Mustang Mission

"The whole project was bootlegged," the late Donald Frey once told USA Today, describing how the legendary Mustang was developed at Ford, reports Douglas Martin in the New York Times (3/29/10). "There was no official approval of this thing," said Don, who died March 5th at 86. "We had to do it on a shoestring." The reason was that "Ford’s new Edsel had just failed so spectacularly" and Henry Ford II was nervous about taking more risks. He turned down the project four times.

That didn’t stop Don, who, in collaboration with Ford’s then general-manager Lee Iacocca, set up Mustang planning sessions with a design and engineering team "in a motel at night and in a storage room by day." They "borrowed from other Ford vehicles, including a Falcon chassis," but "developed an identity all its own for a younger generation in search of new looks and experiences. It was designed to appeal to both men and women, had a dash of elegance copied from European sports cars, and featured a galloping steed in the middle of its grille (image) that buyers thought was, well, really cool."

Don was once quoted saying that he was inspired to design the Mustang after watching Chevy put bucket seats in its Corvair, re-badging it as the Monza and improving sales. But in another account, he said his inspiration was his children, who told him, "Dad, your cars stink. There’s no pizzazz." Henry Ford finally approved the Mustang, but told Don he’d be fired if it failed, and deleted no expletives to make his point. When introduced at the New York’s Worlds Fair on April 17, 1964, Ford thought it "would sell 80,000 Mustangs in its first year. It sold more than a million in its first two years."