Myth Buster Ford Mustang II
Debunking the most common old wives’ tales
FORD MUSTANG II 1 IT WASN’T A SALES SUCCESS
The Mustang II is regarded as an aberration in Ford’s pony car history. But it was what 1970s buyers wanted, after the excesses of the final first-gen Mustangs. It was highly praised, reasonablypriced and sales in its initial 1974 year were 296,041, making it the sixth best-selling Mustang. When production ended in 1978, it had sold over 1.1 million examples.
2 THERE WAS NO V8 OPTION
The Mustang II appeared in the middle of the fuel crisis and initially only four-cylinder engines and a V6 were available – unless you went to Mexico, where a V8 Mustang II was an option from launch. However, the year after the II’s debut, a V8 was added and remained available throughout the II’s life. It was emasculated and puny, with just 140bhp from its 4.9-litre Windsor engine – which gave a top speed of just 106mph. But at least it sounded good.
3 IT NOTICEABLY SHRUNK
It wasn’t so much that the Mustang II was so small – although it was based on the subcompact Ford Pinto platform – but that the first-generation Mustang had expanded so much by its final years. In reality, the Mustang II was closer to the dimensions of the original 1964-66 ‘Stang than the bloated final Mustang I, at 181in long for 1964-66 cars, 189.5in long for 1971-73 ones and 175in long for Mustang IIs.
4 IT HAD AN 85MPH SPEEDOMETER
Actually, that was the next Mustang, the III, which was saddled with the deeply unloved safety- and fuel-conscious speedometer only reading up to 85mph. Richard Gunn