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Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is
a popular American automobile. Originally
based on the Falcon, the first production
Mustang, a white convertible with black interior,
rolled off the assembly line in Dearborn,
Michigan on March 9, 1964. Ford introduced
it to the public at the New York World's Fair
on April 17, 1964, and via all three American
television networks on April 19. It was the
most successful product launch in automotive
history, setting off near-pandemonium at Ford
dealers across the continent. The original
Mustang inspired the term pony car and prompted
many imitators. In the early years, a Mustang
was a good value with a good balance of sportiness,
price, and performance.
First conceived by Ford
product manager Donald N. Frey and championed
by Ford Division general manager Lee Iacocca,
first as a two-seat mid-engined roadster then
later as a four-place car, and penned by David
Ash and Joseph Oros in Ford's Lincoln-Mercury
Division design studios (theirs was the winning
design in an intramural design contest called
by Iacocca), the base, yet well-equipped Mustang
hardtop with its 105 hp (78 kW), 156 ft·lbf
(212 N·m) 170 in³ (2.8 L) inline
six-cylinder engine and three-speed manual
transmission listed for US$2,368.
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