1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Review

1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Review

You could accuse the 1970s of a number of things, but subtlety is not one of them going by the cars and the fashions. One of the products of that time is this, a 1970 Mach 1 Mustang with the 428 Cobra Jet powerplant, complete with shaker proudly poking its snout through the bonnet. It claimed a comparatively modest 335 horses, which may be below the real figure. In any case, the bent eight was part of a contemporary trend towards squeezing ever more cubic inches under the paint. The driveline in this car includes a C6 transmission, which is essentially a three-speed heavy-duty auto designed for truck and large car use that saw decades of service in a host of different models. Stephen Struyf of Adults Only Car Shop, says this example was built as a motorshow car, which is why it鈥檚 got all the premium mechanical gear, along with a host of desirable interior options. Incredibly, it鈥檚 only had two owners, the first of which was a Mr Bart Lovely, of Lovely Lane (true story!) somewhere in Oklahoma. The car underwent a full rotisserie restoration in the USA at some stage, and the people who did it even went to the trouble of ensuring the paint finish is period-correct. This R-code example is an early build - number 26 of the series - and it comes with a Marti report. 100k asking price is substantial, but a whole lot less surprising when you look at how the USA market is now performing.

It is just Ford adjusting what they can sell as sporty usable to today's world. That's all it is. Didn't Ford create enough damage to the name and reputation of the Mustang already with the Mustang II? People still have nightmares about that car, over 40 years later. Even as horrible as it was, at the Mustang II was at least an interpretation of a pony car in tune with the malaise era. It was terrible but most cars were terrible. This is an entirely different thing. There is no intersection between pony cars and SUVs. Mustang buyers don't want an electric mom-van and electric mom-van buyers don't want a Mustang. It's just stupid. It will go down as the "New Coke" of automotive marketing. The comparison with Porsche that I keep seeing is stupid. Porsche had an order of magnitude more brand equity to work with. But even with that they had the sense not to create direct comparisons between models in new segments and their iconic model brands. Or dumber still, name it after one.

The Taycan is not the "911 Carrera E". The Cayenne and Panamera weren't introduced as "911 inspired." They were "The Next Porsche". Porsche has a strong brand identity so they could simply market the way their brand strengths played into each new segment. But of course "Ford" has no brand equity because they destroy every brand that they create. They're down to Mustang and F150 and they just killed Mustang. This is an entirely different thing. There is no intersection between pony cars and SUVs. Mustang buyers don't want an electric mom-van and electric mom-van buyers don't want a Mustang. It's just stupid. It will go down as the "New Coke" of automotive marketing. Only time will tell if you are right or wrong. I think it is certainly worth the try by Ford. The issue we have today is that one name really dominates the EV market mindshare - and that's Tesla.

They own the cognitive space in the general market when it comes to Electric vehicles. Ford is trying to break into this space - and they are using the best tool in their arsenal - and that's using an affordable aspirational name. That depends on the execution. If they believe that the car itself is good enough - and they are proven to be right - this might be a very smart move by Ford. Calling it something from way back in the day like a E-Galaxie or Fairlane really does not buy they any mindshare. Even if it fails as an EV - and they revert course to have only coupe, ICE 'classic' Mustangs might be a good thing for them - as Coke sales jumped after they retreated from the New Coke debacle. Surprised they didn't try to shoe horn Shelby on there somehow as well. Ford Mach E-GT40 Shelby Mustang California Special. Just needs racing stripes and perhaps louvers to round it out.

Calling it something from way back in the day like a E-Galaxie or Fairlane really does not buy they any mindshare. And why is that? Because Ford destroys every brand it creates. And now they're doing it with the Mustang. So their solution to their previous stupidity is more stupidity. The appropriate name for this if they want to conflate their SUV and car segments this way (a mistake in itself) would be Thunderbird - a personal luxury vehicle with performance and style. But they can't use it because they destroyed it by making it synonymous with bloated land yachts. And now they're doing the same thing to the Mustang. I did find some specs on it. Mid 3's to 60 and high 200 to 350 mile battery. If Ford wanted to trot out a historical name to put on this thing, why not "Galaxy 500" or "Futura"? Calling it a Mustang just smacks of desperation and a severe lack of imagination. Or Thunderbird. But nope, all in the trash heap of broken and discarded brands. Plus it's kind of a perfect name for an E-vehicle as you said.