Mustangs stampede to 60th-anniversary show
More than 700 Ford Mustangs and 1500 people descended on the British Motor Museum, Gaydon, on 13 April as Ford of Britain celebrated the 60th anniversary of its iconic pony car, which first went on sale on 17 April 1964.
Based on the 1960-ʼ63 compact Falcon saloon, some 418,000 Mustangs were sold in its opening year, a record that still stands for a car making its debut. It never stopped selling, either, with seven distinct generations across 60 continuous model years making it one of the longest-running and most successful Fords of all time.
The car only officially came to Britain in 2014, however, with the sixth-generation S550 – also the first Mustang model to be built in right-hand drive. That, the Mach-e electric SUV of 2020 and the imminent arrival of the seventh-generation S650 Mustang prompted Ford to host a birthday party for the Mustang, the likes of which havenʼt been seen before on this side of the Atlantic.
“We were conscious that, because itʼs 60 years, there would be lots of other, smaller things going on, but we wanted to do something that was us giving back to the community,” says Ford of Britain press officer Christian Brown.
With a highly fractured Mustang club scene in the UK, Ford invited hundreds of ownersʼ clubs to the event, creating a near-comprehensive catalogue of Mustangs in the BMMʼS south car park. All but the Mustangʼs short-lived and unloved second generation were represented, although it was the iconic Mk1 and most recent Mk6 that formed the bulk of the numbers.
Mustang aficionados were pleased to see the Ford Heritage Collectionʼs very early 1965 fastback, as well as an ex-hertz Shelby GT350H in its famous black-and-gold ʻrent-a-racerʼ livery. David Redheadʼs exacting 1968 390 GT replica (C&SC, December 2023) led a display of Bullitt Mustangs, while two 5.0 GT ʻFox-bodyʼ Mustangs held the torch for the 1980s.
As well as a live band, on stage Car SOS and radio presenter Tim Shaw waxed lyrical about the Mustangs he has owned for many years, while Ford also gave the 2024 Mustang its UK unveiling. In Dark Horse trim, a new roadfocused performance model, the debut car was shown alongside the Mustang GT3 with which Ford will return to Le Mans with this year.