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Part III of a Trilogy

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Nineteen-seventy-four.  Roman Polanski was bringing Chinatown to theaters, years before charges of raping a 13-year-old girl would be brought.  Michael Corleone was in the theater just down the hall at the local Cineplex, killing off his enemies one by one.  Even his brother Fredo, who went out on the boat on Lake Tahoe, ended up sleeping with the fishes rather than catching one.  Politically, Nixon would end up with the same fate as Fredo.

And in Detroit, Dearborn to be more exact, Lee Iacocca was putting the finishing touches on the Next Big Thing, not realizing he’d be cut loose as the top consigliere at Ford, just like Tom Hayden was in The Godfather, within a few short years.

The Next Big Thing wasn’t really big at all.  In fact, it was small.  The second generation Mustang was coming to market.  Knowing that the original Mustang had become a bloated intermediate instead of the Pony Car it started out, as soon as he became president of the company in December of 1970 Iacocca gave marching orders that a new iteration be developed for the 1974 model year.  Originally the car was to have been based on the compact Ford Maverick, just as the original 1965 Mustang had been based on the Falcon.  Those plans were soon scrapped.  The next-gen Mustang would be based on the smaller subcompact Pinto instead.  Rather than compete against the pony cars from GM, the Chevrolet Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird, Ford sought to go head to head with the Vega based Buick Skyhawk, Oldsmobile Starfire, Pontiac Sunbird, and Chevrolet Monza.  Ford would have a competitor for the Toyota Celica, Datsun 240Z, and Mazda RX-3. Or so they thought.

Like The Godfather II, the Mustang II sought to capture the lightning in the bottle of the original.  And, like the movie, they tried to make use of all the things that made the first one as popular as it was.  The styling cues were obviously lifted from the original, if almost in cartoon-like ways.  And just like the cinematic releases of 1974, the public was ripe for something different.  The Mustang II was certainly different from the 1973 Mustang that preceded it.  Of course, it wasn’t different enough from the Pinto it was based on, but that wouldn’t be a factor, at least at first.

When introduced, Ford  pushed 385,993 1974 Mustang IIs out the door.  That was within 10% of the number of original Mustang’s 12-month production record and triple the sales of the 1973 model it replaced.  Iacocca was featured on the cover of magazines again, just like he had been a decade earlier.  The 1973 Arab oil embargo was fortuitously timed for the car’s introduction.  The Mustang II provided a new version of a re-skinned mediocre car, with a name that carried a cult following. And right when America was looking for a replacement for the bloated gas guzzlers in their driveway.  The Mustang II was a hit.  Iacocca was a genius.  Ford Motor Company sat back and counted the profits and collected the awards, just like Paramount did with The Godfather II.

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Motor Trend gave the Mustang II its Car of the Year Award.  Consumer Reports, less inclined to be swayed by advertising dollars and marketing efforts, said “the Gremlin was at least as good, if not better, in terms of seating, noise level, normal and emergency handling, and acceleration.”  Not high praise for the Mustang II.

Automotive journalist, Michael Lamm, described Ford’s Mustang II as “the best idea of the year” with the new model arriving in the market just in time:  “In the real world of shrinking space, limited energy, and precious little clean air, dreamboat cars are out” … this car “proves that the new breed of small cars can still be exciting!”  

While customers were storming Ford dealerships for the newest Mustang, the newly inaugurated President Ford was pardoning the one that had just resigned.

Of course, not everyone was as enamored of the new model.  Edmunds said the base engine was, “truly pathetic”, the optional V6 “underwhelming”.  But Americans in 1974 were suckers for padded vinyl tops, especially if they only covered half the roof, button tufted upholstery, and a forest of fake wood.  The new Mustang IIs sitting on the lots and showrooms of their local Ford dealers had all that and more, with decent gas mileage to boot.

Over the course of the four year run of the Mustang II, 1,107,718 rolled out of the factory.  That’s an impressive total, especially when considering that the fifth generation that ran more than twice as long (2005-2014) only sold 1,006,975.  The sixth generation (2015-2023) sold even less at 662,952.

Nineteen-seventy-four.  Chinatown.  The Nixon resignation. The Godfather II.  The Nixon Pardon.  The Mustang II.  A lot going on there.  Doesn’t seem like 50 years ago, but it was.

And with the benefit of 50 years of hindsight, Chinatown has been deemed the 21st greatest movie ever made by the American Film Institute.  The Godfather, Part II has been named the 13th best movie ever made (IBMd), and generally acknowledged as the best sequel ever produced.  Nixon was able to rehabilitate his reputation to that of elder-statesman before he died. US News & World Report reports he doesn’t even make the list of WORST 10 PRESIDENTS OF ALL TIME, despite being the only one to resign from the office.  (Their choice of #3 worst is of particular interest this year.)  Studies show that Ford’s pardon of Nixon caused his defeat to Carter in 1976, but went a long way to healing the country in 1974.  Ford took one for the team, just like Iacocca took one for Ford.

And the Mustang II?  Car and Driver has it on its list of The 10 Most Embarrassing Award Winners in Automotive History.  They say, “Even as the Mustang II went on sale, purists were crying that it represented a betrayal. Instead of the powerful car the Mustang had been, here was a poseur with wheezing four and six-cylinder engines under the hood. And except for slightly better fuel economy, there were no compensating virtues.  Today the Mustang II is the Mustang only the most socially inept enthusiast loves.”

Not every winner stands the test of time.

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