How the Mustang created an entire class of car on its first day
Ford expected to sell 100,000 Mustangs in the first year. On launch day in April 1964, dealers took 22,000 orders, and the company had to raise production at once. The runaway hit spawned a new category, the pony car, and an American rivalry that spilled onto racetracks.
A pony car is an affordable, compact, heavily styled coupe or convertible with a sporty image: long bonnet, short rear deck, rear-wheel drive, bucket seats and room for four. The formula also relied on parts borrowed from ordinary models and a long options list so buyers could personalise their cars. A magazine editor, Dennis Shattuck of Car Life, gave the class its name, and enthusiasts still argue over exactly where pony cars end and muscle cars begin.
Technically, Plymouth got there first. Its Barracuda went on sale two weeks before the Mustang, but Chrysler's tight finances produced a car that looked too much like the compact it was based on, and it sold a fraction as well. Ford's version, pushed by executive Lee Iacocca, sat on Falcon underpinnings and started at 2,368 dollars with a modest six-cylinder engine. Options such as V8s and air conditioning could lift the price by up to 60 per cent, which made it extremely profitable.
Rivals piled in. Chevrolet's Camaro arrived for 1967 after the rear-engined Corvair faltered, followed by the Pontiac Firebird, AMC's Javelin and eventually the Dodge Challenger. The competition carried over into Trans-Am racing from 1966 to 1972, a period nicknamed the Pony Car Wars. Overseas, the Mustang inspired Ford of Europe's Capri and Toyota's Celica.
Success bred bloat. Each generation grew bigger, heavier and pricier; the 1973 Mustang weighed over 600 pounds more than the original. Pony cars peaked at 13 per cent of the market in 1967 and slid to 9 per cent by 1969. Their real value may have been loyalty, since about half of owners later bought another car from the same maker.
Source: Pony car
