Ford Mustang: Last pony car standing | Axon's Automotive Anorak

The Mustang was introduced almost 60 years ago in April 1964 at that year’s World’s Fair in New York. Presented as a stylish four-seater hardtop notchback coupe and convertible, based on the mechanicals of the humble Falcon compact sedan, the Mustang caused a sensation. It was exactly the car the young and newly affluent post-war generation of North American consumers wanted.

Ford took over 22,000 orders for the Mustang on the day that it was revealed, with the model becoming the USA’s third best-selling new car overall for 1964, quite a feat for a sporting coupe and comfortably outselling all of Chrysler’s and AMC Rambler's product ranges for the whole year. Within its first two years of production, Ford had sold more than one million Mustangs. That made it the fastest-selling new car ever launched in America, a record that still stands to this day.

Although only available with an underpowered 101bhp, 160 cubic inch straight-six motor at launch, the Mustang created a phenomenon. Leading US motoring magazine Car and Driver postulated that ‘Nobody will ever say it (the Mustang) is a great car’ but this didn’t seem to matter as the stylish coupe caught the American public’s imagination.

Ford was also very quick to respond to initial criticisms and demand for more power to match the Mustang’s sporty appearance, with the launch of a 289 K-Code V8 271bhp engine coming within just a few short months and a racy fastback coupe following for the 1965 Model Year, along with the first of the now legendary Carroll Shelby-tuned GT350 models.

The pony car nickname quickly came about because of the Mustang’s small equine-inspired name, reinforced by the badging and impost seating logos of wild Mustang horses running free.

Though initially the sporting new Ford wasn’t quite powerful or brutal enough to be labelled a ‘muscle car,’ as per the recent GTO derivative of the Pontiac Tempest – also introduced in 1964 as the forefather of the cult 1964-70 era of true all-American muscle cars – the Mustang soon gained more power and attitude with the its first facelift for 1967. The Shelby GT500 soon followed (as famously driven by Steve McQueen in the celebrated 1968 movie Bullitt) as did the 410bhp Cobra Jet V8 motor in 1968, the iconic Mach 1 fastback in 1969 and the Boss 302 of 1970.

After the best-forgotten smaller ‘economy-minded’ Mustang II of 1974, the Mustang gradually had a return to form through various ‘hot’ versions such as the SVO of the ‘90s and Shelby Cobra GT500 of 2005. The American fast Ford continues to survive and thrive today, with an exciting ‘Dark Horse’ derivative added in 2023, plus the electric crossover Mach-E (the USA’s best-selling electric car in 2023) to turn Mustang into a popular and powerful sub-brand for Ford.

The Mustang wasn’t the first sporting compact American ‘pony car-style’ coupe however, that mantle going to the Chrysler Corporation with its fastback Plymouth Barracuda, which was also introduced in 1964, beating the Ford to market by just two weeks. Though always lost in the Mustang’s shadow, the Plymouth Valiant-based Barracuda could offer an all-important 235bhp, 273 cubic inch V8 engine right from launch. The pillarless coupe also boasted a huge wrap-around rear window, claimed at the time to be the largest single piece of glass ever used in a production car.

In its hard-fought battle to compete with the conquering Ford, for 1967 Chrysler added notchback and convertible body options to the Barracuda range, plus a more lively 280bhp 383i V8, which followed in ’68, along with an abbreviation of the Plymouth coupes’ name to ‘Cuda. By 1969 the ‘Cuda had become a true full-blown muscle car, beating the Mustang on performance with a 440ci 390bhp V8 option. For 1970 Plymouth added a stylish new ‘E-Body’ coupe bodyshell (shared with its Dodge Challenger sibling) to create the ultimate ‘Cuda, developing up to a mighty 425bhp in desirable 426 Hemi form. Following its 1970 peak though, the sporting Plymouth was gradually emasculated, with production fizzling out in 1974.

Although the Mustang had the Chrysler Corporation, plus Ford’s other domestic GM and AMC rivals, on the run with the unprecedented success of the model, Chrysler had long proved to be Detroit’s performance trend-setter, starting America’s horsepower race. It arguably introduced  the Big Three’s first muscle car with its Chrysler 300 way back in 1955, fitted with a standard potent 331 cubic inch, 300bhp Hemi V8, so named due to the engine’s hemispherical shape of the combustion chambers. The 1955 300 began a series of powerful Chrysler 300 ‘letter’ cars, which ran up to the fast 300J of 1963. After years of laying dormant, Chrysler revived the emotive 300 model designation in 2004, with its Mercedes-Benz E-Class-based 300C, a model that underwent some revisions in 2010 but remained in production until the very end of 2023, making this the longest-lived American passenger car model by some margin.

The original Dodge Charger first debuted as a concept car in the 1965 auto show season, with the Hemi-powered production version launching in 1966. The Charger remained available, via various generations, up until 1978.

In 2005 Dodge raised the cult nameplate from the dead again in the form of a wild four-door performance sedan, this remaining in production until 23rd December last year, the final 6.7-litre Charger SRT-8 Hellcat derivative pumping out a whopping 797bhp.

The Dodge Charger’s Challenger sister recalled the sleek coupe styling of the 1970-74 original; a late but highly worthy rival for the Mustang’s pony car crown in period. The modern-era Challenger was revived in 2008, with its long production run also coming to a sad close just before Christmas last year.

A brand new Dodge pony car is on the way but it will have to be very special to replace the much-loved wide body 807bhp 6.2-litre V8 that the last Challenger very recently bowed out with.

Like the Chrysler Corporation’s trio of enthusiast performance models – the 300C, Dodge Charger and Challenger – the only other remaining Detroit pony car rival to the Ford Mustang; the Chevrolet Camaro, also finished its (interrupted) 57-year long production run for good at the end of last year. Spread over six generations, General Motors (GM) took its time to react to the outstanding success of the Ford Mustang, only introducing its Camaro in 1967. Quite logically, GM added models to both Chevrolet and Pontiac’s Pony Car roster. Of course in 2010, Pontiac was closed down.

The Chevrolet Camaro survived though as GM’s last and only remaining pony car, until the very last example was made in the closing days of 2023, with no known new replacement model planned, EV, ICE or otherwise. At its power peak, the Chevy Camaro in 1969 ZL1 form could pump out as much as 500bhp from its V8, quite a contrast to the low point of the embarrassingly feeble 90bhp developed by the then-new third-generation four-cylinder Camaro in 1982.

For its final season, the 2023 Model Year Chevy pony car churned out up to a maximum of 650hp form its 6.2-litre LT4 engine, a fitting end to one of the finest pony cars, this now leaving just the Ford Mustang solely remaining to carry the flag for this very-American form of performance car.

It seems only appropriate that the car that started the whole pony car phenomenon 60 years ago should now be the one to ultimately close this exciting and fast chapter in automotive history.