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  1. #1
    FEP Power Member 4-barrel Mike's Avatar
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    Default 40 Years Ago TODAY July 16

    Ford introduced the Fox Mustang and Capri to journalists.

    http://autoweek.com/article/autoweek...ry-capri-debut



    Mike

  2. #2
    FEP Super Member webestang's Avatar
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    Default

    WOW! That takes me back.

    Scotty
    1985 Fox Notch 4-banger Ranger tube header Eastwood Royal Blue
    1988 Fox LX 5.0 AOD Vert BBK 170mph speedo Candy Apple Red
    1999 Mustang Coupe V6 Auto Chrome Yellow -Daily Driver.
    Past Pony's.....
    68 Coupe Inline-6 3-Speed-Man. Primer
    78 II Hatch 302 3-Speed-Auto Sunroof Black
    81 4-Eye Coupe 4-Banger 4-Speed-Man. White

  3. #3
    FEP Super Member gr79's Avatar
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    Default

    Was big news. Analog days transitioning to metric.
    More two income families common to make ends meet. One FT, one PT.
    Prior tradition was Sept new model year intros at back to school time around Labor day.
    New school year for kids= new car year for adults. Perfect timing. Ready for upcoming new year.
    Dealers covering up showroom display windows like wrapping Christmas presents.
    Or the floor was empty awaiting arrival of first production cars.

    Still priced for one income household.

    Then someone changed that. Perceived <175,000 units as poor sales. Probe Mustang born mid 80's.
    November for SN95. Late?
    January for 2005 S-197. Was there a problem?
    December for 2015 S-550, the worst month for car sales.
    Who is interested in spending time and big money buying cars in winter, near the holidays?

    Mustang shape changed so much in 5 year time span.
    73, Mustang II, then intro of 79 in 78. Big, little, medium.
    The oil embargo, then Mustang II, had people worried about cars. Convertibles went away.
    1979 showed they can get larger, much better still widely affordable.
    Help kick off the 80's as a fun, new thinking out of the box era. Convertibles came back.
    Late 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's. Then the digital era started. Notchback, hatchback coupes gone.
    Nothing special since. Hype of boring digital, tech, micro, everything. Everything 4 door.

    2008-2009 leading to 2010 era went backwards. Accounting practices gone weird. Cook the books.
    Cost of most everything thru the roof. Prices geared to now common two FT+ OT job households.

    Since 2008, production of Mustang now under 100,000 units more so than not.
    False numbers- Record profits. New movie box office sales break record number.
    Because prices are much higher, not unit volumes, more sales, increase of attendance.
    New Mustang intros now are basically about horsepower and same interior tech found in all cars for years.
    No real creativity or risk dispute huge claims of engineering work for small potatos improvements.

    Mid-late 20th century auto workers are looking at retirement, retired or have punched out.
    Took successful auto business passion and savvy learned with them. Not enough have carried that on.
    Last edited by gr79; 07-17-2018 at 04:20 PM.

  4. #4
    FEP Power Member BLK BRD 88's Avatar
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    Default

    Nice editorial gr79. You make some very interesting points in it.
    Ron
    I never seem to get the nut that holds the steering wheel fixed

  5. #5
    FEP Super Member gr79's Avatar
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    Default What were they thinking? Making things better?

    https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...to-production/
    https://foxstang.com/complete-fox-body-mustang-story/

    Fresh thinking expanding on past experience. Flexible platforms. More international/world connections.

    Fox Mustang run paralleled the NASA STS shuttle program.
    "Amid great fanfare, Enterprise (designated OV-101) was rolled out on September 17, 1976, and later conducted a successful series of glide-approach and landing tests in 1977 that were the first real validation of the design.
    The first fully functional orbiter Columbia was delivered to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on March 25, 1979, and was first launched on April 12, 1981—the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's space flight—with a crew of two."

    Chrysler did similar with 1980's K-platform, the FWD route.
    "Lee Iacocca claimed that the huge number of parts in inventory and the complexity of building many completely different versions of vehicles was one reason Chrysler was losing money, and directed the engineers to focus on making a large number of common parts where they would not be visible to customers; this was already common practice in Japan and Germany and would help to make the K-cars profitable even at low prices."

    1974-1981 Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter presidents. Navy men. Ford name everywhere. Carter peanut farmer, H4H, solar.
    Vietnam war ends. Cold war cools. 73 oil embargo 79 energy crisis, Dept of Energy formed. 1979 Three Mile Island accident.

    TV could have had a small subliminal influence in product. Common mindset viewed by buyers and Ford designers off work.
    Saturday Night Live premiered 10/75
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975%E...ision_schedule
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977%E...ision_schedule
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978%E...ision_schedule

  6. #6
    FEP Power Member vintageracer's Avatar
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    Default

    And the NEWEST Foxbody Mustang is NOW going on 26 years OLD!
    Mike
    Remember, "Drive Fast, Turn Heads, Break Hearts!"

    1995 Ford Powerstroke F350 "Centurion" STRETCHED Crew Cab Dually

    I like "Cut & Coach Built" vehicles!

    www.musclecardeals.com


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