Mustang fans mark car's 40th anniversary

By Scott Reeves
Associated Press

GLADEVILLE, Tenn. — Craig Hutain has spent $17,000 and put in about 1,500 hours over the past four years restoring the original look of his 1965 Mustang — right down to the "springtime yellow" paint and tachometer mounted on the steering column.

A children's version of a 1968 Mustang was displayed next to a full-sized model at the Mustang 40th anniversary celebration in Tennessee. Since its debut, about 8 million people have bought Mustangs. Associated Press

The Mustang made its debut April 17, 1964, at the World's Fair in New York. Since then, about 8 million people have bought one.

Hutain, 44, a commercial pilot from Montgomery, Texas, considers his work a "tasteful restoration." His long-suffering wife, Lori, would say only, "It takes a lot of patience."

The Mustang was devised by Lee Iacocca, then Ford division chief, and product manager Donald Frey. Early models were little more than Falcon family sedans with new bodies. But the car's image appealed to performance enthusiasts, and the Mustang became an American icon.

Frey, now 81, attended the Nashville event and signed autographs like a rock star. One man called him a "true genius" — an accolade that drew a snort from Frey.

"The original team didn't have a lot of people or money," he said. "We did everything on the cheap. ... The first car had only one light that flashed when the turn indictor was on."

Frey said the first Mustang rolled out only 18 months after getting the go-ahead from top management.

"I remember that we hoped to sell 86,000 units because we made a little money at that level," he said. "We sold over 400,000 in the first year and more than a million in the second."

Frey now teaches engineering at Northwestern University, and his students frequently ask how he launched the Mustang.

"I tell them to understand their market," Frey said. "It's important to know what people want."

But Ford launched the Mustang with little market research. Names considered for the new car included Cheetah, Puma and Colt.

Joseph Oros, now 87, set the design standards for the Mustang.

"I told the team that I wanted the car to appeal to women, but I wanted men to desire it, too," he said. "I wanted a Ferrari-like front end, the motif centered on the front — something heavy-looking like a Maseratti ... and I wanted air intakes on the side to cool the rear brakes. I said it should be as sporty as possible and look like it was related to European design."

A 1965 ad for the Mustang called it "a car to make weak men strong, strong men invincible."

Paul J. Russell, the current marketing manager for the Mustang, said a new V-6 lists at less than $20,000 and a loaded GT Coupe sells for slightly more than $30,000.

It sells well among baby boomers, but also among people younger than 30, Russell said. And about half its buyers are women.

"The car is more about 'psychographics' than demographics," Russell said.