This year marks the 50th birthday of a car that has carved out a big place for itself in American automotive history: the Ford Mustang.
Today on Stateside, we'll take a 50-year look back at the history of the pony car and look ahead to the newest generation. The 2015 Mustang is heading to showrooms next month.
Jay Follis is an automotive historian. He's director of marketing at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners in Barry County, and he's looked at the history of the Mustang in the current issue of Michigan History Magazine. Follis says before the introduction of the Mustang, Ford didn't plan on anything new.
"You had all these young, very persistent engineers, designers, guys from the marketing department that said 'You know what, we have a dream car in mind, and we want to do something with this,'" says Follis.
John McElroy is an auto analyst and host of the Autoline Daily webcast. He says the new 2015 model is the first time we'll see a "clean sheet" design to the Mustang since about 1979. The whole idea is to bring the younger generation back in.
"People like to have their cars reflect their personalities – young, vivacious, outdoorsy, wanting to get out and go do things. That's why this car has lasted for so long. People just resonate with what it stands for," says McElroy.
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