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May, 2008 Ford Mustang: I gotta pony...It was somewhere around 1988, at age forty, that I realized I wasn't ever going to be rich. Young and arrogant, I just naturally expected to own a Mustang. Ford Mustang? Nope. Restored North American P-51 Mustang, hero bomber-escort fighter aircraft of the "big war." I was standing on the grass at the Experimental Aircraft Association fly-in at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, craning my neck as a group of millionaire flyboys in restored Mustangs set up for a crowd fly-by. Something tugged on my pant-leg. Down on the ground was a tearful and frightened 5-year old boy. I instinctively lifted him to my shoulder as I had lifted my own sons. "I'm lost, can't find my daddy." he wailed. Don't cry fella, together we'll find him in no time, it's an adventure, come on! He brightened considerably as he described his dad, and I soon spotted a stressed twenty-something guy scanning the ground. A look of relief passed over his face, and then a big grin for me. "I have three boys" I said, grinning back. So that's how a hero feels, I thought, feeling pretty good about myself. How did the kid know to pick me from a throng of thousands? I turned to walk toward the warbirds bomber staging area, where my own father - who actually was a hero (purple heart, Stalag Luft I) - entertained a group of young World War II aviation buffs with his tale of parachuting into Nazi Germany from a falling Boeing B-17. I could hear the P-51 squadron starting their dive. Something tugged on my pant-leg. I looked down at a beautiful 6-year old blond girl in an expensive white dress. She wasn't crying. I didn't pick her up. "Are you lost? Come on, I'll help you find your daddy." "Mister," she snarled, "I never get lost, I don't need your help, an' that's my daddy up there." She pointed as the Mustangs roared by at a high bank angle, the afternoon sun flashing silver off polished wings. "I just wanted you to know that today is my birthday." "I gotta pony. An' You don't." She poked me in the thigh with her finger and repeated her assertion for emphasis, "YOU DON'T!" She wheeled and stomped off, followed at a safe distance by a woman who must have been a nanny. She's right, I thought, I don't gotta pony. It was looking like affordable sport aviation was receding faster with every passing year. Sport-plane kits that cost a then-unattainable $40k have risen to over $400k in 2008. But I did have a slick 1968 Dodge Charger, would she have counted that? What would I do with a pony anyhow? And how did this kid know to pick me from a throng of thousands? What made her so sure I didn't have a pony? Sports and sporty cars have something in common with the elitist country club of private aviation: real sports cars are bloody expensive, any kind of racing is even more costly. That's where the mass-market Ford Mustang, which coined the concept "pony-car," entered my life. Upwardly Mobile FreewayIn an automotive market pyramid with little room at the top, Henry Ford's proletarian dream has found little upward mobility. Mustang is perhaps the brightest spot left after Ford Motor's failed Premium Auto Group adventure. To this day Mustangs are built from off-the-shelf Ford components, some decades old. This keeps the pony affordable. Henry Ford II, the family representative in charge when the Mustang was developed, knew that to make real profits, the inexpensively built base car had to support both sporty and luxury option-outs to make real money. There were groups within the company who represented the sporty side, and others who developed upscaling themes for the car. Mr. Ford's Mustang covered the bases, appealing to a very broad demographic. The mass-market pony car could be optioned to conform to almost any individual taste, with high performance halo models and "luxury" ragtops prominently displayed to encourage up-selling. The increased sales volume of such a car would lower unit costs - the central principle of Ford's success - allowing ever widening margins from the cream-of-the-crop specialty models. More than any other American car, Mustang is a brand. The long nosed Ford evolved with its baby boom buyers, declining during the self-doubt of the 1970's, and slowly evolving into the '60s nostalgia piece available today. A mass marketed product competing with specialty niche sports and luxury cars - Porsche, Jag, Mercedes, Corvette, Nissan, Lexus, even some Subarus - is bound to draw criticism. Sports car purists, behind the wheel of more expensive and less populist brands, decry the pony car's continued dependence on parts-bin sources, obsolete live rear axle, and Falcon/Pinto/Fairlane-chassis origins. They call it an econobox with a longer hood and a tugboat anchor (V8 engine) in the front. They decry the pony's just average braking and traditional poor rear visibility - dangerous on freeways and a handicap in road racing competition. Mustang is at a disadvantage in other than straight line racing, its handling, steering and braking cannot match Euro-sports car standards. As the brand aged, Asian competitors began to erode the marque's performance value proposition. Luxury car buyers were turned off by cheap interior trim, poor quality leather, and rapid depreciation. Mustang: Bang for the BuckWhat these critics miss is that value is what sells this image-building car. When I was in college, even graduate students were expected to ride bicycles or drive junkers. Parking space was deliberately restricted.
The 1965 Mustang helped change that. Baby boomers, often still in school, could afford the parts bin sports car, which could be purchased new for less than a second hand Austin-Healey 3000. Better still, the blue-collar hot rod fraternity, Fonzies with their feet sticking out from under '55 Chevies and '23T roadsters, quickly recognized the Mustangs' cheap performance possibilities. What is often missed in discussions of the 1965 Mustang is how Ford was able to leverage the car to recapture the lead from GM in the street performance wars. The pony car caught GM resting on the laurels of their small-block overhead-valve success and Chrysler (as is still the case) sitting on behemoth barges as its main performance products. Camaro, Firebird, Charger, Barracuda, and AMC Javelin struggled to catch up. No domestic, and few foreign, competitors could match the Ford's critical mass as a street racer. Few Mustang buyers cared if it didn't measure up to track-day elitist's notions of what a sports car should be. Today Mustangs are very inexpensive to modify, with a huge installed base, millions of enthusiasts worldwide, thousands of after-market manufacturers with their own economies of scale, and relatively few high tech barriers to entry. Hundreds of websites and hard copy publications support the brand. Car and Driver has anointed Mustang with its 10 Best list five times, including 2005 and 2006. On the pony's 44th anniversary in 2008, approximately 9,000,000 Mustangs had been built. A majority of those are still on the road, and for sale routinely on craigslist and eBay. Ragtops to Riches: Ford's Cash CowMustang continues in its original mandate: an affordable, mass-market transportation toy for the image conscious middle and working class consumer (namely, me). But the recent quest to squeeze profits from the specialty editions has produced a schizophrenia worse than 1969's "Grande" luxury trim and "Boss 429" asphalt ripper. The automotive landscape is littered with high priced factory specialty Mustangs (Shelby GT, Bullitt...) distinguished primarily by cosmetic trim: nonfunctional hood scoops and commemorative plaques. These have historically been used to boost sales mid-year, but look increasingly like the machinations of a company in cash-flow trouble. Shelby GT500KR, an $80,000 MSRP collector car, has created an auction feeding frenzy, much to the delight of Ford dealers who slapped dealer markup stickers on Mustang windshields. I cannot question the wisdom of wealthy car collectors and investors, they know their business, but an equivalent car can be factory optioned for thousands less. This car, still sporting an anachronistic live rear axle, is being priced above superior sports equipment like the new Nissan GT-R, the 505hp 29mpg Chevy Corvette, BMW M3, and Porsche 911 Carrera. I wonder if Ford's Shelby short-term cash cow strategy means that the pony/muscle car's future as a museum piece, rather than an everyday street rod, is edging closer. Regular Joes buying Mustangs as economical daily drivers have kept Ford's performance pony on the market for over 40 years - has Ford again forgotten its roots? I have seen the Future, it is Murder...What will the next Mustang generation hold for mass market buyers? What is Ford’s long term plan for the pony platform? How will the value equation be sustained going forward? As the baby boom nostalgia fad fades, fewer buyers will support the high end super car options and luxury trims. It was easier for Ford to create the retro-futuristic current generation Mustang, amid positive cash flow from the pick-up/SUV fad, than with 2008's dismal cash bleed. So what now? I'd love to say that Ford-GM-Chrysler are creating a series of affordable neo-ponies; 2,700 pound curb weight, .28 drag coefficient, 40 mpg, rear-wheel drive, independent rear suspension, 300 hp turbo-four-cylinder screamers, starting at $20k. If these come, it won't be from Ford. As the Japanese lead in technology expands - over 20% of 2008 Camrys are delivered with hybrid drive trains - Ford announces "Eco-boost" (turbocharging and direct injection) technology. This enhances traditional 4 and 6-cylinder economy and power, displacing the V8 in the company's aging pickups, luxury barges, and SUVs. While this is a great improvement, it was due years ago. Maybe Eco-boost technology will give Mustang one more life cycle. Mustang has persisted to outsell and outlive the rival ponies. I believe Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger comeback concept cars will never be mass produced. They will be limited editions starting in the forties and join the Shelby GT500 in collector car museums and specialty auctions. Newly legislated 35mpg federal CAFE fuel economy standards and $4/gal gas spell the end of the mass market hotrod. Hybrids and econoboxes, $200 per barrel oil, and global food shortages (food is just another interchangeable form of energy) are the future. I gotta PonyFor me and my fellow baby boomers, now in our sixties, I see a last chance to go for a fast ride before sunset. But I won't be joining the buyers lined up to throw cash at a new specialty package. I will always own at least one Ford Mustang. My 1993 Fox body is getting a bit long in the tooth, time to shop for bargains on a 4th gen SN95 or maybe a used S197 retro GT Mustang.
Now I gotta pony. If you're riding the long lonesome highway in the western U.S., look for me in your mirrors. Mustang articles and reviews are divided by generation;
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