Happy 56th birthday to the Ford Mustang
Ford debuted its 1965 Mustang on April 17, 1964, making the pony car 56 years old today. By way of celebration, Ford is sharing some archived photos from the model’s six generations. It’s also touting the Mustang’s status as the world’s best-selling sports coupe.
That prestigious sales title, which the Mustang currently bears for the fifth year running, was buoyed by big gains in Europe that led to a global sales tally of 102,090 units in 2019. We should point out that the “sports coupe” category strictly includes two-door coupes and convertibles; so no matter how well the upcoming Mustang Mach-E does, it’s not going to help the Mustang coupe we all know and love to retain that title.
What did help the Mustang stay fresh in the showroom in recent years was a lineup full of performance models. Whether it’s an EcoBoost trim that offers a horsepower bump via the High Performance Package, the understated Bullitt Mustang honoring the Highland Green ’68 fastback of Steve McQueen fame, the high-revving GT350 and GT350R, or the brutally powerful GT500, there’s a Mustang for practically every driveway or garage in the world.
As some of the current special edition models get phased out, Ford is looking to its past to inspire future models. We’re looking forward to learning what the 2021 Mach 1 brings and how it could potentially inspire the competition.
Happy birthday, Mustang! Here’s to many more years of America’s favorite pony car—and plenty of new performance models to fill them.
Share your favorite Mustang performance variant with us below! Alternatively tell us which model you hope to see resurrected in future years.
