Classic American January 2014

EvErything you EvEr wantEd to know about Ford’s lEgEndary Pony Car!

Buying the perfect 273 JANUARY 2014

Mustang

The UK’s Number 1 for 25 years

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1965 Ragtop

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1970 Boss

Fantastic Fox 1991 Mustang GT

First of the Fastbacks

1948 Chevy Fleetline

Car of the Year

reVeaLeD! No. 273 January 2014

Mopar Royalty 1956 Chrysler Windsor

£4.20

Mustang mania!

Ben Klemenzson

Viewpoint

Welcome to our Mustang Special. You might think we’re jumping the gun a bit as the Mustang wasn’t launched until April 1964; however, we figured we’d get a head start, and that since this is our first issue dated 2014, now is as good a time as any to celebrate what is quite simply the most famous American car ever!

For Ford that combination of Iacocca, the Sixties and a whole new generation reaching driving age, made the launch of the Mustang the perfect storm. Everything was right – the car, the way it was marketed and the economic landscape back then. It made ‘Lee’ Iacocca’s reputation (wouldn’t you rather be remembered as the man that gave the world the Mustang rather than the minivan, his other great claim to automotive fame?) and even made Ford cool again, erasing the ignominy of the Edsel debacle of only a few years earlier.

Remarkably, Mustang is one of the few American nameplates to have remained in production continuously for 50 years and so it’s for that reason – and the fact it’s probably one of the best-loved American cars in the UK – that we’ve decided to dedicate this issue to the one and only original pony car, the Ford Mustang.

We’ve tried to cover as many bases as we can: from how to buy the perfect first generation car, to part one of our Mustang history, as well as several features on great examples of the genre,

including the late, great 5.0 Fox-platformed Mustang, which to this day remains an evergreen favourite among UK Mustang fans.

And the timing couldn’t be better either, because the day this issue went to print was the day Ford revealed its new sixth generation Mustang. As well as Ford’s Dearborn, Michigan HQ, it was launched simultaneously in five cities around the globe (New York; Los Angeles; Sydney; Barcelona and Shanghai) marking its transformation into a global model.

Just think, you’ll be able to pop down to your local Ford dealer and buy a new Mustang. I leave that thought with you… please don’t hesitate to get in touch and let us know your thoughts on this, via email, Facebook, fax or just a plain good old fashioned letter!

Don’t worry if Mustangs aren’t your bag though, ’cos there’s lots of other good stuff to get your teeth into, including Ford’s forgotten Fox-bodies, a beautiful mid-Fifties Chrysler, a super slick 1948 Chevy fastback, our report from the Classic Motor Show at the NEC and the announcement of this year’s Footman James Car of the Year winner. As many of you will buy this edition just before December 25, have a great Christmas... and see you in 2014!

bklemenzson@mortons.co.uk

2015 Mustang GT.

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2015 Mustang Almost 50 years since the first Mustang was revealed to an eager, car-hungry America, the new sixth generation Ford Mustang has been unveiled… but this time to a global audience, being simultaneously launched in New York, Los Angeles, Dearborn and Michigan as well as Barcelona, Spain, Shanghai, China and Sydney, Australia. Yes folks, Mustang is going global and it won’t be long before you can nip down to your local Ford dealer and order one straight off the showroom floor.

In terms of looks, the 2015

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Mustang isn’t that radically different from its predecessor, but engineering-wise Ford has finally succumbed to independent rear suspension and the car is planned to be about 200lb lighter – it’ll also be available in righthand drive. The 5.0-litre V8 and 3.7-litre V6 engines will be available, as will Ford’s 2.3-litre EcoBoost four cylinder. The offering of right-hand drive and a smaller capacity four-cylinder engine are sure signs of Ford’s seriousness about pushing Mustang outside America.

What the car’s availability in

unveiled!

Ford UK showrooms will mean to specialist importers in the UK is still unclear, but for many Mustang owners up until now, it’s

the car’s exclusivity that has been a big draw. How will they feel when that exclusivity disappears?

Watch this space…

Car of the Year 2013 The finals of the Footman James Car of the Year took place at the Classic Motor Show, held at the NEC in mid-November, with six fabulous vehicles on the Classic American stand representing every era and type of vehicle from a prewar Thirties Packard to a disco-era Seventies Lincoln Continental.

Over the course of the weekend the cars were judged independently by three judges whose scores were added up an hour before the

announcement, along with the results from the online voting which this year allowed Classic American readers to have their say (counting for 10% of the total). And the verdicts were unanimous: the winner of this year’s Footman James Car of the Year competition is the 1950 Buick Special belonging to David and Lorraine Carr from Sunderland.

This fabulous Fifties gem, sourced from Classic American advertiser Dream Cars, was

It’s ATOMIC! Now’s the time when many of us make improvements to our cars and start to plan our diary for the new show season.

May 3-4 are dates you’ll all want to mark on your calendar, because that’s the weekend that will see a big new event explode on to the scene… the exciting ATOMIC Vintage Festival at Sywell Aerodrome near Northampton.

Featuring a world class line-up of over 20 bands in five music venues, a Saturday night screening of the 1956 movie The Girl Can’t Help It on a 40ft wide drive-in movie screen at the front of the show field, flag-start drag racing, dancing until the early hours, air displays, roller rink, fireworks and so much more, ATOMIC will be an all-action celebration of the golden postwar era, 1946-1962.

Expect two days of solid rock’n’roll, with a show field that will look just like a scene from American Graffiti, plus a huge vintage clothing market, a roller rink with rock’n’roll DJ, a ’50s style ‘poodle parade’ and so much more.

ATOMIC will also feature a heat of the Classic American Car of the Year competition and the chance to meet top US vintage pinup model Bernie Dexter with The ATOMIC Bombshells, who will be happy to pose with your car. Discounted earlybird tickets are available now via the website at www.AtomicFestival.co.uk or you can call the ATOMIC booking office on 01435 812508 to book tickets, request a flyer or order a bunch of flyers for your club.

Picture: Jonny Wilson

Meet the gorgeous ATOMIC Bombshells at Sywell Aerodrome next May.

Winner! restored over a several year period

by David and his family and underwent a complete nut and bolt restoration. Despite various transmission setbacks (Oh those Dynaflows!) David and wife Lorraine managed to take the car to shows up and down the country, picking up trophies wherever they went.

David Carr's brother Rob and Angus Kisch with Car of the Year trophy.

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David’s brother Rob was on hand to pick up the trophy from Footman James MD Andy Fairchild on Sunday afternoon when the announcement was made and you can read all about this remarkable car and its rags to riches restoration in next month’s Classic American.

A look back at the storied history of America’s original ‘pony car’

T

o perhaps paraphrase an old US Navy slogan, ‘it’s not just a car, it’s an experience on wheels’. Since day one, Ford’s Mustang has always been a whole lot more than the sum of its parts.

Conceived as a low-priced, sporty offering based on Ford’s no-frills Falcon compact; it uncovered an entirely new market for youth-oriented pony cars and set a one year sales record that, to this day, remains unbroken for a single model. And although its introduction spawned competition in the shape

of the Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, Plymouth Barracuda, Dodge Challenger and AMC Javelin, it would outlast them all and, to date, is the only pony car to remain in continuous production for 50 years.

As Ford turns the page to yet another chapter in the Mustang’s history; we at Classic American take a look back at the road Ford’s pony car has taken so far, highlighting some of the most memorable moments. So hop in and let’s go for a ride.❯❯

Words: Huw Evans Photography: The Ford Motor Company

Clay for Mustang I concept.

Joe Oros, chief designer of the original 1964 Ford Mustang.

Early two-seater rendering in clay.

PRELUDE

Although it was introduced in April 1964, the Mustang story actually begins way before that, back in the days following the Second World War. American servicemen stationed in Europe during the conflict had fallen in love with (and some had even brought back) European sports cars such as MG TCs, Triumph TRs and Alfa Romeos, tantalised by their nimble handling and ‘foreign’ features such as bucket seats and floor mounted gearlevers.

By contrast, Detroit’s offerings at the time were large, heavy and designed to transport people over great distances, with little emphasis on handling or roadholding. Nevertheless, as America entered a postwar boom and many people found themselves with a growing amount of disposable income, automakers were soon caught up in a rush to supply new cars in a market that was simply starved for them.

As demand began to be satisfied and the emphasis shifted from a seller’s to a buyer’s market, Detroit began dishing up limited edition models, in an effort to add a bit of pizazz to its product offerings. These included Ford and Mercury’s woodie Sportsman convertibles and the Chrysler Town & Country. By the early 1950s fresh designs had emerged and Detroit was embroiled in a craze for two-door hardtops; yet at the other end of the spectrum, the small (but growing) market for imported sports cars was becoming harder to ignore.

Although some American manufacturers had made a stab at building sports cars, things didn’t really get serious until General Motors introduced the Chevrolet Corvette for 1953. Powered by a worked over version of Chevrolet’s Stovebolt six and equipped with a two-speed automatic, plus a rudimentary top and side curtains, it didn’t initially set the world on fire.

Nevertheless, at Ford, the introduction of the Corvette didn’t go unnoticed. Perhaps mindful of the features Americans might crave in a sporty personal car, Dearborn launched its two-seater, the 1955 Thunderbird with standard V8 power; roll up windows and a removable hardtop. It outsold the Corvette 2-1 and proved to be a

1963 Mustang II Concept.

good image builder for the brand. Yet as a twoseater, its market appeal was still limited, so for 1958, Ford division general manager Robert McNamara ordered a larger, four-seat Thunderbird. It proved a good move and sales quadrupled. Nevertheless, there were some who felt that with the ‘T-Bird’ having grown in size and stature, there was a gap at the bottom end of the market for a sporty, low-priced offering.

Lee Iacocca, who took over from McNamara in 1960, had different ideas about Ford’s product line, which, although selling well, didn’t really offer much in the way of pizazz.

Iacocca, a sales whiz who had risen through the ranks, was, unlike McNamara, an avid and knowledgeable ‘car guy’. He saw that the market for sporty, performance-oriented offerings was likely to increase significantly in the coming decade, especially as the first of the baby boomers came of driving age – a generation which had a very different view on personal transportation from that of their parents.

Iacocca set the Ford division down this new path by putting it back into racing with a new ‘Total Performance’ campaign. He also ordered

Ford’s product planners to spice up existing models such as the compact Falcon and full-size Galaxie. Perhaps more significantly, he saw a potential new market – one for sporty, stylish and relatively small affordable cars that would appeal to the baby boom generation.

During a meeting with the famous Fairlane Committee in 1961, Iacocca pitched his proposal in front of the Ford brass. The green light was given and Iacocca asked Ford product planning manager Donald Frey to oversee this new project, codenamed T-5. An early proposal for a lightweight, mid-engine two seater, dubbed Mustang I, amounted to little more than a running prototype, while initial renderings on the T-5 project proved unsatisfactory.

As a result, Iacocca ordered the programme restarted in August 1962, with Ford’s three inhouse design studios (Ford, Lincoln-Mercury and Advanced Design) asked to come up with proposals based around core fundamentals.

These fundamentals were a 2500lb kerb weight, $2500 base price and an overall length of 180in.

On the 16th of that month, seven of the proposed designs were placed in the courtyard at

Date: November 15-17, 2013 Place: National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham Words: Ben Klemenzson Photography: Christopher Tilley, Matt Richardson & Ben Klemenzson

ear Footman James Car of the Year

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T

he Classic Motor Show held in midNovember at the NEC marks the end of show season here at the magazine, as the heat winners of the Footman James Car of the Year competition are invited to display their cars on the Classic American stand, with one overall winner being chosen over the course of the weekend and announced on Sunday afternoon.

The heats are held over the summer at American car shows and events up and down the UK and the judging at the finals takes place all weekend and is carried out by three independent

judges. The judging system is pretty simple: each car is judged on its individual merits, the judges never compare or consult and the final scores are added up just an hour before the announcement of the winner. Also, the cars are never ranked, so there’s no second, third or fourth etc. Only the winner is announced.

One of the perennial issues – and some would say what makes the competition problematic, or controversial even, depending upon your point of view – is judging such completely different vehicles. A case in point would be the differences

between the 1976 Lincoln in this year’s competition, which is about as close as you could get to an untouched car from a showroom 40 or so years ago, and which hasn’t been restored, and the 1950 Buick Super or 1969 Dodge Charger R/T SE which were also in this year’s finals, both of which had been subject to virtual nut and bolt restorations.

In essence, it’s the old originality versus restoration issue. It has been suggested that the competition should have two classes: restored and original… but the problem with this is that

virtually no car can claim to be 100% original; simply changing the tyres or a paint job qualifies as some sort of modification from originality. So, flawed as it may seem, that’s why Classic American persists with the competition in its current ‘one class’ format.

Sadly the Ford Custom from Wheels Day was unable to attend and the heat-winning 1947 Nash belonging to Howard Wilton from the last heat at Rally of the Giants was unable to come due to gearbox failure. Nevertheless, Steve Taylor, who has been a heat winner on many previous occasions, very kindly offered to bring along his 1951 Cab over Engine Ford F5 truck to display on the stand instead – the truck was a real hit and had crowds around it all weekend.

This year’s Classic Motor Show seemed busier on the Friday and Saturday and the Classic

American stand was (as in previous years) the centrepiece of the American section. A few new American car clubs such as the Can Am Club had stands there, as well as all the usual die-hard American clubs. It was a long weekend for all exhibitors, the end of which was signalled by the announcement at 4pm of the winner of this year’s Car of the Year by Andy Fairchild, MD of Footman James. The winning car turned out to be the 1950 Buick belonging to David and Lorraine Carr from Sunderland, who had spent several years painstakingly restoring it. David’s brother Rob accepted the trophy on behalf of his brother who was unfortunately not able to attend, due to ill health. So as another Car of the Competition winds down for another year, we’re already planning next year’s – is yours a Car of the Year?

New C7 on the CCCUK stand.

Rods & customs were in the American section too!

Evans Waterless coolant’s stand had some mighty fine eye candy!

Camaro on Lancaster’s stand.

Looking dapper!

Steve Taylor’s 1951 Ford F5 CoE truck!

‘Bullitt’-style Mustang on Silverstone Auctions stand.

Footman James Car of the Year: 1950 Buick Super

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1959 Chevrolet Impala

1964 Ford Falcon

1954 GMC

1968 Pontiac Firebird EDITOR

Ben Klemenzson, bklemenzson@mortons.co.uk DESIGN

Michael Baumber CONTRIBUTORS

Huw Evans, Richard Coney, Steve Havelock, Matt Richardson, Will Shiers, Paul Bussey, Dave McBride, Nigel Boothman, Mike Renaut, Tony Oksien, Richard Heseltine, Mike Renaut, Steve Havelock, Douglas McPherson, Joe Dick, Rob Pritchard, BK Nakadashi, John Colley, Geoff Carverhill, Christopher Tilley, Grant Ford, Steve Miles, Keith Harman GROUP PRODUCTION EDITOR

Tim Hartley

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