Mustang II Network - 1974 Mustang - Young Car With a Tradition and a Future - Page 19

mustang ii

74 Mustang - Young Car With a Tradition and a Future

PUBLIC RELATIONS SUPPORT Iacocca addressed newsmen at 9:05 a.m., pointing out that they were participating in Ford's first international press introduction. On the same day, Mustang was being introduced to 2,000 press, radio and TV newsmen in Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Austria and Portugal. He reviewed recent trends in automobile sales, noting that hardtops and convertibles were accounting for 39 per cent of current Ford offerings, and tracing the growth of the compact market. "From the onset," he told newsmen, "compact car customers have wanted bucket seats, deluxe trim packages, high-performance engines, four-on-the-floor stick shifts, and just about every other option we could devise. Customers wanted the basic economy package, but - given that - they also wanted to dress their cars up to suit their own individual tastes. "And their tastes (Iacocca penciled into his text) reflected youth and fun and liveliness and pizazz." He announced that the Mustang would be built at Dearborn and San Jose, and that Ford planned a "heavy program" of participation by Mustang in performance events, including such road rallies as the Midnight Sun in Sweden and the Alpine in France, as well as an "active" schedule of road races. The live car "reveal" came next, followed by a 10-minute Wilding-produced film on the car features. After the press conference, the group moved to Weschester Country Club for lunch and the start of the 750-mile road rally to Detroit. Ak Miller, best-known for his winning runs in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, set up and directed the rally for Ford Division. It was accomplished without a major mechanical failure in any of the new cars, which led to reports of durability and dependability in press accounts of the journey. Along the way, crowds of curious surrounded the cars at every stop. Sports car drivers tailgated and wanted to "drag" with the newsmen at stoplights. Ak Miller was challenged to race by state troopers but declined. Newstands carried pictures of Iacocca and Mustang on side-by-side covers of Time and Newsweek. Life and Look ran two-page spreads, Esquire three and Sports Illustrated five. There were major articles in Business Week, U.S. News, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, This Week and Playboy. Car buff magazines made magazine racks a Mustang montage. The reviews were in, and the production was a hit.

19

Text and photos in the Exclusive Feature Stories section may not be reproduced in any manner without express written permission from the Mustang II Network.


Copyright 1999 - 2010 Mustang II Network - Privacy Policy