jeep CJ5, so I know theres room in the back for small kids later when they are bigger it's tight

 

I think being America's Darling and being a sales success are two very different things. I'm sure the Mustang will continue to be Americas darling...........it was the first of its kind and started a whole new trend.

Think back to '65. What where the Mustangs direct rivals? As a Brit, I'm guessing not many (OK, there were sporty 2-doors, many of them muscle cars.....but Mustang was different........sporty, affordable).........but there was NO foreign competition. Look at the market now. It's flooded with options from manufacturers all over the world......European, Japanese, Korean......

There will always will be die-hard fans that will always buy a Mustang, but for the rest? They can pick and choose. In order to compete, Ford has to match those other cars, whether that's in terms of price, features or performance.

It's a very different world now.

So, no, Mustang will never silly in the giddy numbers it did back in the day. But it will always hold a place in the hearts of many......it will always be America's Darling. It's a legend. An icon.

 

There is no one "America's darling" anymore, there are too many choices for any one car to dominate culture the way the Mustang, the GTO, the Stingray, etc once did. Mustang is a niche product, because the Pony car segment is a niche.

 

Well think back to 2000. Ford sold 200,000+ Mustangs that year even with competition as strong as it is today.

 

I think the dismal economy is also severely distorting the production numbers we'd otherwise see for Mustangs. The unemployment rates are horrendous for young people, even worse than for older workers. This has a huge impact on the very demographic the Mustang is attractive to. Even if there were no new design the numbers would dramatically improve as the economy improves. Unfortunately I don't see much light on the horizon.

 

^^^^ This

People are broke these day's maaaaaaan!

 

^^ all of this is true. Cars last longer today than they used to. So people don't buy new ones as often. People are very concerned about MPG personally I don't care about MPG I'm going to drive 'merican muscle forever. Long live the mustang.

 

resale values on mustang are MUCH lower

 

Did you buy a mustang for the resale value? :haha:

 

I bought mine for the great gas mileage.