Dad's Regret: The Missed Chance on a Sizzling 1964 Ford Mustang

The The Ford Mustang is marking a significant milestone anniversary. This year marks the anniversary of this ever-youthful automobile—the pioneer of the pony-car trend—which has reached senescence; it is now six decades old. It turns sixty years today.

It’s hard to fathom. Cars have been with us just about as long as items such as Pop-Tarts, Lava Lamps, and nearly as long as Madonna has been in the public eye!

It’s difficult to overstate what an impact the introduction of the Mustang made back in 1964. To say it was a sensation with the public doesn’t quite capture its initial reception, but maybe the numbers do.

It sold 22,000 the first day. For context, in one day the Mustang outsold every Mini, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, and all but one Genesis for all of 2023 , often by a significant difference.

Launched in April 1964, this model remarkably moved 263,434 units by the close of the year even with reduced selling time. In less than 18 months, more than a million Mustangs were sold—a staggering figure considering Ford had initially anticipated shifting just 100,000 within the first year.

A portion of its achievement can be attributed to the initial printed advertisements. These ads included a compelling image of a white coupe photographed from the side against a dark backdrop, along with four key figures highlighted: 2368, which represented the vehicle’s cost.

At that affordable price of entry, you get a sleek sports coupe that stood out from anything else in the nation at the time. Additionally, the advertising was quite effective, emphasizing "The Mustang lets you customize your design."

Ford had arranged the car so nearly everyone could catch a reflection of themselves in it. If your desire was simply for a compact, fashionable vehicle for getting around, a more performance-oriented variant, or an upscale version as a mini-Thunderbird, the car would fit your lifestyle and taste. It was a car that appealed across social hierarchies. It was simply the hot car to have.

But above all, it was the appearance of the car. Back then, if you desired something truly distinctive, stylish you paid for it, with inexpensive cars tending to look it. But the Mustang was a car that was as stylish as anything on the road and one that most could afford.

This aspect was crucial to its success: it appeared more luxurious than it actually was. Known for contributing to the trend of having a lengthy hood coupled with a compact trunk area, it also boasted a deceptive simplicity in its overall design.

It didn’t rely on anything dramatically different or controversial, yet appeared fresh and new just the same. This, despite the fact that the Mustang was based on very humble Falcon components. This practice of putting a more expressive body on a conventional chassis would become commonplace in the industry.

The success of the Mustang obviously inspired a whole rash of competitors in a few years, or as fast as other manufactures could react. It changed the industry, but the car that led Ford to build it in the first place was one of the casualties.

The Chevrolet Corvair had been gaining sales partially by the sporty Monza variant, appealing to a younger demographic, and Ford realized both the potential of the market and that they had nothing to compete with it.

And while some claim it was Ralph Nader’s criticism of the Corvair in his book Unsafe at Any Speed , it was really the impact of the Mustang and GM’s decision to refocus their resources on a more direct competitor, the Camaro, that put an end to the Corvair.

Over the past 60 years there have been many variants of the Mustang, as it morphed into vehicles very different from the original and not always for the better.

At first, it became more assertive, focusing on performance, featuring bigger engines and increased horsepower during the muscle car phase.

When the second-generation Mustang II When it was launched in 1974, the aim was to optimize the car’s size to better compete against foreign rivals and address rising fuel costs.

This particular vehicle lacked the natural elegance of the '64 model, and despite being contemporary, appeared more like the outcome of a product manager's data analysis rather than the rightful successor to the original's heritage.

But maybe I’m a little prejudiced. For in 1964 my father was in the market for a new car, and I remember going with him for a test drive in the new Mustang. I don’t recall the color of the car or really any of the other details about it.

Yet, I recall perching in the rear seat as we cruised along the road, with spectators gradually pivoting their gazes to fixate on our vehicle, and the sensation that evoked.

In the end, my dad purchased something different, a Volvo 122S, maybe one that was sturdier and more functional. However, this left me feeling let down since I had wished for him to acquire the Mustang instead.

After all, it was the hottest car to own.

Dave Rand (on the right) was previously the executive director of Global Advanced Design at General Motors.

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