Of all of the notable cars and trucks that are arriving for the 2014 model year, there’s one big arrival that’s eagerly anticipated: the Ford Mustang, which turns 50 years old on April 17. Of course, what the 2015 Mustang will be like is Detroit’s best-kept secret, just like when it debuted.
The 1964 Mustang’s birth came about as a result of the death of the two-seat Thunderbird in 1958. The resulting outcry from Ford Thunderbird fans continued for years — even as Thunderbird sales soared.
The two-seater was created to compete with Chevrolet’s Corvette which, in turn, was created to compete with European sports cars, whose sales were growing in the 1950s.
By 1960, Detroit had reacted to rising foreign car sales by releasing low-priced compact cars. In this contest, Ford’s thoroughly conventional Falcon trounced Chevy’s unconventional, rear-engine, air-cooled Corvair.
But things changed in 1961, when Chevy added a four-speed manual gearbox to the sporty Corvair Monza. As a result, Monza sales leaped from 12,000 in 1960 to 143,000 in 1961. When the new Monza Spyder model was added for 1962, with its convertible body and 150-horsepower turbocharged engine, sales shot past 200,000.