{"id":29779,"date":"2022-09-18T13:30:31","date_gmt":"2022-09-18T17:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=29779"},"modified":"2022-09-18T13:30:31","modified_gmt":"2022-09-18T17:30:31","slug":"payne-seven-generations-of-the-mustang-family-and-what-made-them-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/payne-seven-generations-of-the-mustang-family-and-what-made-them-special","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Seven generations of the Mustang family and what made them special"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few auto badges have lasted 60 years, but the Ford Mustang isn\u2019t your average auto.<\/p>\n

The two-door sports coupe created the affordable muscle car class in the U.S. in 1965 and has been an icon ever since. As the Porsche 911 has defined luxury performance across the decades, so has Mustang endured through seven generations, the latest unveiled this week at the 2022 Detroit auto show.<\/p>\n

Its essential, rear-wheel-drive, long-hood, coupe spec has remained the same since its inception. But the pony car has also changed with the times \u2014 evolving with technology, surviving strong regulatory headwinds, and spawning Shelby performance versions with eye-watering performance.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at each generation of Mustang and what made it special.<\/p>\n

Gen One, 1965-73:<\/strong>\u00a0The OG was born as a 1965 model\u00a0in April 1964 and was an instant hit. Ford predicted first-year sales of 100,000 vehicles, but dealers sold 22,000 on the first day alone. By year\u2019s end, Ford had sold over 400,000. By March\u00a01966, the 1 millionth Mustang rolled off the line.<\/p>\n

\"1965<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Today it is a collector\u2019s car found in the garages of Dream Cruisers, former President Bill Clinton\u00a0and Ford Chairman Bill Ford. Everyone has their favorite \u2018Stang engine, and the \u201965 debuted with 2.8-liter straight-six, 4.3-liter V-8\u00a0and 271-horse\u00a04.7-liter V-8. For reference, that\u2019s shy of the 310 ponies made by today\u2019s entry-level, 2.3-liter turbo-4 engine.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long to spawn a performance version from Ford partner Carroll Shelby\u2019s shop beginning in 1965, further polishing Mustang\u2019s reputation. The white Shelby Cobra GT350 would become synonymous with Mustang with its twin stripes and 4.7-liter engine, and the light-weighted GT350R would dominate SCCA B-Production racing. A 7.0-liter Shelby GT500 was added to the lineup in 1967.<\/p>\n

\"1969<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Looks and footprint evolved over the decade \u2014 the 1969 Mustang Boss 302 being one of the most iconic models with a second set of headlights integrated into the grille. By 1970, sales had come back to earth with less than 200,000 sold.<\/p>\n

Gen Two, 1974-78:<\/strong>\u00a0With the 1970s oil crisis came federal CAFE\u00a0regulations and everything was downsized,\u00a0including the Mustang.<\/p>\n

\"1974<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The pony car shared a chassis with the common Ford Pinto and sprouted a hatchback option. It featured small\u00a0pony engines: a 2.3-liter four-cylinder and 2.8-liter V-6. Today, the Gen Two car is dismissed by Mustang enthusiasts, and few are seen at classic Dream Cruises. But in oil-embargoed 1974, the Mustang was embraced, with sales soaring to 386,000.<\/p>\n

\"1978<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Eventually, Ford managed to stuff the coupe with a 5.0-liter V-8 (making just 140 horsepower), offered in Cobra II and King Cobra models.<\/p>\n

Gen Three, 1979-93:<\/strong>\u00a0Ford closed out the Malaise Decade with a new car based on the bigger Fox platform shared with the Fairmont sedan. Gerbil wheels continued under the hood with a 88-horse starter four, 132-horse turbo-4\u00a0inline-6\u00a0and V-8.<\/p>\n

\"1987<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The roaring \u201980s brought back some of the Mustang\u2019s roar as well with a HiPo\u00a0225-horsepower V-8, quick turbo-four SVO, and the first convertible in a decade. For \u201987, Mustang got a more muscular bod, though the car\u2019s style had now evolved completely away from the original with a grille-less face and big horizontal headlights.<\/p>\n

Gen Four, 1994-2004<\/strong>: Along with more curvaceous sheet metal and a return to the OG\u2019s twin-cowl dash, the fourth-generation pony was powered by a stout, base 3.8-liter V-6 to go with the optional V-8.<\/p>\n

\"1994<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

There were plenty of toys for enthusiasts, like the 320-horse, V8-powered\u00a01999 SVT Cobra, complete with front skirt and rear wing. The Bullitt model paid tribute to Steve McQueen\u2019s movie car, the Mach 1 introduced a shaker hood, and the wonderfully named Terminator Cobra boasted 390 supercharged horsepower.<\/p>\n

Gen Five, 2005-14:<\/strong>\u00a0Rebirth. To many Mustang enthusiasts, the 2005 \u2019Stang rediscovered its roots. The coupe brought back round headlights and muscled, fastback looks. The retro-car rekindled the segment, sparking the re-emergence of archrivals Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

For the \u201911 model year, there was muscle under the hood to match its looks with a 3.7-liter V-6 and 412-horse\u00a05.0-liter V-8 on offer. Hot performance models followed, including the torrid, 444-horse\u00a0track-focused Boss 302 and multiple\u00a0high-powered Shelby GT500s \u2014 celebrating the return of the Shelby badge for the first time in nearly 40 years.<\/p>\n

Gen Six, 2015-23:\u00a0<\/strong>Mustang celebrated its 50th anniversary with an\u00a0all-new car and big international ambitions. The new coupe would be exported to 140-plus countries. To encourage a wider demographic both abroad and at home, Mustang also got a radical redesign with styling cues more in line with brand siblings like the Focus and Fusion sedans. The round headlights disappeared into a modern headlight casing.<\/p>\n

Some enthusiasts would deride the new style as the \u201cMustang Fusion,\u201d but Ford backed its new car with a remade chassis and \u2019Stang\u2019s first\u00a0standard independent rear-suspension \u2014 key to the track ambitions of the V8-powered Shelby GT50 and GT500, back in the showroom together for the first time since the \u201960s.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Harking back to the 1960s\u2019\u00a0GT350, the Shelby was a ferocious driver\u2019s car with stick shift and a unique, flat-plane crank V-8 engine that howled to 8,000 RPM like a Ferrari V-8. The supercharged GT500 boasted more horsepower than any Mustang before it \u2014 760 \u2014 and a lightning-quick eight-speed automatic transmission.<\/p>\n

Even the entry-level Mustang got a so-called High Performance variant with a 330-horse turbo-4 ripped from the Focus RS.<\/p>\n

Gen Seven, 2024-:<\/strong>\u00a0With killjoy government closing in again on muscle cars with draconian emissions regulations, Mustang defied elimination (the V-8 Camaro and Challenger expire in 2024) with the introduction of its 2024 coupe. Not only does the new \u2019Stang keep its V-8, it enhances it with twin throttle bodies promising more ponies when the car debuts in the summer of 2023.<\/p>\n

But the big advance is in interior upgrades unheard of in the car\u2019s six-decade existence. Gone is the famous double-bubble cockpit replaced by … twin digital screens sporting state-of-the-art graphics courtesy of the Unreal game engine.<\/p>\n

Some six drive modes will be offered, including a configurable Custom mode. In a nod to enthusiasts, the styling harkens back to the muscled\u00a02005 model with chunkier cues seen in everything from the hips to the steering wheel hub.<\/p>\n

In honor of its heritage, a graphic on the back window features a silhouette of every generation reaching back to 1965.<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few auto badges have lasted 60 years, but the Ford Mustang isn\u2019t your average auto. The two-door sports coupe created the affordable muscle car class in the U.S. in 1965 and has been an icon ever since. As the Porsche 911 has defined luxury performance across the decades, so has Mustang endured through seven generations, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29780,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29779\/revisions\/29780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}