the legend of the ford mustang

It was Friday, April 17th 1964, and the New York World Fair was the place that one of the most popular cars ever made was to be unveiled. The show was a celebration also of New Yorks 300th Birthday, and what better way to celebrate with the introduction of the Ford Mustang.

Ford's stage and Pavilion was part of the most popular section of the show. It was the size of 3 football pitches, and even had a magic skyway ride, designed by Walt Disney, that you could enter the attraction by. 

It was the period where Ford was managed by Lee Iacocca, and he presented the Ford Mustang to the crowd, which included at least 20,000 hungry buyers. The Mustang was unveiled to gasps of amazement, and flashing press, and was a symbol of what every American had to own an the time, a New Ford Mustang Convertible.

While the show was taking place, simultaneously one hundred exclusive members of the media joined in a huge 70 car Mustang rally driving 750 miles from New York to the Ford Head quarters. Still considered even now to be one of the most creative methods of marketing conceived. The newspapers were obviously filled by real and actual accounts of driving the new ford mustang. Readers where given their mouth watering account of owning a ford mustang.

Another part of the Ford Mustang Marketing campaign, might seem obvious, but even todays big business still can't get it right; Availability.

Every Ford dealership had at least one Mustang in the showroom. Ford had to produce at least 8160 Ford Mustangs, and this had the effect of everyone being exposed to them. Showrooms were mobbed with thousands of buyers, and onlookers.

Some great stories about how popular the mustang was on launch include dealerships having to close due to crowds becoming to large. This happened in Chicago. Another dealership had to have an ebay style auction, and sell to the hugest bidder, as he only had one in stock. The highest bidder was so desperate to make sure he got the mustang, that he slept in it overnight, until his payment cleared. Another story was about a cement mixer truck driver. He couldn't take his eyes off the Mustang, and crashed right through the showroom window.

To add even more fury to the publicity, the Mustang became the official pace car for the Indy 500 in 1964. The memorial day race was lead by a white mustang. A limited number of collectibles based on this special model were built, and sold for higher prices, and become part of special completions across the USA.

Sales records for the the first day include more than 22,000 sales. It became an industry record breaker with first year sales of 680,989. The millionth Mustang was made in March 1966.