A legendary automobile turns 60: An in-depth view of the Mustang

CLEVELAND,Ohio — Back in the day, one of the ultimate definitions of cool revolved around what you drove.

Driving — and parking — a Gremlin in your high school’s parking lot was, well, not cool.

The Pontiac Firebird, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Chevrolet Camaro and any Dodge muscle car were the attention-getters.

But none of the above would have ever made it to superstar status if it hadn’t been for the Ford Motor Company’s Mustang.

Now through May 4, the Western Reserve Historical Society is celebrating the 60th anniversary of this legendary automobile with “Wild Horses: 60 Years of Ford’s Mustang” at the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum.

Check it out at www.wrhs.org/do-see/exhibitions/wild-horses-sixty-years-of-fords-mustang.

According to Larry Davis, the museum’s collection manager — and a member of the Mustang Club of America — there are ongoing conversations about what will draw people into the museum.

Cars have always been popular with the public.

“So, we do these six-month rotational exhibits,” he said. “We’ve done some European cars in the past.

“This one is a big deal this year because this is the 60th anniversary of the Mustang. The first Mustang to come off the assembly line was in 1964.

“This is the 60th year of the Mustang. It’s a big deal. We want to go with something people can relate to when they walk through the museum,” he said.

“Many people have owned a Mustang sometime in their life, or their relatives owned one.”

The 20 cars on display are in chronological order, starting with a 1966 first generation Mustang. The pale-yellow OG (original gangster) was created with a six-cylinder engine.

It was considered, in ’64, as a “pedestrian car,” with its black vinyl roof, faux leather interior and a sticker price of a little over $2,000.

It’s a far cry from the 2024 version, which sports a rich, subdued shade of yellow on the exterior and a fine-leather gray interior. Its sticker price reads around $65,000.

Most cars in the exhibit came from Mustang clubs, locally and as far away as New Hampshire. Some are driven to the historical society by their owners.

To date, Ford has sold over 10 million Mustangs.

When the Chevrolet Camaro was introduced, it became the Mustang’s biggest rival, according to Aaron Warkentin, curator of transportation history for the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum.

But Ford sold almost twice as many Mustangs than Chevy sold Camaros.

Curating an exhibition that is steeped in history like the Mustang’s takes a lot of time and effort to make sure all the information relating to it is accurate.

Each car in the show has placards that reveal the history and evolution of that version.

“We sat down and figured out what story we wanted to tell about the car,” Warkentin said.

“So, an associate curator and I put together and wrote the banners with the overarching stories of each generation and each change that took place in the Mustang’s life.

“And then I wrote all the labels that are for the individual vehicles. We wanted to put those cars that you see on display into the context of the bigger story of the vehicle. And pick out little cultural nuggets,” he said.

“It’s one thing to pick great objects. But if the great objects have no context or meaning for people who don’t fully know the story, it falls short.

“We found lots of material from Ford and other legitimate literature.”

Movie buffs who may have seen the Steve McQueen movie “Bullitt” could be blown away by a green 1968 model in the exhibit. It’s quite like the one McQueen drove in the film.

Mustangs are not unfamiliar to Hollywood sets. Thousands of them have been used in movies and TV shows.

According to Velocity.com — a company that transforms iconic cars — outside of “Bullitt,” the car has been featured as “Eleanor” in “Gone in Sixty Seconds” with Nicolas Cage, in a Bond movie and in “Misery” starring Kathy Bates.

For more on the Mustang’s movie history, visit www.velocityrestorations.com/blog/best-classic-ford-mustang-movie-cars/.

Dan Davis, director of external relations for the museum, says the word “icon” is often thrown around. But he feels the Mustang has lived up to that distinction.

“It was created essentially to give the younger population the ability to own a vehicle that has two doors and a sporty look,” he said.

“When Ford realized that they could shoehorn more power into the vehicle, they did. It improved its image and sales started to soar.”

The museum is at 10825 East Boulevard in Cleveland.