In the early 1960’s Ford Motor Company was still reeling from the embarrassment that the Ford Edsel, released in the mid 1950’s and named after the founder’s son, had brought to the company. Executives including Lee Iacocca wanted something smart, exciting, and modern that would appeal to a younger American demographic.
The Mustang’s Origins
Iacocca and others looked at the Ford Falcon, originally designed by Ford president Robert McNamara (who later became Defense Secretary in the Kennedy Administration), as a starting point for something to shake up the auto world. Despite selling 400,000 units when it debuted in 1960, the Falcon was disliked by many at Ford as having a boring design and a low profit margin.
Ford’s product planner, Donald Frey, received the go-ahead in August, 1962, to design a car that would re-make the company’s image. He headed up a design team that took the Ford Falcon frame and redesigned the body with an eye to building their new model “as cheaply and simply as possible.” To capture the sense of adventure and excitement they wanted their new car to evoke in the public’s imagination they named it after a the World War II P-51 Mustang fighter plane.
