Ford Mustang (second generation)


The second-generation Ford Mustang, marketed as the Ford Mustang II, is a pony car which was manufactured and marketed by Ford from 1973 until 1978. It has a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout with seating for four passengers and either a two-door coupé or three-door hatchback body. Introduced in September 1973 for the 1974 model year, the Mustang II arrived roughly coincident with the oil embargo of 1973 and subsequent fuel shortages. Developed under Lee Iacocca, it was an "entirely new kind of pony car." Ford "decided to call it Mustang II, since it was a new type of pony car designed for an era of high gas prices and fuel shortages."
The Mustang II was lighter and almost shorter than the 1973 Mustang, and derived from the subcompact Pinto platform. While sharing a limited number of driveline components with the Pinto, the Mustang II employed an exclusive subframe, isolating its front suspension and engine mount subframe. The steering used a rack-and-pinion design.
Named Motor Trend's 1974 Car of the Year and reaching over 1.1 million sales over four years of production, the Mustang II is noted simultaneously for both its marketing prescience and strong sales – while criticized as having abandoned essential aspects of the Mustang heritage and described, in a retrospective after 40 years since its introduction, as embodying the ''Malaise era.''

Background

The first-generation Mustangs grew in size; the 1973 model had become markedly larger than the original model. The pony car market segment saw decreasing sales in the early-1970s "with many buyers turning to lower-priced, fuel-efficient compacts like Ford's own Ford Maverick – a huge first-year success itself." The Mustang was growing to become an intermediate-sized sedan, which "was too big and alienated many in its customer base." The allure of the original Mustang was its trim size and concept. The automakers in Detroit had "begun to receive vibrations from the only source it really listens to — new-car buyers… The message: Build smaller cars" as customers stopped buying and the inventory of unsold new cars climbed during the summer of 1973, and there were already positive market expectations for the new downsized Mustang. Automakers were "scrambling" by December 1973 as "the trend toward smaller, less extravagant cars to surge ahead faster than anyone had expected."
After becoming president of Ford Motor Company on December 10, 1970, Lee Iacocca ordered the development of a smaller Mustang for 1974 introduction. Initial plans called for a downsized Mustang based on the compact Ford Maverick, similar in size and power to the Falcon, the basis for the original Mustang. Those plans were subsequently scrapped in favor of a smaller Mustang based on the subcompact Ford Pinto, which had been introduced in 1971.
Rather than competing against GM's larger pony cars, Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird, the Mustang II now competed against sporty subcompact models, including GM's Buick Skyhawk, Oldsmobile Starfire, Pontiac Sunbird, and Chevrolet Monza. The new model competed also with 2+2 import coupes such as the Toyota Celica, Datsun 240Z, Mazda RX-3, and the European Ford Capri – which itself was inspired by the original Mustang but built by Ford of Europe, and marketed since April 1970 in the U.S. by Mercury as a captive import. It saw a new competitor from Germany in 1974 with the Volkswagen Scirocco, and the BMW 2002 introduced earlier in the late 1960s.
The new design featured rack and pinion steering and a separate engine sub-frame to decrease noise, vibration, and harshness.
According to Ford's Chief Engineer Stuart M. Frey, Iacocca expected a high level of fit and finish, wanting the car to be "a little jewel". Mustang II production reached 385,993 the first year. Where its predecessor's production, the 1973 Mustang, had reached 134,867, the 1974 model reached within "10 percent of the original Mustang's 12-month production record of 418,812." Over five years the Mustang II recorded four of the ten top model year Mustang sales. A 2009 report confirmed Iacocca's vision for the 1974–1978 Mustang II, saying it "was the right car at the right time, selling more than 1 million units in four years."
The introduction of the Mustang II on September 21, 1973, coincided with the Arab oil embargo. The marketplace was adjusting to the fuel crisis, increasing insurance rates, United States emission standards, safety regulations, and downturns in the economy, as well as the waning consumer demand in the pony car segment. GM had considered discontinuing the Camaro and Firebird after 1972, and in 1974 Chrysler discontinued the Barracuda and Dodge Challenger, American Motors discontinued the Javelin, and lighter, more economical imported cars became increasingly popular – "in effect, filling the segment the Mustang had created, then abandoned." Ultimately, the Mustang II would be an early example of downsizing that would take place among Detroit's Big Three later in the decade.
Conversely, the Mustang's former corporate twin the Mercury Cougar was upsized to the intermediate Ford Torino platform to better compete in the growing mid-size personal luxury car segment.
A Mercury version of the Mustang II badged as a Capri was briefly considered, but the strong sales of the Ford Capri as a captive import through Lincoln-Mercury dealerships shelved plans for a corporate twin. Lincoln-Mercury continued to import the Capri in the updated MkII version until 1978. The Mercury Capri for 1979 became Mustang's American-built corporate twin, sharing the new Fox platform.

Design

Based on the Ford Pinto, the initial Mustang II production design was done by young Ford designer Howard "Buck" Mook and was personally selected by Iacocca The new model, however, was "less of a Pinto than the '64½ had been a Falcon." Two body styles were available; a two-door notchback coupe and a sportier three-door "2+2" hatchback. A folding rear seat was optional on the notchback coupe and was standard on all hatchback models. "2+2" also accurately described the rear seat capacity according to period commentators. Weight distribution was front-heavy, with a 1974 V6-equipped car having 58 percent of its weight over the front wheels. The Mustang II was also the first American car to have power-assisted rack and pinion steering.

Chassis

The Mustang II uses a Hotchkiss-type rear suspension consisting of a live hypoid rear axle supported and located by semi-elliptic multi-leaf springs, two telescoping hydraulic shock absorbers, and, on most models, a rear anti-sway bar.
Suspension
  • Front : Compression strut with lower trailing links, stabilizer bar and coil springs
  • Rear : Hotchkiss rigid axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs and anti-sway bars
Steering
Brakes
  • Front Brake Size : 9.3 in | 236 mm.
  • Rear Brake Size : 9.0 in | 229 mm.
Tires / Wheels
  • Tires : B78 x 13
  • Wheels : 13 x 5
Optional Tires
  • Tires : BR70 x 13 RWL SBR
  • Tires : CR70 x 13
  • Tires : 195/70R13

    Model year changes

1974

Designers and engineers worked feverishly on a "reinvented" Mustang, mimicking the first version, by the traditional new model year introduction during the fall of 1973. The new Mustang II returned to a size closer to the 1965 model, ultimately winning the Motor Trend Car of the Year. The economical Mustang II became popular for consumers almost concurrently with their experience with gasoline rationing that was part of the 1973 oil crisis.
"Just as the original Mustang had been based on mundane Falcon components, Iacocca and company decided to use some of the parts from the new-for-1971 subcompact Ford Pinto as the basis for the Mustang." The new Mustang was viewed as a "fun-to-drive economy" car, but "in reality, it shared its underpinnings with the... Pinto." The Mustang II carried handling and engineering improvements; its performance was comparable to contemporary Detroit products, yet Consumer Guide ranked it very low in handling, "near the bottom of the low-price sporty compact class".
Competitors also included the Toyota Celica and the Datsun 240Z. Sales of such imports attracted fewer than 100,000 customers in 1965, but by 1972 demand had increased; therefore, the "Mustang II's mission was to capture a big slice of this sizable new pie."
Available as a coupe or three-door hatchback, the new car's base engine was a SOHC I4, the first fully metric-dimensioned engine built in the U.S. A V6 was the sole optional engine. Mustang II packages ranged from the base "Hardtop," 2+2 hatchback, a "Ghia" luxury group with vinyl roof, and a top-of-the-line V6-powered Mach 1. A V8 engine option would not be available in a Mustang for the only time for the 1974 model year.
"The Mustang II's attractive all-new styling was influenced by coachbuilder Ghia of Italy, which had recently been acquired by Ford. It carried through the long-hood, short-deck theme of the original, and — as Iacocca requested it — came as a notchback and hatch-equipped fastback." Mustangs lost their pillarless body style; all models now had fixed rear windows and a chrome-covered "B" pillar that resembled a hardtop, but was a coupe. In Mustang advertisements, however, Ford promoted the notchback coupe as a "Hardtop". Unsure about whether or not to group the Mustang II with sporty cars, Consumer Guide initially referred to the car as a "luxury subcompact", while Ford brochures suggested that the luxury-trim Ghia model, with its formal roofline, stylish exterior, and plush interior, be thought of as resembling the popular personal luxury category of the time.
Almost replicating the initial 1965 Mustang's sales rush, "even without any real performance appeal, the 1974 Mustang II brought buyers running into Ford dealerships." Sales for the Mustang II increased in 1974, making it the 6th best selling Mustang of all time with 296,041 units produced.