Game Changer: Ford Mustang
Strong Aussie links for an iconic American muscle car that dates back almost 60 yearsThe seventh-generation S650-series Ford Mustang will be the most expensive example of the Blue Oval’s hallowed pony car ever released when it finally arrives Down Under in the second quarter of next year – shortly after the model’s 60th anniversary in March 2024.
But Australia’s links to the Ford Mustang, which was first launched in the US in 1964, date back more than 50 years – to a time when fearless racers led by Norm Beechey and Ian Geoghegan chose Mustangs to contest Australian Touring Car Championship events.
Ford Australia didn’t take long to conclude that people who were seeing a Mustang win on Sunday might want to buy one on Monday. In late 1965 it imported 200 cars – all coupes with V8 engines and automatic transmissions.
They were converted locally to right-hand drive and delivered through major Ford dealerships, selling out in days. The initiative wouldn’t be repeated for many years though, because Ford had plans to launch its own V8-engined Falcon GT.
As the shape changed and the range of available Mustangs grew, Australian buyers pressured local dealers to ‘get me one of those.’
During the late 1960s and into the ’70s, Australian roads became flooded with Mustang coupes, convertibles and fastbacks, including 5.8-litre Mach 1s and the occasional Boss 302 just like the one Allan Moffatt would successfully race.
Ford in the USA decided early in the 1970s that its Mustang had moved too far from the original concept and completely changed the shape of its 1974 range. The ‘Mustang II’ was a commercial success in oil shocked America, but Australia hated the shape and imports slowed to a trickle.
Local reaction to the Mustang improved marginally during the 1980s, coinciding with attempts by Dick Johnson and others to bring the model back into local motor racing ranks.
More importantly, the 1980s with their helpful currency exchange rates and relaxed import rules cleared the way for vast numbers of early Mustangs to arrive here from the US. For a while during the 1990s, US enthusiasts joked grimly that the best place to find a good Mustang was Australia.
Cars on Special Interest registration didn’t need their steering modified as once had been mandatory, which cut the cost of imports and improved the way they drove.
Another shape change during the 1990s rekindled interest in Mustangs and encouraged local businesses to again import and convert brand-new versions.
Ford Australia saw an opportunity too, however, the SVT Cobra Mustangs which it tried to sell at prices approaching $100,000 were a commercial disaster.
By 2007 the market was back in the hands of private operators, who received a boost when another all-new Mustang design appeared. This shape echoed the lines of Ford’s 1960s fastback and provided a significant boost to sales of ‘grey’ market Mustang imports.
Not only did Australia see basic Mustang GTs in fastback and convertible form, but importers were also sourcing limited-production versions such as the Saleen S281 and Shelby Super Snake.
They kept the local market bubbling until 2015 when Ford announced its first global Mustang, built ex-factory in right-hand drive in both coupe and convertible form with V8 or turbo four-cylinder power, which soon become available to Australian buyers.
Given the imminent demise of the local Falcon V8 in 2016, a race-spec version of the previous Mustang was developed for Supercars competition, creating a worthy rival for the last of the locally-made Commodores in 2017.
Mustang sales easily exceeded the numbers achieved by final-series Falcons, with Mustang sales exceeding 1200 in a calendar month between 2017 and 2019, making it Australia’s top-selling sports car.
But COVID-related supply problems hit imports hard and Mustang registrations dropped to fewer than 2000 units for the entire year of 2022, with orders eclipsing supplies to the extent that Ford Australia closed the S550 order book in October last year.
Revealed in the US in September 2022, the latest S650-series Mustang made its Australian Supercars race debut in 2023 and is now finally available to order ahead of local deliveries by mid-2024.
Ford Mustang timeline:
First generation: 1964-1973
Second generation: 1974-1978
Third generation: 1979-1993
Fourth generation: 1994-2004
Fifth generation: 2005-2014
Sixth generation: 2015-2022
Seventh generation: 2023-
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