Championed by Lee Iacocca, the general manager of the Ford Division, the Mustang was built on the platform of the humble Ford Falcon but styled to look long, low and fast. It went on sale on April 17, 1964, as a hardtop and a convertible, with a fastback following in August. The base hardtop, with a six-cylinder engine and a three-speed manual gearbox, cost $2,368. Buyers crowded dealerships, and Ford took 22,000 orders that first day.
Ford aimed the Mustang at a generation of young drivers born after the Second World War who wanted something more exciting than a family sedan but could not afford a sports car. Sharing parts with the Falcon kept costs down, while a long options list let buyers turn the same basic car into anything from an economical runabout to a V8-powered performer.
The launch was staged as a national event, with the car unveiled at the World's Fair in Flushing Meadows as it went on sale in showrooms across the country. The very first Mustang had in fact slipped out early: a pre-production car was sold at a dealership in St. John's, Newfoundland, on April 14, three days before the official debut.
The Mustang's success gave its name to a whole category. Rivals rushed out their own "pony cars", among them the Chevrolet Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird of 1967, and the Mustang itself has remained in production ever since, one of the longest-running nameplates in American motoring.
Key people: Lee Iacocca