Apologies to Growler (as I am not he), but I can't let JC get away with that opening paragraph. He's clearly still all petulant about backing the wrong horse in the Great Britons poll, but there would never have been such a thing without Churchill's prior efforts, and to compare his tactical skills with Enid Blyton is just crass. Winston had his faults, but he was the right man at the right time, and I, for one, am grateful not to be goose-stepping my way to the munitions factory every day.
I know Clarkson just does it to annoy, but sometimes he succeeds, I'm afraid.
And the Mustang? Recirculating ball steering, cart springs and idiot lights instead of instruments - Hmmm. Steve McQueen's one was nice, but it wasn't exactly factory spec. It did look wonderful, but the greatest car ever? I don't think so, but that won't bother JC, as he will have changed his mind in a week or two anyway. That's the trouble with his opinions - they don't carry any weight because he's so inconsistent.
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Phew!! When I saw this thread's title I though I was going to get a public warning....
That's interesting. As usual with Clarkson you have to ignore the first 38 paragraphs and look at the last 3 to find out what he's talking about. He definitely gets paid by the word. But the bluster and waffle aside...
I think he has understood the point of the Mustang well though, a social statement: the post-war baby boomers becoming more affluent and the styling being spot on for the mood of the day, and very affordable. And a marketing coup. The stories about them selling like hot cakes are legion. The mechanical issues were secondary, it was built on a Falcon chassis anyway. Did you know you can still get from Ford USA's computer an original invoice for your Mustang showing all the options and the final price? I did so for mine, which was pretty fully loaded, and it came out at some USD 2300 OTR ex Detroit. The Pound was 2.8 to the US those days...
There were some wonderful ads at the time: for a while Ford had two many 6-cylinders that weren't moving, the guys all wanted the V-8. So they ran a campaign "Six and The Single Girl" aimed at women.....
So far as I know the '60's 'Stangs - forget anything after that (although the new Bullitt is worth a look) all had proper gauges not idiot lights. For a time it was (I think) Frost Motors in Shoreham who sold an RHD version, and if I am correct this came out at about GBP850, an awful lot of money for a car in 1966. But a good many were sold and a Sunday visit to Brands always had a Mustang in the production car line-up. Mustangs, Minis, Lotus Cortinas, Daimler Darts, all in the same race. Marvellous stuff. So boring nowadays by comparison. The Mustang was one of those cars which absolutely lent itself to being souped up and hot-rodded, it had the base, you just used your imagination after that.
When my convertible was in storage in Sussex, the facility owner had Bugattis, Ferraris, Jags, a Lamborghini, all kinds of stuff in there. He used to say the first car nearly every visitor noticed was my Mustang and that got more attention than all the rest. Don't ask me why.
I have seen all sorts of Mustangs: the rare California Special, the Indy Pace Car used to start the races and in the US, I still don't believe this, a Mustang whose owner had had the entire
engine and drive train gold-plated. He was a Hispanic gentleman living in Miami who affected sharp white suits, black shirts, gold medallions and one-way Ray-Bans, which may explain why.
Referring to the classics thread of Rob's about classics not just being exotica, the 1960's Mustangs are very viable: all parts are available, they can be serviced by any home mechanic, they turn heads and are great fun to drive. There are all sorts of things you can fit to keep it up to date without spoiling the looks - I did a conversion to power disc brakes in a day. The Mustang Owners of GB are a great bunch and keep the marque alive. Someone in the classics thread also said classics should be affordable, Mustangs in their basic form certainly are. Although I don't think it will ever die.
Here in the Philippines there are numerous examples, ranging from the iconoclast who stuffed an Isuzu diesel in his, to a one-owner 1966 which is in absolutely showroom condition (not concours -- tarting it up would spoil it), but showroom, that's with all the tags attached to the cables, the stickers as is, and perfect in every way, even to the transmission leak that came as standard, no extra charge.
Well that's more than enough: I'm looking for my next one. We looked after a nice white coupe for a while for a friend while he was overseas, alas he's back.
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Self-indulging again: but I missed on. In 1969 Hertz Rent-a-Car commmissioned Ford Motor Co to build several hundred "Hertz special Mustangs". These were (naturally) in black with dual gold stripes running over the car front to rear.
Well this promo went like a bomb. It didn't take Hertz long to figure out why a lot of their Mustang rentals were going out on Friday nights and being returned on Monday mornings with burnt-out clutches and scrubbed tires. Of course the lads who couldn't afford to own a Mustang were simply renting them out for the weekends and giving them a good pasting at the local race track.
Unsurprisingly this promo was dropped shortly after inception, but if you can find one of 800 or so Hertz Mustangs now expect to pay top dollar.
And we haven't even mentioned the magnificent Shelby's or the KR 500, with the faux roll bar on the convertible so that the Calif ornia beach bums could stow their surf boards on top of the windscreen and the bar,,,nor the fact that the AC Cobra and the GT40 all ran Mustang engines..
...time for my afternoon nap.
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We drove a long way around new England in a Mustang Covertible last summer (Hertz, but standard paintwork!)
Clarkson has a point. Although by any objective standard it's a lousy car, it has the "tingle factor", it causes small boys to point and stare and it kick-started several coversations.
Our best moment was pulling in, hood-down, to a swanky French (now Freedom?) resaurant in Cape Cod. All the Europhile Yanks from the New England aristocracy had arrived in their S-types, 325s and Passats and we were in a classic American Pony Car. I guess the grass is always greener!
BTW the price of the Mustang covertible is not much more than the StreetKa....
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Didn't mean to rubbish the Mustang, Growler. I'd still love to cruise around in a '66 soft-top, and remember the jaw-dropping effect at college when one of the students turned up in one - it contrasted nicely with the Morris Minors in the staff car park...
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Growler,
The latest issue of the local CAR magazine has a 3 page article on the new 'Stang, plus a five pager on Shelby, the GT350 and the Hertz specials!!!
Send me a mail, with your address, and I'll post you a copy, if you like!
ijwill@touchline.co.za
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BUMP! (I see the Filipino bandit is here ...)
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