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N0KFQ > TODAY 10.03.08 08:00l 45 Lines 2272 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Mar 10
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From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@ALLUS
March 10, 1964
Mustang sallies forth
The first Ford Mustang was produced on this day. The Mustang
wasn't released to the public until April 16, 1964. However, one
journalist described its unveiling as "the most sensational
introduction of modern times." The Mustang was the result of
Ford's desire to make a small, sporty car which was inexpensive
enough to appeal to young car buyers, an increasingly important
market. The Mustang was the brainchild, or at least the
mouthchild, of Ford executive Lee Iacocca. David Halberstam
explained Iacocca's relationship to the Mustang: "Outside the
industry, Iacocca, who controlled the publicity for the car, was
always considered the father of the Mustang... Within Ford,
however, Don Frey, the product manager, was seen as the brains
behind it." But to sell short Iacocca's impact as a salesman
would be a mistake. The car's development never would have made
it past the reluctant upper echelons of Ford management without
Iacocca's push. The Mustang was not an entirely new line of car
in the traditional sense. In fact, Iacocca's production team
intended to make a car readily adaptable to existing Ford parts.
By making the Mustang a Ford Falcon under the hood, Iacocca's
team cut their costs dramatically. Iacocca called the Mustang a
Ford Falcon with "a whole new skin and greenhouse." He would
never have called it that during its development, however.
Iacocca stressed the Mustang as a whole new breed of Ford:
muscular, small, and young. The base price of the car was only
$2,368, but buyers averaged over $1,000 of extra features.
Iacocca said, "People want economy so badly they don't care how
much they pay for it." Over its first two years the Mustang
earned $1.1 billion in profits for Ford. Iacocca created an
astounding media blitz surrounding the car's release. He and the
Mustang made the covers of Time and Newsweek, and the car
appeared in every major business and automotive publication.
Historian Gary Witzenburg explained, "No new car in history had
ever received the publicity and attention that the media lavished
on Ford's sporty small car." One of America's most popular car
models, then, is a testament to one of America's greatest
salesman.
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