Tag Archives: Motor Trend

Mustang Muscle in the Mid 70′s Prt 2 1975

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So we talked about the 1974 the year of big changes and small engines for the Mustang, now designated as Mustang II.  The entire idea was to return to the original roots of the Mustang, small every day car.  A far cry from the 300 plus horsepower  for the 1969-1973 Mach 1’s.  Of course it was a good idea, even though most of us don’t think so then or even now, but take a look at the numbers.The 1974 Mustang II sold over 380,000 units, and not a single V8 in the lot and that was 3 time as many Mustang as were sold in 1973.  Additionally, it was Motor Trends car of the year.  Now just between you and me,  the Motor Trend thing doesn’t do much for me (nor does the J.D. Powers award or any of the others) but it does work for some and judging by the numbers that sold at least 380,000 others.

In 1975 things changes a bit for the Mustang.  The infamous 302 returned, making a V8 an option.  But how as the possible?  What occurred that would bring back the a V8?  As mentioned above there were Mustang sold with V8 engines…”In the US“!!!!   But our friends south of the border (for those of you geographically challenged, that would be Mexico) were in fact selling Mustangs with V8.  Not many knew this was going on but once Hot Rod magazine got wind of it and put it in the front of its June ’74 issue, Ford decided that it need to “pony up” (come on now..that’s clever!!!!) and add the V8 for the 1975 edition of the Mustang II.

 

Your 1975 Mustang Line Up

The V8 was only available with an automatic transmission and was an option for the Ghia and the Mach I (even though the standard Mach 1 engine was the V6) as well as the other models and topped with a 2 barrel carb, it produced a whopping 122 hp or 140 hp depending on you proved the numbers.

So things were looking in 1975 although the number didn’t get even close to the 1974 model.

1975 Mustang Production Data:

69F Hatchback: 30,038

69R Hatchback – Mach 1: 21,062

60F Coupe: 85,155

60H Coupe – Ghia: 51,320

Total Production: 188,575

The total range of engine looked like this:

1975 Mustang Engines 

2.3 L – 140 cid, I-4, 2bbl, 88 hp

2.8 L – 171 cid, V6, 2bbl, 105 hp

5.0 L – 302 cid, V8, 2bbl, 140 hp

 Code 

Y

Z

F

There were two transmission available a 4 speed manual and 3 speed automatic – but the 4 speed was not available for the 302.  That might seem odd but it may have to do with a fitment issue.

More coming up.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

2015 Mustang – No V8?!!!

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I was just reading about the 2015 Mustang (yeah..they are planning it now) in the Oct 2011 Motor Trend.

It’s going to look great with a lower angled windshield and it will be lighter, but it will begin to lose it’s muscle car images, at least
underneath.

From the Motor Trend web site. 2-15 Mustang

The live axle will be gone, replaced with an independent rear suspension.  Not really what you want to take to the track.  There was talk that the live axle might live on in factory drag packs, but the tooling would be expensive and perhaps not cost-effective.   We’ll see what actually happens.

Ford Live Axel

Independent Suspension.

But this is not focus of this blog entry.  What I really want to mention was a side bar in the article.  It is entitled “Icons on An Icon”  “What should the next Mustang be?”  Those interviewed were Jack Tenack who was a designer for Ford and global design vice president ( He actually drew the first proposal for the 1965 Mustang); Chris Theodore who was chief of Ford Motor Company’s North American product development  (he left after a disagreement over the
suspension for the 2005 Mustang with Phil Martens); Tom Gale who had nothing to do with Ford at all, he was Chrysler design chief (now retired).

Generally Mr. Tenack stayed true to form, basically wanting small changes to the next issue of the Mustang, reinforcing the muscle car
image.  He thinks all-wheel drive should be added as an option…that’s not horrible.

Mr.Theodore wants the new Mustang to have a 4 cyclinder…WHAT???  Yeah, get this, he’s like the V8 engines reserved for ‘specialty models”…can you say  …hiss…boo???  “Hey, the 70’s called they want their paradigm back!!” Of course he led the charge to replace the live axle.

Mr. Gale thinks that we need to copy Europe and thinks the Mustang needs to be smaller.  He says the Camaro is more similar to is predecessor then the Mustang is to its predecessor.

Drop me your thoughts.  No V8?   Live axle?  Smaller ‘Stang?

Thanks for reading.

Tim

BOSS 302: Scary Test Result as Brakes Fail

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Don Royby Don Roy on April 26, 2011

It is easy to envy the job of a road test editor for a magazine or web site. After all, when it comes to the world of automotive enthusiasts, you’re pretty much living the dream. Often flown at other’s expense to exotic locations, you’re wined and dined in expensive establishments and given the latest high performance hardware to thrash around in. Other times, you just get really neat stuff to park in your driveway and make your neighbors jealous.

Generally, the only rule is ‘bring it back in one piece’ and given today’s anti-lock braking, electronic stability control, hugely capable tires and other modern developments, it’s pretty hard to break that rule. So, imagine that you are on a quarter-mile track, running some brake tests for which you run up to 70 mph and stand on the brake pedal and mostly let the electronics keep the shiny side up. Say you’ve done this dozens of times on all manner of performance cars, but this time the pedal goes right to the floor just as a metallic ‘snap’ registers in your brain.

Perhaps it is not always such an enviable position to be in because that is just what happened recently to Motor Trend editor, Scott Mortara, while evaluating a Boss 302 Mustang. Fortunately, the experienced tester was able to slow the car by downshifting the manual transmission and get off the track without serious incident. What followed from there, as reported by MT senior editor Angus McKenzie, is both a PR nightmare and a curiously unsatisfying conclusion for all.

An immediate and thorough investigation by Ford, which also involved stopping production temporarily at the Flat Rock, MI, assembly plant, revealed no inherent problem with production cars. The test car, however, appeared to have its brake pedal incorrectly assembled, so that a pivot pin sheared under the extreme load and master cylinder actuation was lost.

No conclusive evidence has been identified as to how this car’s brake pedal got to the state it was in, but once you let these cars out into the hands of others, anything is possible. This is the type of thing that Ford will continue to pursue internally until there is nothing left to investigate. In the meantime, this set of freaky circumstances serves well to remind all of us that bantha poo-doo happens and paying continual attention while driving is highly justified.