Happy Birtday Mustang! And a special milestone.

April 17th, 1964. That was the day that the automotive world was turned on it's ear. It was on this day that Ford Motor Company unveiled the all new 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang. Launched at the New York Worlds Fair, the Mustang quickly rose to be Ford's best selling car since the Model A. It also launched the pony car craze that led to the muscle car. Ford sold over 400,000 Mustangs in 1964. 100,000 of which were sold in the first 3 months of production.

That leads us to today's milestone. 49 years to the day of the introduction of the Mustang, Ford's Flat Rock, Michigan plant produced it's 1 millionth Mustang. Production of the Mustang was moved to Flat Rock from the famous Rouge factory in 2004 for the launch of the redesigned 2005 Mustang. Since 1964, over 8.5 million Mustangs have been tearing up American roads.

The car, a ruby red 2014 convertible was driven off the line by Raj Nair, Ford's Vice President for global product development. The production of the 1 millionth Flat Rock Mustang also helps to launch the 50th anniversary year of the Mustang. 


Source: Ford Motor Co.

Press release:

FLAT ROCK, Mich., April 17, 2013 – Happy Birthday Mustang! Forty-nine years to the day after its 1964 debut in New York, the iconic sports car celebrates another milestone: One million Mustangs have rolled off the line at Ford’s Flat Rock Assembly Plant since production moved there in 2004. Ford is celebrating this milestone as year 50 of continuous Mustang production gets under way at Flat Rock Assembly.

 

Raj Nair, group vice president for global product development, today rode off the line at Flat Rock Assembly Plant in a Ruby Red 2014 Mustang convertible. Nair was riding shotgun with Ed Salna, material planning and logistics manager at the plant. Salna is a 27-year veteran of Flat Rock Assembly, starting work there more than a year before the plant produced its first car.

 

“Mustang is one of the most beloved nameplates in the industry, with fans around the world and throughout Ford Motor Company,” said Nair. “The team here at Flat Rock Assembly has built an outstanding reputation for quality while producing one million Mustangs over the last nine years, and we expect that to continue for many years to come.”

 

Ford has built Mustangs near its home base in Dearborn, Mich. for 49 years. The car was built at Ford’s famous Rouge factory, just a few minutes from company headquarters, for four decades before moving a few miles south to Flat Rock in 2004.

 

Introduced in April 1964, Mustang proved to be far more popular than anyone expected, prompting Ford to add production capacity outside Michigan. By early 1965 plants in Metuchen, N.J. and San Jose, Calif. were also building Mustang. Less than two years later, on Wednesday, March 2, 1966, the one-millionth Mustang rolled off the line in Dearborn. To date, Ford has produced and sold more than 8.5 million Mustangs.

 

The launch of Mustang production at Flat Rock coincided with introduction of the then all-new fifth-generation model – first in the series to get a dedicated platform. In addition to the standard V6 and the V8-powered GT model, Mustangs coming out of Flat Rock Assembly Plant have included several special editions and race cars:

 

• In 2006 Flat Rock built a limited run of black and gold Shelby GT-H coupes for Hertz rental fleets to commemorate the 1966 Shelby GT350H rental car
• 2007 brought the debut of the Shelby GT500 Mustang developed by SVT with a supercharged 5.4-liter V8 producing 500 horsepower, the most ever for a Mustang then
• For the 2008 and 2009 model years, the Mustang lineup included the Bullitt, inspired by the car driven by the title character in the 1968 film of the same name
• For the 2012 and 2013 model years, Flat Rock built the track-optimized Boss 302
• The Flat Rock line has produced numerous competition versions of Mustang including the FR500, Boss 302R and the extremely successful Cobra Jet drag racer

The Flat Rock factory has been producing vehicles since 1987, when it opened as Mazda Motor Manufacturing USA and built the Mazda MX-6. In 1992 Ford purchased a 50 percent share in the plant and it was renamed AutoAlliance International. Over the years Flat Rock Assembly has produced the Mazda 626, Mazda6, Mercury Cougar and Ford Probe. In addition to Mustang, Flat Rock will add production of the Fusion sedan later this year.

 

“Flat Rock has gone through an amazing transformation over the past year,” said Tim Young, plant manager, Flat Rock Assembly Plant. “We’ve invested $555 million including a state-of-the-art, fully flexible body shop and an upgraded paint shop to make sure we’re continuing to build the best of the best for the next one million Mustangs.”

 

“The one-millionth Mustang is a true testament to the hard work and dedication of the Flat Rock Local 3000 membership,” said Tony Bondy, UAW Local 3000 chairman. “It’s been great building an iconic American car since 2004, and with the introduction of Fusion along with our new plant upgrades, we will keep building world-class quality in Flat Rock for years to come.”

 

Ford is adding 1,400 jobs and a second shift at Flat Rock Assembly Plant to support new Fusion production as part of its plan to add 12,000 hourly jobs in the United States through 2015.

This is why winter isn't cool in the North East.

We don't have So Cal Speed Shop opening their doors or vintage rail dragsters hanging out in the street. This comes from our friend Goodies who treks back and forth from Europe to the US a couple times a year.

Ford produces 9 millionth Mustang

It's hard to believe that since 1964 Ford has produced 9 million Mustangs. Having hung on long enough to become Ford's longest running car nameplate. The Mustang has always been popular, except maybe when the Mustang II came out in the 70s. But we'll fogive Ford for that mistake. A milestone like this makes you sit back and think about how the new CAFE standards will affect a car like the Mustang. We're still waiting for our 08 Bullitt.

Source: Ford Motor Company

PRESS RELEASE:

Ford Motor Company announced today it has built its 9 millionth Mustang. The GT Convertible Mustang is heading west to be delivered to a dealership in Iowa.

The Ford Mustang, approaching its 45th anniversary on April 17th, 2009, is one of the most widely recognized vehicles in the world. Today, one of every two sports cars sold in America is a Ford Mustang. The Mustang is also Ford Motor Company's longest-running nameplate. Mustang was introduced on April 17, 1964, at the New York World's Fair.

Mustang sales hit an astounding 419,000 in its first 12 months on the market, and topped the 1-million mark in the first two years, shattering the sales records of any single model in the history of the automobile. Mustang leads the nearly $1-billion aftermarket parts and accessories industry as the most personalized vehicle of all time, and has been recognized by SEMA as the most accessory-friendly new vehicle.

The 2009 Mustang offers a Glass Roof option and a new Warriors in Pink Package, available this summer.

Chicago area tourist attraction offered on eBay

Just about everyone has seen images of the Berwyn Car Spindle statue on their tv screen while watching Wayne's World. For the last 20 or so years, the statue in the parking lot of Cermak Plaza Shopping Center near Chicago has been entertaining shoppers, movie buffs and car enthusiasts alike. The statue by artist Dustin Shuler contains 8 cars stacked on top of one another looking as though they are stuck on a giant nail.

Now a Walgreens(as if we DON'T have enough of those around) is going to take the place of the landmark statue. So Cermak Plaza owners have decided to auction the statue off via eBay. That way atleast there is the possibility to have the Spindle live on in another location. Auction Link

For a starting bid of $50,000 you can own this one of a kind piece of history. Though shipping the item, may be a bit of a challenge. That is unless of course you own an 18 wheeler car hauler.

Artist Dustin Shuler, who built the piece in 1989, calls the dismantling "painful" and "a loss for Chicago." "Personally, I would have moved the Walgreens and left the Spindle where it is," he said.

The Spindle is made up of the following cars. 1967 VW Beetle, 1976 BMW 2002, 1981 Ford Escort, 1974 Mercury Capri, 1978 Ford Mustang, 1981 Pontiac Grand Prix, 1980 Ford LTD and a 1981 Mercury Grand Marquis.

Should the name Shuler ring a bell with some of the VW enthusiasts. Dustin Shuler is brother to none other than VW historian and author Terry Shuler.

Source: eBay, via Jalopnik.com

Own the ultimate of all the muscle cars!

What we have found here for sale may be one of the most significant muscle cars to come up for sale in a long time. This is the first 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang offered to the public. Now it isn't the first one to roll off the line. Ford still owns that one, after buying it back in the 70s. This car is the first Mustang to be offered to the public. Still a very special car in its own right.

It looks as though it has been given a cosmetic restoration. Perfect white paint, blue top and blue vinyl interior. There are a few pieces I see that don't look like they were there originally, but there's nothing really wrong with that. It also appears to be a pretty well equipped car. There's a 260 Windsor V8 under the hood with a 3speed automatic transmission. The wire wheel hubcaps and skinny white walls really set the car off. And the car comes fully documented, certifying the history.

Now for the big question. How much? Well that's where it gets expensive. This 64 1/2 Mustang can be yours for only $42,064.26 a month with $1,000,000 down. Or you can make a one time payment of $5,500,000.

All in all a pretty strong investment. $5.5 million is a LOT of money for this car. There are lots of other cars you could buy with that money. But they might not have the story behind them. Maybe give it a frame off restoration to factory specs without all the added on crap on the interior. Then run it through Barrett Jackson. It'll bring $5 million then. Otherwise, we'd recommend to hold out for a Shelby.

Source: Autoblog.com