2005 Ford Mustang news, pictures, and information

When the Mustang was first unveiled, Ford chose the 1964 World's Fair in New York as its stage. A global audience sat and watched an automotive revolution roll into existence. Ford's timing couldn't have been better as the baby boom generation was just coming of car-buying age. The baby boomers wanted something very different from what their parents were driving. They wanted to express their own individuality. The Mustang was their answer.

The cars barely had time to relax between the production line and the showroom floor as dealers churned out more than 22,000 orders on the car's first day on sale.

It debuted at a price of $2,368 and weighed only 2,572 pounds. With its 170-cubic-inch, six-cylinder engine, three-speed, floor-mounted manual transmission and seating for four, it offered a comfortable ride and functional appeal.

Mustang rapidly evolved into a vehicle judged by much more than just numbers. In Chicago, a dealership closed early and called police to slow the stampeding Mustang prospects while a restaurateur invited his customers to sample his 'hotcakes that were selling like Mustangs.' Something special was happening.

One million were sold by March 1966. They were parked in everyone's driveway, but Ford was most excited about those people eagerly awaiting their first driver's license. They wanted their cars to be different and Mustang delivered.

The 1964½ model was the patriarch of subsequent changes to hoods, interiors, headlamps, and spoilers. As Mustang weaved in and out of different generations, the vehicle generated an iconic status. Running alongside the best European road cars, it soon became a racing-inspired legend.

Mustang needed racing as much as racing needed Mustang. Right out of the blocks, the pony car was a champion, taking both first and second place in the 1964 Tour de France International rally. By the end of the sixties, Mustang led the SCCA Trans-Am series.

Body styles and engine sizes changed throughout the decade. By 1969, the Mustang offered major style changes, a roomier and more luxurious interior, and even more power. To performance enthusiasts, 1969 meant Mach 1, Boss 429 and Boss 302.

Throughout the seventies and eighties, Mustang evolved from a stocky and imposing-lòòking machine to a vehicle wîth clean and crisp lines. The 1979 Mustang design wound up running a full 15 model years thanks in part to its performance roots. In 1987, the basic design became truly slick wîth a smoother nose, flush headlamps, and black body trim; and in 1989, Mustang celebrated its 25th birthday and received another successful facelift.

Dramatically restyled and churning wîth power, the 1994 Mustang got a performance pump from Ford's Special Vehicle Team (the second-generation SVT Cobra) and was sold to customers wîth the slogan 'It is what it was.' The rest of the decade molded the Mustang into a vehicle that mingled nostalgia wîth new lines and curves…and, of course, more power.

The last major redesign of the Mustang came three years ago. Since then, the company has continually kept customer's excitement wîth special interest models like the Mustang Cobra, Cobra R racing edition and the Mustang Bullitt GT. For 2003, the Mustang Mach I returned replete wîth the 'shaker' hood scoop and more than 300 horsepower.

Ford Introduces 2005 Mustang With BFGoodrich Tires

Like a massive automotive supernova, the 2005 Mustang is lighting up Ford dealerships across North America.

Checkbooks in hand, customers are often waiting outside dealerships before the new Mustangs are even unloaded from their carriers. Others are snapping them up as soon as the vehicles hit the showroom floor.

Some are traveling hundreds of miles to buy them, and, on one occasion, customers have trailed vehicle carriers loaded wîth Mustangs to a local dealership. According to a Kentucky dealership, police have even pulled new Mustang models over to take a closer look at them.

'There's no question the Mustang is a smash hit. It's doing extremely well in the marketplace,' said Ford Division President Steve Lyons. 'We're just trying to keep up wîth demand.'

George Pipas, Ford Motor Company sales analysis manager, said he has never seen anything like it.

'In my 28 years at Ford, I have never seen a product go in and out of the showroom as quickly as Mustang,' said Pipas.

Mustang sales were up 12 percent in November from a year earlier. But even more importantly, sales to retail customers were up by 50 percent, according to Mustang Launch Marketing Manager Killol Bhuta.

'We're seeing sales levels exceeding our own objectives,' said Bhuta.

The 2005 Mustangs that actually make it to the showroom floor have drawn throngs of onlookers -- some content just to crowd around and admire it -- frequently spurring warm recollections about the Mustangs they have owned or driven.

In recent years, warm receptions have greeted a number of retro-styled vehicles built by other manufacturers, such as the Volkswagen Beetle in 1999 and the Chrysler PT Cruiser in 2000. But the Mustang splash seems bigger than anything else in memory, according to Ford dealer John Nakamura at Albany (Calif.) Ford.

'I have never, ever seen so much emotion from the public as wîth the Mustang,' said Nakamura.

Tim McKee, sales manager at Friendly Ford, in Springfield, Mo., agrees.

'I have been in the car business for many, many years and I have never seen anything like the traffic this new Mustang has driven to our dealership,' said McKee. 'People stop by and just stand and look at the car. I have kept the showroom open later than normal every night since its arrival just to satisfy customers' thirst for this new car.'

While some people aren't exactly shopping, they are content just to look, treating the 2005 Mustang as though it were on exhibit. McKee said that a fire truck recently stopped outside Friendly Ford and five firemen jumped out to spend about 15 minutes lòòking the Mustang over.

Auto writers seem to like the car, too. In its January, 2005 issue, Car and Driver named the Mustang a 10Best car by writing: 'The first truly new Mustang in 26 years is on the street and it goes good, looks bitchin', and the GT version is an unbeatable performance buy: 300 horsepower for 25,000 bucks?The key to its eye appeal is obvious ? an inspired revival of the late '60s Mustangs, arguably some of the best of the breed. Stir in bargain pricing, plus the absence of direct competition, and you have a formula that adds up to can't lose.'

Columnist David Thomas from Autoblog Garage wrote: 'I know I?ve only been driving it a day and most of that has been stop and go city traffic. But I?ve never been in a Mustang that is so stellar. On a personal note I?m not a Ford or GM guy, or even a Mopar freak. I?ve never understood the rivalry. I just like to drive good cars. Deliver me a Kia that rocks and I?ll write about it. I say all this because I?m in love wîth the new Ford Mustang.'

During his test drive, auto writer Robert Bowden wrote in an online review that the '05 Mustang 'turns so many heads, you will wish you were a chiropractor.'

Aside from craning a few necks, the vehicle is opening wallets too. At Steve Coury Ford in Cottonwood, Ariz., a woman in a 2000 Mustang happened to see a 2005 model sitting on a carrier as she was driving by. She pulled into the dealership and bought it on the spot. 'My first Mustang sold in five minutes,' said sales representative Steve Coury.

At Wickstrom Ford in Barrington, Illinois, the staff sold three Mustangs off a carrier trailer in one day and wrote up five more orders as they were delivering those same three cars to customers. In Manteo, N.C., a red Mustang GT hit the Sawyer Motor Co.'s showroom on a Thursday afternoon and was gone by Saturday.

'Our dealers are telling us that customer reaction to the new Mustang has been nothing short of spectacular,' said Brant Noltie, director, Field Operations, Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited. 'Mustang and our other 'Next Generation of Ford' all-new vehicles -- Five Hundred, Freestyle, Escape Hybrid and Super Duty -- are creating quite a buzz in the marketplace.'

In Dearborn, Mich., Bob Wheat, general manager at Village Ford, had to reserve a new Mustang from the dealership's for-sale stock so that the showroom would have one for customers to see.

'The reaction to this car is the best we have seen in 20 years,' Wheat §äid. 'Anytime you have sold out your inventory for the next two months, I consider that a hit.'