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Wild horse jumps wherever he wants
When after the Second World War in the United States began to expand the movement of hotoders, the official Detroit could not understand for a long time how to respond to the sophisticated bright red mercury with powerful V8 under the hood that appeared on the roads. And for almost 20 years he pretended that they did not exist. But there were already so many hot ones, and the races of the redone cars became so popular that it was no longer possible to ignore them. Muscle Cars was born ... The competition between Ford and Chevrolet was cruel.
In 1953, a 2-seater Chevrolet Corvette with a fiberglass body, in-line six and an automatic box was released. He did not make much impression. A little better the audience accepted the Ford response - also a 2 -seater Thunderbird 1955 with the V8 engine, although it was inferior to many home -mades. Three years Thunderbird was ahead in terms of sales. But then the Chevrolet Corvair appeared, followed by Corvair Monza, convincingly showing that there was a sustainable market for small and inexpensive sports cars. Ford answered the Falcon Futura model, but the Chevrolet sales remained ahead.
The first post -war generation was growing - more secured and educated, which needed catchy and elegant cars. The number of families that acquire a second car is usually more fashionable than the first. Women who preferred small sizes and ease of maintenance began to buy cars.
Everyone in Ford agreed that time required the appropriate car. But what? Opinions were divided. Some believed that it should be an ordinary small Ford, but with a sports appearance. Others proposed building a real fire -breathing monster, with overclocking to a hundred in 6 seconds.
The group, which was led by Jacock, at that time, the general manager Ford won. The task was not easy - to create a machine with an elegant and sports appearance, high operational properties and, moreover, quite inexpensive. A huge amount of research was conducted to determine what exactly is required by customers. One of them went down in history - throughout the country, the company interviewed students about the preference of different types of seats. Almost half preferred a bucket -shaped seat - for the first date. Among stable student couples, 85% chose a traditional sofa.
Of the many projects, the work of Dave Ash, an assistant to Joe Oros, who led the Ford Studio workshop, was chosen. The car turned out to be so attractive that even those people whom the company did not consider potential buyers in any way, recognizing the estimated cost of a new car, decided that they could not do without.
The history of the name Mustang is interesting. At the first stages of creation, when the car intended to redo from the Falcon model, it was called Falcon Special. When they approved the Oro-Esha project, the car was a great Couguar. Henry Ford proposed to give the car the name Thunderbird II, then they stopped at Torino, in which there was something Italian. But then it turned out that the Ford, who had divorced his wife at that time, was meeting with a certain Italian. The name had to be abandoned so as not to cause crank.
We stopped at the name Mustang, which has already been used on one of the experimental models. True, its developers did not mean a horse at all, but the famous P-51 fighter of the Second World War. The name Mustang and the silhouette of a horse on the radiator grille, according to the creators of the machine, gave rise to an exciting idea of \u200b\u200bunlimited expanses and created a damn American image.
By the way, after the appearance of the car, comments rained down on sale. Like, the horse on the emblem rides in the wrong direction that the horses are at the hippodrome. Did Jacock invariably replied that the Wild Mustang jumps wherever he wanted.
And Couguar later called the expensive Lincoln Mercury model.
The beginning of 1964. The nation recovered after the murder of President Kennedy.
A twist rages in Dansing. The first satellite photos of the surface of the moon and Mars were obtained. Beatles first flew in the USA. And in April, whether Jacock simultaneously appears on the covers of Time and Newsweek magazines - only the singer Bruce Springstin and the Helga model were able to repeat this achievement. The reason is Mustang, shown by the public at the international fair in New York on April 17, 1964.
The appearance of Mustang 1964 today seems a little ridiculous and naive: a box on thin wheels. But at the time of its appearance, the car looked great - low, sports, with a long hood and a sharply chopped back. The engine, the new 4.7 l V8, developed a power of 271 liters. with., he accelerated the car to a speed of more than 200 km/h. Of course, this Mustang is difficult to consider a sports car: an old -fashioned checkpoint, the steering is more like a heavy limousine, and I don’t even want to talk about a heavy rear axle. But neither before nor after, perhaps, there was no car that immediately gained such popularity. The company intended to sell 100 thousand cars in the first year. For 6 months, 420 thousand were sold, of which 22 thousand were on the first day.
Initially, they offered a body of only two types - Hardtop and a convertible. There were also few options for interior decoration - white, black and red. But the colors of the body - as much as 17. By the end of the year, the fastback was released, the number of interior options increased, many options have appeared. We will not talk in detail about the evolution of the car - this is not very interesting to the average reader, and for a real enthusiast, the volume of one number is clearly not enough. However, it is impossible not to pay tribute to the rider Carolla Shelby, who owes Mustang to so many. If Shelby had not created his Cobra, Mustang could not become the legendary car that he is.
The famous Shelby Cobra GT350 was based on the standard Mustang Fastback of 1965, with a forced up to 350 liters. With. engine.
Million Mustang was sold in March 1966. In 1974, Mustang II appeared, which violated the traditions of the American automotive industry - the new model turned out to be less than the previous one. In total, more than 7 million Mustang of various models have been sold from the beginning of the release. Even Bill Clinton has one - green 1967.
The last generation of Mustang was represented by the public in 1993. There is already a version of the 1997 model year, outwardly slightly different from the previous shape of the rear. True, we had to be content with the option of 1994 of the model year so far. Mustang has remained faithful to traditions.
And the point is not only in the rushing horse on the radiator grille. The new Mustang still looks like a real sports car and emphasizes this with all its appearance. Low compartment with wide wheels, spoiler and additional air intakes. The car is very beautiful. And some is not American.
The salon can be safely called chic. Nice to the touch light brown skin with dark inserts. Soft chairs are soft, you just drown in them. This, by the way, allows us to talk about their good side support, since getting out of there is not so easy. And I don't really want to. At first glance, it seems that the longitudinal adjustment of the front seats is not enough, but it is customary to ride in Mustang reclining, and when the back is thrown more difficult, you feel quite free. At the back you can also be quite convenient. The places there, of course, are not like in a limousine, but you can sit.
The salon is staffed generously. A magnificent stereo system, which includes not only a tape recorder and a receiver, but also a compact disk player. The mass of all kinds of pockets and messes. And, of course, mandatory cup holders.
Our Mustang was equipped with an automatic box. Although this unit is very common in America, for Mustang it is an option. I didn't like the machine. Automatic machines, however, were never at all in favor, but this one - especially. Oddly enough, he did not fulfill one of his main duties - to smoothly touch the place. With a light press on the gas pedal, the box was thinking for a while, and then it turned out to be a sprout sharply - a jerk occurred. It was much more pleasant to press on the gas. The car accelerated smoothly, but because of a powerful engine, somehow too fast. When moving in traffic, this is tiring - after the frisky accelerations, it was necessary to slow down all the time so as not to break the back of the walking car. Mustang suspension is both soft and hard at the same time. We already had to deal with a similar effect on the Aston Martin Vantage.
Vantage has the result of a compromise between sports and comfort. On this machine there is the rear bridge De Dion, which has proven itself on sports cars, but having one drawback. The car behaves perfectly on a good road and begins to swim on uneven. Aston Martin designers tried to compensate for this defect by softening the springs to increase comfort, and by installing more powerful reptile stabilizers to maintain sports. The suspension turned out - neither one nor CE.
Mustang is not De Dion, but an uncertain bridge, but the behavior of cars is very similar. On minor irregularities, the car shudders with the whole body, causing bouts of toothache. In the turns, Mustang is tangled significantly, which is strange for a car claiming sports. Perhaps Ford designers to the softness of softness by the Americans specially added a little dental effects. After all, some amateurs achieve with the help of special devices of a characteristic sports sound of dead engines.
The Mustang engine sounds like this car is fit - solid. You can’t call him dead. V8 with a volume of 4.6 liters, 218 forces. With this volume, of course, there could be more. But the durability and elasticity is on top. And the torque is respecting - 356 Nm at 3500 rpm. (For those who want more powerful, there is a version of the same volume, but 309 horses.) The horse accelerates to 100 km/h in 6.5 seconds and can go at a maximum speed of 215 km/h.
Recently, a message has come that Ford is reducing the production of Mustang. Apparently, the Americans began to not very willingly buy such cars, giving preference to Japanese smells. But Mustang remains a legend for 32 years, and it is difficult for so many years in a row to be a legend. However, this machine will always find its buyer, both in America and beyond.
Mikhail Vasiliev
Source: Magazine Motor
