This is from the 1964 Models page and pertains to the-new-for-’64 Ford Mustang. I have always thought that Lee Iacocca was the ‘father of the Mustang’.
I came across a different story about the origin of Mustang in a book called American Muscle Cars, by Randy Leffington. I’ll paraphrase the key thoughts.
It was actually Ford’s vice president of design, Gene Bordinat, and their chief of advanced design, Don DeLaRossa who were the creators of the Mustang concept. They were influenced by the Chevrolet Monza, which was itself a bit of wonderful happenstance. Bill Mitchell, the head of styling at GM, had created a sportier Corvair for his daughter. David E. Davis, advertising exec, put the car on display at the 1960 Chicago Auto Show. The public warmly embraced this little sporty wonder.
Ford had no entry in the sporty compact segment. They figured they could take their Falcon and sport it up, with a small V8, bucket seats, etc. Add a long hood/short deck body, and the concept came together. Lee Iacocca was easily sold on the concept. The harder sell would be Henry Ford II.
Iacocca lined up GM and Ford vehicles in each market segment. Whether this was literal or virtual, I don’t know. The absence of a sporty compact was then glaringly obvious. Iacocca then had the red clay Mustang model rolled out and Henry Ford II was sold. The April 1964 debut was chosen to occur with the opening of the New York World’s Fair. This source also claimed that Mustang was more optionable than earlier cars, which might be true, but I was unable to verify by looking at Mustang and Falcon options for 1964.
This book states that ‘Mustang’ referred to the P-51 Mustang, the premier WWII US fighter plane. There was indeed a lot of aircraft influence in the auto industry at this time. Most of us assumed that Mustang was a reference to the horse, especially since a horse graced the grille of the car! I guess I have no reason to doubt this claim.
A final thought. If this narrative is correct, then it sounds like Lee Iacocca took credit for a concept that was not initially his own! What? An executive taking credit for something ‘his team’ conceived? That happens? Oh, hell yes! Pretty much all of the time. How else does one climb the corporate ladder?
