C/D on “Future” Mustangs

Car & Driver (C/D) can still, on occasion, actually write something worthwhile and worth reading … and also be quite funny in the process.

In this case they’ve been wondering out loud about “Five Future Mustangs We’d Like to See”.

It’s all pretty funny satirical stuff, one that will strike a lot of notes with people like me who have seen one too many Special Editions (where the main thing that’s special is that sticker on the side that says “Special Edition”).

The one that I really noticed was the Ford Mustang II II.

Anyone who was around when they put out the Mustang II back in the 70s will cringe just from reflex action alone.

What an abomination … it was a car that somehow combined numerous, yet disparate bad qualities.

They we cramped inside and small overall, yet they weighed way more than they should. The chassis was notoriously flexible and ill-handling, AND it rode like it was stiffly sprung. They were available with V8s (the utterly loathsome Cobra II package), but weren’t fast enough to get out of their own way.

Worst off all, when it came celebrity product placement, who did Ford use to push the car?

Jill Munroe, Farrah Fawcett’s character in “Charlie’s Angels”.

Anyway, go read the article, it’s worth your time:

Five Future Mustangs We’d Like to See

This is for whomever wrote the story on the the future Mustangs ,Maybe you should look up the facts about the Mustang II’s before saying anything about them. I have about 3000 friends that own them across the planet who disagree with you.
The Mustang II is one of Mustangs top sellers to date. The cars are not to heavy ,A v8 car that weighs 2700 lbs is not heavy! . Notoriously flexable? what one did you drive? A v8 with no horse power,At the time horsepower was gone,no one made cars with HP,remember the gas crunch? Bad handling? I dont think you ever drove one! The cars are tight and very fun to drive.
Several magazine aticles has been put out on the Mustang II in the past few yrs,Their test drives have oppisite results from yours. I invite you to come drive My Mustang II anytime !

As Wayne said, II’s are a fun tight little car to drive, I currently own 2, a 74 and a 78, the 78 has a built Cleveland in it, and i can say its a fast little pony. Its light nimble and fun to drive. For one of the best selling mustangs of all times, you seem to bash them alot. What do you drive a craparo? Ive even owned a few of those and they arent bad cars but its sucks to hear someone bash on it dont it? Ive had a few chevy’s lots of fords US and Euro ones, And even a Dodge. You probably even bash on Escorts and Focus’s but i dont think you’ve ever driven a Cosworth version of each. So if I was you I would think before i speak, these are our children you re talking about and we dont appreciate you bashing our family members like that. So grow a pair and own up to a valued car in the Pony cars history.

While the article itself is funny, your intro to it shows a remarkable lack of thought. I WAS around when the Mustang II hit the showrooms, and at the time, the 139 hp of the II was within less than 100 hp of the bigblock T/A’s, but considerably lighter, and it still had V8 torque. It had a superior steering and suspension to the Mustangs prior to the II. Yes, it was a bit small, but I kinda LIKE the cockpit-like feel. And the only complaint I have about the back seat is that its a bit cramped for backseat antics. At least the front end wasn’t grossly lengthened to compensate for something…

BTW, the pic at the top of the page looks more like a butchered 2000 Stang than a II

Yea it’s easy for you guys (C/D) to bash a Mustang II, In my opinion the 71-73’s were the worst of the bunch, They had so many GM styling ques. There looked nothing like the early Mustangs like the II’s did. There would be not Mustang today if the II’s were not made. Let’s talk Chevette or Vega if you want to bash but you could not do that because C/D worships GM and all the garbage they make.

As a reporter ,you should research the items you are going to talk or wright about before you do it ! By this article you did not do this.I have owned several of the best selling Mustangs ever sold for many years {The Mustang II} and would not trade them for any other Mustang or cars out there. What you need to do is seat in the passager seat of a V8 Cobra II and let a real driver take you for a ride,then after cleaning the crap out of your pants seat down and rewright this article!

Tony,
it seems you are another person who has no idea about they are talking about. Where you even around in the 70s?
Before you make any statements, you should do some research on a subject:
You statement “Anyone who was around when they put out the Mustang II back in the 70s will cringe just from reflex action alone.” If this is so, why was the II one of the top selling mustangs of all time?

“What an abomination … it was a car that somehow combined numerous, yet disparate bad qualities.”
The II won the C/D car of the year award, what bad qualities are you talking about? The build quality on the II was way beyond anything Ford had build before them.

“They we cramped inside and small overall, yet they weighed way more than they should.” As stated above, when is a 3000 lbs. v8 car considered heavy? They were built to be small like the first mustang were.

” The chassis was notoriously flexible and ill-handling, AND it rode like it was stiffly sprung. ” The II was the best handling to date when released compared to the older mustangs. Have you ever noticed that most of the after market street rod scene use mustang II front suspensions? Have you ever thought about that subject and why you would think the II’s were ill handling?

“They were available with V8s (the utterly loathsome Cobra II package), but weren’t fast enough to get out of their own way.”
Compared to what v8 70’s car are you talking about. The first fox bodied mustangs of the early 80’s had equal or less hp to the II’s hp. The GM products had 5 to 10 more hp but were 500 lbs. heavier, think about the power to weight ratio.

Tony, if you want to make a statement next about the II’s being built from the pinto platform, do your research first and find out the front suspension was first developed for the mustang and then Ford used it in the pinto. Also note that the II had less pinto then the first mustang had of falcon and the fox bodied mustangs had of the fairmonts

Sadly, for your uniformed writer too lazy to do the research: 3 of the 5 years of mustangs are in the best selling years of all time of over 45 years of sales and no Mustang other than 1979 has sold more than the mustang IIs intro year 1974 where the IIs were selling more than half a dozen competitors COMBINED. It was the right car for the right time, and quality, compare it heads up against any car of the decade and it was loaded and more luxurious than all of them in its era. Its downfall, was its innovative front end that made them highly sought after among hot rodders to replace their own poorly designed suspensions on the front end design and its highly desireable V8 drive trains and reinforced 8 inch rear end, something lacking. in the first generation mustangs.

Did I mention that the 73 model was over 500 Lbs heaver.

So you throw on a set of aftermarket heads, put an intake on it with dual exhaust, due to our own US government COLA standard stupidity, and take all that weight off its sides… get rid of the old linkage steering that were fast and loose, and you do the math of how these performed.

The failures of the Mustang II was that of our own domestic government policy that set us up for failure, just like is occurring right now.

Those not knowing history are doomed to repeat it.