Ford Mustang's performance history

A new infographic for the Ford Mustang has been created by the same people who revealed the rise and fall (and rise again) of power and performance in the Chevy Corvette. In much the same way, Ford's popular Mustang has also had its share of power spikes and troughs during its 50-year history.

Originally conceived by Lee Iacocca as an American alternative to European sports cars that were selling in large numbers in the USA at the time, the Mustang took the compact Falcon platform and mechanicals, and went even smaller and lighter. On its launch in 1964 the Mustang broke records for the fastest-selling car in Ford's history as far back as the Model A introduced in 1927.

The Mustang's success did not go unnoticed by Ford rivals, and competitors in the form of the Chevy Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, Plymouth Barracuda, Dodge Challenger, AMC Javelin – and from Ford's own stable, the Mercury Cougar – quickly arrived in the market. Carroll Shelby latched on to the Mustang, producing the iconic GT 350 initially, followed by the GT 500. If the GT 350 was a car aimed at racing drivers and Sports Car Club of America events, the GT 500 was the Mustang for the drag strip.

With America already showing a fascination for horsepower, thanks to John DeLorean's Pontiac GTO, Ford scrambled to offer the Mustang with ever more powerful engine options through the golden era of late 1960s muscle cars. But over time the Mustang grew in size and weight. The car lost some of its litheness and power peaked in 1971.

The infographic shows the development of the Mustang, and how the pony car was nobbled in 1974, with the introduction of the Mustang II just after the first global oil shock. That car introduced four-cylinder power to the Mustang for the first time, and was a critical failure for Ford. As the infographic reveals, Mustang II, its Fox-platform successor and the fourth-generation SN95 model, which sold briefly in Australia, never recovered the engine output of the first-generation Mustang – as exemplified by the 429 Cobra Jet Mach 1 model of 1971.

"A lot of younger Mustang enthusiasts don't remember the 70s and 80s, but I do," says Kyle Harris of BlueSpringsFordParts.com.

"While the Mustang II and the Fox body will always have a special place in my heart, they never compared to the late 60s Mustangs in terms of performance. In fact, it wasn't until the fifth generation Mustang that performance finally got back to the levels we remember from decades ago," Harris was quoted saying in a press release.

The Mach 1 429 remained the most powerful Mustang for nearly 30 years. It was finally knocked off its throne by the Cobra R of 2000, which was only marginally more powerful than ancestor from nearly 30 years earlier.

"It's hard to imagine that Ford would produce an engine in 1971 that couldn't be equalled in terms of horsepower output until 29 years later," says Harris.

"It's particularly amazing in contrast to today's marketplace, where every car seems to get more powerful every year. A lot of people don't realise Mustang performance dropped off substantially in the 70s and 80s. Even Mustangs in the 90s weren't as great as the cars from the late 60s, at least in terms of horsepower."

Just a point concerning the infographic, the picture for the second-generation Mustang ('Mustang II') actually shows an earlier, first-generation model from 1970.