Ford Mustang I

Infobox Automobile


name = Ford Mustang I
manufacturer = Ford Motor Company
production = 1962
class = Concept car
body_style = 2-door convertible
layout = mid-engine layout
assembly = Dearborn, Michigan
platform = Experimental
related = Ford Mustang
similar =

The Ford Mustang I was a small, mid-engined (4-cylinder), open two-seater with aluminum body work, that began life as a design exercise and eventually became the progenitor of the famed Ford Mustang. Although it shared few design elements with the final production vehicle, it did lend its name to the line.

Design and development

The original Ford Mustang was a product of the Fairlane Group, a committee of Ford managers led by Lee Iacocca. The Fairlane Group worked on new product needs and, in the summer of 1962, the Group laid out the framework of a new sports car to counter the success of GM's Corvair Monza sports coupe. Designer Gene Bordinat envisioned a low-cost sports car that would combine roadability, performance, and appearance in a radical layout. A Auto in|90|1 wheelbase, Auto in|48|0 front and a Auto in|49|0 rear track, width of Auto in|61|0 with an overall length of Auto in|154.3|0 were the working dimensions. The body skin was a one-piece unit that was riveted to a space frame. To increase rigidity, the seats were part of the body. The driver could adjust the steering column and clutch/brake/accelerator pedals.

Roy Lunn was put charge of building the car as he brought racing-car design experience and together with his engineering really brought the concept to life. [ [http://auto.howstuffworks.com/john-najjar1.htm "The Ford Mustang I" by the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide, undated] , retrieved on April 27 2008.] An "off-the shelf" German Ford Cardinal 1500 cc 60 degree V-4 powered the Mustang I. It was mounted in a power pack of engine and 4-speed transmission in a common housing with an axle and conventional clutch. Lead designer John Najjar favored a mid-engined configuration, cooled through two separate radiators on the sides of the car. Najjar also proposed the name "Mustang" for the concept vehicle. As an aviation enthusiast, he was familiar with the P-51 Mustang fighter and saw some design similarities in the diminutive but sleek profile of the new sports car [ Leffingwell 2003, p. 43. Note: Najjar was an aviation enthusiast who saw the sleek lines of the original Ford Mustang I concept car as similar to that of the P-51 Mustang. After public relations and the legal department veted the project name (they particularly liked the connection to the wild horse of the same name), the name continued onto the Mustang II showcar and later was applied to the production version of the Ford Mustang.] .

Although intended as a road vehicle, the prototype had a racing-type windshield and an integral roll bar. Two versions of the V4 engine were available, an Convert|89|hp|kW|0|abbr=on. street and a Convert|109|hp|kW|0|abbr=on. race engine. The manufacture of the Mustang I took place in the garage of famed racecar builders, Troutman-Barnes of Culver City, California. Using the Ford Styling clay and fiberglass body bucks, to create a new aluminum body, the firm met a three-month deadline. Lunn and his team of engineers finished the prototypes in just 100 days. [Leffinwell, Randy. (2001) American Muscle: Muscle Cars From the Otis Chandler Collection, Motorbooks, page 15.] Final assembly and testing of two prototypes took place at the Ford Scientific Research Garage at Dearborn, Michigan.

Public debut

The Mustang I made its formal debut at the United States Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, New York in 1 October 1962, where test driver and contemporary Formula 1 race driver Dan Gurney lapped the track in a demonstration using the second "race" prototype. His lap times were only slightly off the pace of the F1 race cars.

For the next two years, both Mustang Is appeared at car shows and automotive events as a show car. One of the unusual uses for the cars was to tour colleges as a recruiting tool for Ford. After reactions from potential customers and focus groups had demonstrated that the original concept of the Mustang I had limited appeal to the general public, a completely new concept car, the Mustang II, appeared in 1963.

Stretched to a four-seater and using a front-engined layout based on the Ford Falcon (North America), the Mustang II was much more conventional in design and concept and resembled closely the final production variant that would appear in 1964. Nearly the only design element that remained from the original Mustang I were the fake louvers that recreated the radiator scoops of the two-seater.

Final disposition

One Mustang I languished for years in storage although it appeared at times on displays and in museum loans including the Henry Ford Museum. In 1967, Ford executives, Morris Carter and Frank Theyleg discovered the remains of the car in a basement and arranged for the Scientific Research Garage to restore the car. Donated to The Henry Ford Museum, it officially became part of the museum collection in 1982.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Leffingwell, Randy (and Newhardt, David for photography). "Mustang: 40 Years". St. Paul, Minnesota: Crestline (Imprint of MBI Publishing Company), 2003. ISBN 0-7603-2122-1.

External links

* [http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1965-ford-mustang-prototypes1.htm "Ford Mustang prototypes" by the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide, undated] , retrieved on April 27 2008.