After 61½ years and more than 10.2 million sales, it's safe to say the Ford Mustang is the most iconic American vehicle ever conceived. The Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Thunderbird may have been the first cars with no other purpose than to enjoy, but the Mustang was the first one people with very little responsibility could afford, namely young people. It started out as a fun little ride, then became a serious street machine, and has been the most popular set of wheels to roll out of Detroit for generations, mainly because it is both recreational and practical.The Dodge Charger has had some gap years and even the Corvette skipped a beat, but the Mustang has been in continuous production since 1965, with only the Ford F-Series trucks having a longer streak. It was almost discontinued in the late 1980s to be replaced by the Probe, but thankfully, the Ford brass was able to pull themselves back from the edge of insanity and allow the Mustang to continue thrilling and dazzling fans to this day. With so much history, it's difficult to pick just 10 Mustang milestones, but we feel these are the top moments that defined this legendary pony car. Ford Lets The Ponies Loose 1964½ Mustang Mecum Ford introduced its exciting new youth-oriented Mustang in 1965, but got it out early, so it was technically a 1964 mid-model year, so many of the first cars are referred to 1964½s by enthusiasts, though they are in fact '65s according to the VINs. Initially available in hardtop notchback coupe and convertible, a fastback coupe was brought out later in the year. Starting at just $2,368 ($24,344 adjusted for inflation), this fun-mobile was affordable for just about anybody, and most of them bought one with 559,451 sales in its debut, making it a smash success.While the Mustang would eventually become a street menace, it was all about looking cool and being seen at the beginning, with a 271-horsepower 289-cubic-inch HiPo K-Code V8 being the top performance engine. With ETs in the high-14s/low-15s, the '65 'Stang wasn't entirely slow, but definitely no match for the muscle cars that were also unleashed that year. Ferrari Killer Makes Killer Mustang 1966 Shelby Mustang GT350 Bring a Trailer 1966 was the most gonzo year ever for the Mustang with a production run of 607,568, but also when the Shelby GT350 came into its own. Carroll Shelby, the architect behind the toppling of Ferrari's dominance in the 24 Hours of LeMans, recognized the potential of the Mustang and in 1965 started souping them up into proper race cars.The initial run of Shelby Mustang GT350s was small, but there was a huge demand for a higher performance version of the popular pony car and in 1966 production was ramped up to 2,380 units. Shelby beefed up the suspensions on the GT350s and got the 289 V8 up to 306 hp, but there was a Paxton Supercharger variant that could have been a 440-pony drag car. Shelby also made 1,000 special GT350H cars for the Hertz "Rent-a-Racer" program which, as the name suggests, allowed people to get behind the wheel of a seriously badass Mustang. Number One With A Bullitt 1968 Mustang GT By 1968, the Mustang was already a sensation, but its inclusion as the hero car in the Steve McQueen crime action/thriller Bullitt cemented its status as an American icon. The Highland Green '68 Mustang GT that McQeen drove in the movie participated in the most epic car chase scene in cinematic history against a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T, which also gained the spotlight. Steve McQueen was known as the "King of Cool", so his frosty aura rubbed off on the Mustang and made it even more desirable.The movie car, which had a 325-hp 390 V8, wouldn't have actually been able to outrun the 440-powered Charger, but with Hollywood magic, the star always wins. An actual '68 Mustang GT from the film sold at auction, in unrestored condition, for an astounding $3.74 million at Mecum Kissimmee 2020. The Pony Becomes A Stallion 1969 Boss 429 Mecum For the record, in 1969, Ford had a 427, 428, and 429 V8, which is completely bonkers, but not as insane as the latter engine's intro to the public. Ford developed the 429 Cobra Jet V8 for use in NASCAR and to homologate it, meaning qualify it for competition, it had to sell a certain number of them in passenger vehicles. At the time, Ford's go-to race car was the Torino, but rather than sell a few of them with the 429, they wedged this massive big-block under the hood of a fastback Mustang, which became known as the Boss 429.With only 1,358 units produced between 1969-1970, the Boss 429 has become the most collectible regular production Mustang, with auction prices topping the half-million mark. From a performance perspective, the 375-hp 450 lb-ft of torque Boss 429 was the baddest Mustang built to that point and the first to break into the 13-second zone. 429 Cobra Jet Big-Block Bruiser 1971 Mach 1 Mecum The difference between a 1965 and 1971 Mustang would lead most casual observers to conclude that they are not the same model, but in reality they are both part of the pony car's first generation. In the late '60s, Ford finally unleashed their big-block V8s for the Mustang, but the relatively small pony car wasn't an ideal host for the massive engines. In 1971, the first-gen Mustang was lengthened to accommodate these gargantuan powerplants which, at the base, looked goofy and too long, but with the Mach 1 fastback, was arguably the most killer version.With a 375-hp 429 Super Cobra V8, the '71 Mach 1 was a solid 13.5-second ride that could smoke anything GM had to offer that year and finally made the Mustang competitive with the 440 Six-Pack and even Hemi-equipped Mopars. Despite being the purest Mustang muscle car of the Golden Age, the '71 Mach 1 429 is surprisingly affordable with a $54,000 Hagerty good condition value. Fox Body Mustang Rocks The ‘80s 1987 Mustang GT 5.0 Bring a Trailer For most of the '70s the Mustang was a Pinto-based compact that the nicest thing anyone could say about was at least they didn't explode on impact like the Pinto, but in 1979, the third-gen Fox Body hit the scene and the pony car was back, baby! The 'Stang was back to being an intermediate ride, and it took the 302 engine metric, establishing the 5.0-liter V8 as its signature engine. In 1987, the Fox Body got a refresh with a more aerodynamic nose and some sick body accents on the GT that made it the defining ride of the entire decade.The coolest thing you could have driven in the 1980s was a "Five-Oh!" preferably a vert, and it was the star of too many movies, TV shows, and music videos to count. Most importantly, '87 was when performance started creeping back into the Mustang with the 5.0-liter up to 225-hp, making it the car to beat that year. Return Of The Thoroughbred 1993 Mustang SVT Cobra Mecum The Malaise Era of the 1970s saw all muscle cars detuned into neutered versions of their former badass selves, including the Mustang, but the late '80s brought hope that things were changing for the better. The Fox Body closed out its generation in 1993 with the special edition Mustang SVT Cobra that brought hope of a brighter, more ass-kicking future. Ford's Special Vehicle Team designed about 5,000 Mustangs with high-performance suspensions, brakes, and a 235-hp 5.0-liter V8 that made it the most killer pony car since the Golden Age.These cars were meant for racing applications, but took it to the streets to crush Camaros, Firebirds, and even Euro sports cars like Porsches and Ferraris. There was a Mustang SVT Cobra R, that stripped out all unnecessary weight that was even more formidable. Generally, Fox Body Mustangs GTs can be bought for under $10,000, but SVT Cobras sell in the hundreds of thousands. Mustang Gets Back to Its Roots 2007 Mustang Shelby GT500 Bring a Trailer The fourth-generation Mustang was utterly forgettable and saw the abandonment of the iconic 5.0-liter V8, but just when people were ready to write off the legendary pony car, the sixth-gen hit in 2005, rekindling enthusiast's love affair with it. Featuring some brilliant retro styling, reminiscent of the first-gen fastback, but with updated sensibilities, the 2005-2014 Mustang reminded people why this was such an awesome set of wheels.In another modern throwback, the Shelby Mustang returned with the 2007 GT500, which was the first shot fired in the Modern Muscle Car Era's Horsepower War. The previous year, Dodge relaunched the Charger with a 425-hp Hemi V8, so Ford cranked it up to 500 ponies with the 5.4-liter supercharged Shelby GT500. This was the first regular production 12-second car that started an arms race which made the post-millennial era the greatest time for American performance. Modern Muscle Car Warhorse 2012 Boss 302 Mecum The original Mustang Boss 302 was developed in 1969 for the Sports Car Club of America's (SCCA) Trans-Am racing series, which had a limit on displacement of 5.0 liters. While the extremely rare (8,641 units) '69-'70 Boss 302s are highly collectible, their 290-hp302 V8s made them 14-second cars, which was unacceptable in the tail-end of the Golden Age. For 2012 and 2013, Ford resurrected the Boss 302 with a street performer that was way more in charge.The 5.0-liter V8 made a triumphant return with the Coyote Ford Modular engine and, in the Boss 302, produced 444 fearsome ponies and 380 lb-ft of torque. It was the same displacement as its ancestor, but the rebooted 302 could hit a quarter mile in 12.3 seconds, which was about two seconds quicker than a '69. With 6,802 cars produced, plus another 1,501 track-focused Laguna Seca Editions, the Modern Boss 302 is actually rarer than the old-school ride. Dark Horse Sprints To The Front Of The Pack 2024 Mustang Dark Horse Ford The Modern Muscle Car Era played out with Chevy making gains with a 650-hp offering, only to be topped by Dodge's supercharged Hellcats that hit over 1,000 ponies, but then a funny thing happened. Dodge discontinued the gas-powered Challenger and Charger in 2023, while the Camaro was mothballed the following year, leaving the Mustang as the last muscle car standing. Ford could have phoned the 2024 seventh-gen Mustang in as they literally had no competition, but instead unleashed the Dark Horse with an unreal 500-hp, naturally-aspirated 5.0-liter V8.This wondermill pumped out nearly twice the ponies of the original 302 V8 and is a modern marvel of automotive engineering. Dodge actually brought back the ICE Charger with a 550-hp twin-turbo I-6, but muscle cars should have an unforced-induction V8 and the Mustang Dark Horse is the only car currently equipped with one.Sources: Ford, Hagerty, Mecum
