A car that appeals to both sexes

Press, 21 October 1983, Page 30

A car that appeals to both sexes

Traditionally in the car world, some models are sought by men and others by women. The Ford Mustang seemed to appeal to both sexes right from the beginning. When there was a shortage of Ford V 8 engines to power the Mustang, the company instructed its advertising agent to build a promotional campaign around six-cylinder Mustands for young career women.

The main theme of this programme was embodied in the phrase “Six and the Single Girl.”

It was a campaign that really did work Ford sold a lot of six-cylinder Mustangs and among the buyers many were 21 and 22-year-old women moving into their first jobs and buying their first cars.

Of all the volume-produc-tion cars manufactured in the United States since World War 11, the Ford Mustang is, arguably, the one model that has become known almost everywhere in the world and performed for the world’s motor industry a great service.

There can be little doubt that the Mustang was the car that kindled the spark of enthusiasm for sporting and high-performance cars that still exists in the hearts of so many North Americans.

The Mustang was unveiled at the New York International Motor Show in April, 1964. It was an instant success. It looked good and Ford, in its traditionally expert marketing fashion, had produced not just one Mustang for a select group of buyers, but a car for everyone.

From the outset, the Mustang buyer could have any one of four engines, from a 101-brake-horsepower, inline, six-cylinder to a lusty 271 b.h.p. VB. The Mustang was offered with the traditionally American three-speed manual gearbox or an automatic transmission, which was also almost traditional even in those days in the United States, or a typically European four-speed manual gearbox.

The international motoring press hailed the Mus-

tang as a high performance car, a claim that was fully, justified before the year was out, because Mustangs finished first and second in the touring category of the gruelling Tour de France which, in those days was a cross between an endurance race and a rally that attracted European entrants, factory and private, with the cream of the world’s high-performance cars. The Mustang is one of the world’s few cult cars, and the cult has its adherents in New Zealand.

This week-end, they will muster in the city and will stage the National Mustang Car Show at the Pioneer Stadium, in Lyttelton Street, with the backing of Christchurch’s commercial radio station, 3ZM.

More than 70 Mustangs will be displayed, among them the car that entrenched the Mustang as an integral part of the New Zealand motor sporting scene in the late 60s, the Shelby Mustang originally raced by Paul Fahey and now owned and raced by the Ashburton racing driver, Rod McElrea. Also there for all to see will be the fabulous P.D.L. Mustang, as driven by Leo Leonard.

Motor racing enthusiasts will rightly claim that there are other and more successful sporting saloons than the Ford Mustang but they will have to agree, if somewhat

grudgingly, that it was the Mustang that has drawn the crowds to motor racing in this country since Paul Fahey first fired up his car more than 13 years ago. For the racing fans, the throb of a Mustang’s V 8 racing engine is music that excites more feeling than a symphony orchestra. To the car-watcher, a wellgroomed Mustang rolling quietly along a crowded city street will arouse more in-

terest than would a Rembrandt painting. For mums and dads; with car-mad offspring, ' the National Mustang Car Show is the “must” this week-end. It will be required viewing for the thousands of folk that are having constant love affairs with motor cars, and for the children it will be a heaven-sent opportunity to learn automotive history at first hand rather than from the pages of a book.