Blasts from the Past

[Ming]

Blasts from the past
09/25/2004
San Antonio Express-News
G. Chambers Williams III

Looking like a blast from the past, the 2005 Mustang, which has been completely redesigned, takes its cues from the 1967 fastback model.

The automakers have been taking advantage of that of late by rolling out cars that remind us of our coming-of-age years, and some of these retro-yet-modern vehicles have been quite successful.

But coming to Ford showrooms this fall is probably the best example yet: the next-generation Mustang, with an exterior design that is strikingly similar to that of the popular 1967 fastback Mustangs, the ones that started adding some real pizazz to the pony car lineup.

Those of us who were around in the mid-'60s will recall that Ford rolled out the original Mustang as a 19641/2 model in April '64, and when it began hitting showrooms in earnest in summer of '64, it was the hottest thing going.

That first Mustang is still the favorite of many collectors and Mustang aficionados because, well, it was the first. Built on the chassis of the little Ford Falcon and sold initially mostly with an inline six-cylinder engine under the hood, it wasn't really the performance vehicle that the Mustang would become by 1967, particularly after Carroll Shelby got hold of the car and began creating his own special high-performance versions.

Having been raised in a General Motors family, with mostly Chevys in the garage, my own experiences with Fords and Mustangs have been few and far between. I did own a Mustang once — a 1965 six-cylinder model I bought used in 1972 and traded in 1973 on a Volkswagen Bus, getting, if I recall correctly, about $500 for my trade. I've often wished I'd kept the car.

I've owned my share of Beetles, as well as several VW Buses and a Squareback or two. That's why I bought a New Beetle a couple of years ago. I found it to be quite reminiscent of the old ones in styling, but not in performance or practicality — two areas where the New Beetle greatly outshines the original. The engine is up front now, water-cooled rather than air-cooled and quite dependable, something the rear-engine Volkswagens couldn't quite claim.

Last year, GM rolled out a new Pontiac GTO and the Chevrolet SSR sport pickup, but both have come to market with mixed reviews.

My own take on the SSR is that the price is way too high (well over $40,000) for this pickup, which looks something like the front of the late '40s and early '50s Chevy pickups, yet drives like a Corvette. With room for just two people and very little cargo space (there is an unremovable top over the cargo bed), coupled with the high price, the SSR comes across as a rather impractical vehicle.

Of course, impracticality isn't necessarily a bad thing in the car business; Chevy sells a lot of Corvettes, for instance, and they're not the most practical vehicles around, even though they're beautiful and great fun.

As for the GTO, I think GM missed the boat in putting a great Corvette drivetrain into a ho-hum sport coupe from Australia whose styling is never going to inspire anyone, especially those who still love and collect the GTOs from the '60s and early '70s. I have yet to run into an old-GTO fan who thinks the new one is a great car.

What's surprising to me is that GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz is the one responsible for bringing this new GTO-badged vehicle to market. This is the man whose motto inside GM has become, "Good enough is no longer good enough."

He's the one who sent the Buick LaCrosse back to the drawing board after reviewing the original design and declaring it "boring."

GM is adding even more performance to both the GTO and the SSR this fall with versions of the new LS2 6.0-liter V-8 engine being used in the 2005 Corvette. This 400-horsepower engine replaces the 320-horsepower 5.3-liter V-8 in 2004's SSR and the 350-horsepower 5.7-liter Corvette V-8 in this past year's GTO.

My prediction is that even with the 50-horsepower boost, the 2005 GTO is not going to come close to matching the excitement of even the V-6 powered 2005 Mustang in the marketplace, because of styling. The Mustang has it, traced back to those great pony cars of the late '60s, while the GTO looks nothing like the cars of the same name from the past.

I still believe GM is missing the boat by not introducing a new family car styled after the 1957 Chevy, but with modern underpinnings. That car, if its styling was really true to the original, would sell like crazy. I'd buy one in a minute.

Another old vehicle that would sell very well if GM were to bring it back looking like it did in the early '60s would be the El Camino pickup.

Full Article Here

[GTOken]

I must admit, the new Mustang looks fantastic. Makes me wish I liked Fords. There is nothing that says a car like the new GTO has to look like some 60's model, but come on GM, it has to look muscular!! At least a little bit......... :huh: The Woodward Cruise GTO has got the look. Put me down for one of those with just a little tweaking.

[Sparta]

great article, had a lot of great points.

[mrfunji]

Oh but it's ok because adding the stick-on hoodscoops to the '05 GTO will be enough to get sales rolling <_<

I love the new GTO but I can understand why people don't like it.

[mjd1001]

The new mustang is a very polarizing vehicle. Personally I do not like the design, it looks like something that my parents and their friends (who are in their 50's and 60's) would buy becasue it reminds them of the mustang they had when they are younger. I don't want a car like that.
However, from talking to a lot of people about this car, I feel it will sell very well for at least the first 2 years. As a general rule...if you are a huge mustang fan, or if you are 50+, you will love this car and are likely to buy one. From the people I talked to who are 35 and younger....about half love it and about half feel the way I do.
I do not think this car will sell just like the new Thunderbird..but I beleive the sales pattern will be partially the same. Everyone who wants one, including the potential 50+ year old buyers..will probably buy one in the first 2 years. Then I expect the sales to decline considerably after that point. Sales will still be respectable...but I just don't see this car attracting new buyers in the 18-25 year old category unless they are Mustang Fans already...I don't see people who normally buy RSX's and Celicas, or even late model F-bodys converting to this design.

[dav305z]

Originally posted by mrfunji@Sep 26 2004, 01:30 AM
Oh but it's ok because adding the stick-on hoodscoops to the '05 GTO will be enough to get sales rolling&nbsp; <_<

I love the new GTO but I can understand why people don't like it.

i know. they had a chance this year to really dress up the car. Instead, they go for the usual half baked, half a**ed GM effort and tack on some holes in the hood.
like you, i love the car, but i think they can do better than this.
i think the featured goat on New Age GTO really shows what they Could have done.

New Age GTO

[72lemanscvbl]

Originally posted by mjd1001@Sep 25 2004, 08:44 PM

However, from talking to a lot of people about this car, I feel it will sell very well for at least the first 2 years.

The last Mustang sold fine, and when the last one came out in '94, it was just as "retro" and didn't really lose its sales luster over time. A well designed "retro" design will sell if updated properly, and will have shelf life with updates and improvements. This car is going to do fine for a long time. (unless a good competitor comes out)

[walling]

I feel the american manufactureers have tried too hard to always change the cars that are sold.the 911 is the best example of a car that still looksthe same year after year and is one of the most repected cars of all time.if the mustang had remained based on the good looks that it had from the beginning ,it would look like
the 2005. I feel ford has not "gone retro' they are back on track .this makes up for the 70's when the Mustang II departed from the basic design.
(Pleae give me my Camaro back ...a good one so i don't have to talk about a new Mustang)

[zaxxis]

Originally posted by mjd1001@Sep 26 2004, 01:44 AM
Sales will still be respectable...but I just don't see this car attracting new buyers in the 18-25 year old category unless they are Mustang Fans already...I don't see people who normally buy RSX's and Celicas, or even late model F-bodys converting to this design.

I would have to disagree. I believe this car is going to sell extremely well.

1. At the Detriot autoshow, there was no car that had more people around it than the Mustang. Parents, teenagers and kids alike. It wasn't like the C6 display where 1/2 the display was blocked with a wall and you couldn't see. It was 4+ deep ALL THE WAY AROUND. [Not taking anythnig away from the 'Vette, it's sweet too ]

2. At Chicago. Rinse and Repeat

3. People, many of them teenagers, spent HOURS in line at a recent Ford Drive event near Detriot, just to drive one.

4. Sales have been pretty darn good for the Mustang. In fact, sales over the last few years have been increasing, contributed to the special edition Stangs.

5. It's been reported (on various Mustang boards) that there is 50,000 pre-orders for the Mustang. Not Plain-Jane dealer orders, but people coming in and asking for it. This is without advertising and before it's even released. My local Ford dealer (Germain Ford) has over 25 orders in for customers.

6. Old people drive V6s. Nearly every GT/Cobra/Mach1 has been driven by someone in their 20s.

Anyway. At least Ford is doing something different. Some people like it, some don't. The Thunderbird died for one reason and is the same problem effecting the SSR: Price. It's too dam expensive, had huge dealer mark-up and has almost no advertising.

-Z

[zaxxis]

Originally posted by walling@Sep 26 2004, 02:05 AM
I feel the american manufactureers have tried too hard to always change the cars that are sold.the 911 is the best example of a car that still looksthe same year after year and is one of the most repected cars of all time.if the mustang had remained based on the good looks that it had from the beginning ,it would look like
the 2005. I feel ford has not "gone retro' they are back on track .this makes up for the 70's when the Mustang II departed from the basic design.
(Pleae give me my Camaro back ...a good one so i don't have to talk about a new Mustang)

First of all, you are comparing apples and oranges. The markets are different, Porsche is a luxury sports car while the Mustang is a mass-produced high-volume car. I wouldn't be surprised that Mustang sales out do all of Porsche.

Another point, the 911 has suffered poor sales the past few years. The only thing that is saving the company is the sales of the SUV. [Autoextremist.com calls Porsche the fastest growing Truck company....hehee]

The boxer sales have be slow and when the new boxer rumors surfaced, the current sales tanked.

I too would like to see a new Camaro. Even though I like Mustangs the more domestics the better

-Z
-Z

[tgagneguam]

...What's surprising to me is that GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz is the one responsible for bringing this new GTO-badged vehicle to market. This is the man whose motto inside GM has become, "Good enough is no longer good enough."

Wow, not to beat a dead horse, but thanks, Bob. You've done so many great things for GM in the past three years as GM Chairman, North America, it makes me really look forward to the next three years. Is there a mandatory retirement age at the General? Perhaps the Board should consider one.

But back on topic... The new Mustang looks to be a great pony car, and I hope it does well for Ford. They could definitely use the boost to car sales. I would love to see the Mustang pull sales from the Far Eastern manufacturers, but I'm unclear if there are any models that would be directly impacted.

[ibechip]

I think the new Mustang will definately sell well. There's no question about it. I don't think it'll outsell the old mustang by leaps and bounds except for in it's first year but it will be a strong seller.

[MTRANS]

I thing it is quite ugly a step back in design, I didn't grow up with 67 mustangs, so I have never liked the design.
But the facts are the mustang will sell well if it hits it target market of which they sell 60-70 of the vehicles. This is of coure the mustang v-6 of which are sold to women. They like it because it's a sporty, reliable car, at a relatively cheap price. The GT, Mach 1s, and Cobra's are an after thought. As for the women that have seen the car, their reactions are mixed some like others don't, so we'll have to see if it does sell over the long run.
As for the GTO it should look like this Official Judge, this is what the GTO is eventually going to look like. It has better styling than a retro mustang. I'll just wait until it arrives to buy my GTO.

[GTOken]

Originally posted by MTRANS@Sep 25 2004, 10:13 PM
&nbsp; As for the GTO it should look like this Official Judge, this is what the GTO is eventually going to look like.&nbsp; It has better styling than a retro mustang.&nbsp; I'll just wait until it arrives to buy my GTO.

I don't think that car is officially referred to as a Judge. Does it say Judge anywhere on it? That car is the Woodward Dream Cruise concept car I mentioned previously.

[MTRANS]

I don't think that car is officially referred to as a Judge. Does it say Judge anywhere on it? That car is the Woodward Dream Cruise concept car I mentioned previously.

. The term official judge is the name of the pics when downloaded. The concept name was Ram Air 6 and was supposedly built by GM. Although nothing on the internet is always what it seems. Any way it still looks way better than any Stang retro or not.