The Ford Mustang

It's that time of year for car shows, cruise nights, and top-down driving in Berks County, which has a long and storied history with the automobile from the famous Duryea hill climbers, to the independent carriage makers turned auto body makers in hamlets such as Fleetwood and Boyertown.

We love our cars in Berks and have some great country roads to cruise during the warmer months, just for the sheer pleasure of driving.

On April 17, 1964, an America still reeling from the assassination of President Kennedy just a few months earlier witnessed the greatest marketing and sales triumph in the history of the American automobile with the introduction of the Ford Mustang.

The Mustang, named for the legendary WWII P-51 fighter plane, was the brain child of Ford executive Lee Iacocca, who had a vision in the early 1960s to produce a sporty, youthful car for baby boomers that carried four passengers, weighed about 2,000 pounds and sold for around $2,000.

Based on the economical Ford Falcon frame, the Mustang evolved from an idea to a drawing, to a clay model and various incarnations of a prototype model.

Then in March, the first "pony car," with its sleek lines, long hood, short trunk, floor shifter, buckets seats and carpeting as standard equipment, rolled off the assembly line.

What transpired next was unprecedented as Americans herded into Ford dealers across the country to get their hands on the Mustang.

Rolling out a well-planned marketing blitz, Ford bought prime time commercial spots on all three major television networks the night before they went on sale.

They also unveiled the very first production model at the New York Worlds Fair on March 17, and car buyers across the country went wild for Iacocca's baby.

Even the brass at Ford was not prepared for the mad rush on their little car. As laid out in Iacocca's vision, the Mustang retailed at $2,300 for a base model hardtop or $2,500 for a convertible.

Mustangs came with a long list of colors and options to choose from. You could opt for a budget-friendly six cylinder grocery getter or the K-Code V-8 high performance earth-shaking coupe, convertible or fastback with the deluxe "pony interior," and the now iconic 8-track stereo tape deck, or one of hundreds of configurations in between.

There were so many variations of the Mustang, that it is difficult today in 2011 to find two original pony cars exactly alike.

On the very first day they went on sale, Ford sold 22,000 units, and within a month had moved over 100,000, a staggering number as factories worked around the clock in Dearborn and at two other U.S. plants and still couldn't keep up with the demand.

Quarter Panel 2 Door Ford Falcon 1966-69 (Passenger Side) Free ...

I really looking forward to buy it when it is on sale. Now you are lucky to have the best deal same as me

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