Читать книгу 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 - Mike Mueller - Страница 7
ОглавлениеThe year 1969 certainly was a busy time in Dearborn, Michigan, especially so in the Mustang corral. Fresh variations on Ford’s pony car theme abounded, beginning with the kinder, gentler, “super-luxury” Grande with its regal vinyl roof and uber-deluxe interior. Not kind in the least were two other new-for-1969 ’Stangs: Boss 302 and its bodacious big brother, Boss 429. Following in the smoky tire tracks of 1968’s midyear 428 Cobra Jet model, this rarin’-to-race pair helped demonstrate further that the Blue Oval bunch was no longer fooling around; they were finally putting Mustang at the head of the Motor City muscle car pack, just where many interested parties felt it belonged from the start.
Included in that group, albeit retroactively, was Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen, who became Ford Motor Company president in February 1968 after quitting his vice president post at General Motors in a fit following the promotion of his rival, veteran engineer Ed Cole, to the top office there in October 1967. Responsible for Pontiac’s reawakening a decade prior, Knudsen’s prime motto always was “You can sell a young man’s car to an old man, but you’ll never sell an old man’s car to a young man,” and this thinking faded nary a wit following his planet-rattling defection. “When Mr. Knudsen came from GM he brought along a strong belief in the value of performance,” wrote Eric Dahlquist while reporting the big bulletin in the Motor Trend August 1968 issue.
When fitted with the optional 428 Cobra Jet V-8, Ford’s first Mach 1 Mustang ranked as one of Detroit’s hottest muscle cars in 1969. Serving as a suitable backdrop for this CJ Mach is North American Aviation’s equally intimidating P-51 Mustang fighter plane. Compared to the Cobra Jet’s 335 hp, the P-51’s supercharged Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 churned out about 1,400 horses.
New in the 1969 Mustang corral along with the Mach 1 was the luxury-conscious Grande, crowned by a regal vinyl roof. Also note the blacked-out hood and chromed styled-steel wheels. The former was a Grande option that year; the rims, however, are incorrect. Styled steelies were available to 1969 Grande buyers, but only argent-painted or color-keyed renditions. (Photo Courtesy Mecum Auctions)
“[Ford] designers have gone to considerable trouble to make their intentions known,” announced Car Life’s March 1969 cover story. “The Mach 1 comes [with] everything, in short, except a decal proclaiming [a] readiness to coat the opposition with rubber dust.” (Photo Courtesy Antique Auto Club of America Library & Research Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania)
Knudsen also wasted no time broadcasting his feelings about Lee Iacocca’s little baby. In his far-from-humble opinion, Mustang was “a good-looking automobile, but there are a tremendous number of people out there who want good-looking automobiles with performance. If a car looks like it’s going fast and doesn’t go fast, people get turned off. If you have a performance car and it looks like a pretty sleek automobile, then you should give the sports-minded fellow the opportunity to buy a high-performance automobile.”
Introduced in April 1968, Ford’s 428 Cobra Jet FE-series big-block V-8 was available with or without Ram-Air in 1969. In the latter’s case, this non-functional scoop was traded for the legendary Shaker. Advertised CJ output remained 335 hp in either case. (Photo Courtesy Tom Shaw)
Both Boss Mustangs, each released after the turn of the calendar year in 1969, represented rapid-fire results of Knudsen’s heavy-footed influence. And this wasn’t all Dearborn had in store for racehorse lovers that year. Introduced earlier, along with Ford’s latest lineup in the summer of 1968, was another sleek, speed-seeking pony; this one was bred more for the mainstream, not necessarily the track.
“Are you ready for the first great Mustang?” asked a March 1969 Car Life review of this news-making newborn. “One with performance to match its looks, handling to send imported-car fans home mumbling to themselves, and an interior as elegant, and livable, as a gentleman’s club?” Wait, don’t answer. Because along with all that, interested buyers also were treated to a super-cool name known well among real, card-carrying jet setters: Mach 1.
Indeed, when fitted with the 335-hp 428 CJ (the non-Boss Mustang’s top power option in 1969), this groundbreaker seemed capable of doing the same to the sound barrier. Well, not quite. But down on Earth (where noise travels really fast, roughly 750 mph), it ranked right up with Detroit’s hottest rods of the day. Calling the Cobra Jet rendition “the quickest standard passenger car through the quarter-mile we’ve ever tested,” the Car Life crew further felt it was “a superb road car, stable at speed, tenacious on corners, with surplus power and brakes for any road situation.”
Talk about two vessels gliding by each other in the wee hours. Ford’s original flagship pony car, the GT, was forgotten almost overnight in the wake of the new Mach 1, which featured all Gran Turismo attractions (except for appropriate identification), plus a heavy load of form/function goodies that cost extra on other Mustangs. Early factory paperwork even used a Super GT reference when announcing the original Mach’s standard equipment menu.
Along with nicely subtle striping, the Mach 1 deal included a blacked-out hood, dual racing mirrors, and gleaming wheels on the outside. Meanwhile, starring on the inside was the prestigious Grande interior, upgraded with high-back bucket seats and a console. The Grande’s special sound package further added extra silencing insulation inside the Mach’s fastback shell, now formally known as a SportsRoof.
First great Mustang? Damn straight. Ford might’ve also accepted “milestone” as a fair description, as least as far as its equine legacy was concerned.
Former Musclecar Enthusiast editor and Super Ford managing editor Steve Statham agrees whole-heartedly. “What set the 1969 Mach 1 apart was that it was the first factory-built Mustang that got all the muscle car elements right, in one package,” he said in September 2016. “It had the scoops, the stripes, the right engine options, and the right price. [The] Mustang GT was a fine car but never had the dramatic looks and image to go against flashier rivals, and its engines weren’t competitive until the Cobra Jet came along. Boss Mustangs were niche vehicles, and Shelbys were expensive and limited in production. But [the] Mach 1 was accessible, readily available, perfectly styled for 1969, and genuinely competitive on the street, thanks to the 428 CJ.”
Base Mach 1 power came from a 351-ci small-block topped by a 2-barrel carburetor. All other optional engines were 4-barrels (4V V-8s).
Another available big-block, the 390-ci FE V-8, injected 320 horses into the Mach 1 mix. And, like its Cobra Jet big brother, the 390 could be crowned with the optional Shaker scoop, which mounted atop the air cleaner and protruded straight up through a Mustang hood. (Photo Courtesy Mecum Auctions)
“The Mach 1 finally added an image model to the Mustang, similar to what Plymouth was doing with the Road Runner and Chevy with the Camaro Super Sport,” added Donald Farr, editor of the Mustang Club of America’s (MCA) official magazine, Mustang Times. “The restyled 1969 SportsRoof had a more muscular look in the first place; the Mach 1 then took it into muscle car territory with its black-out hood and chrome wheels. Most potential buyers could afford the base model, which looked just like the well-optioned version with the 428 Cobra Jet.”
Basic Mach 1 power came from a 351-ci small-block V-8 topped by a 2-barrel carburetor, making it, in Ford’s terms, a “351-2V.” That hyphenated suffix referred to the venturii (or carb throat) count. The idea, of course, was to keep a wide focus, to not paint the Mach into a corner. Although CJ renditions thrilled drivers with a real need for speed, base models did the same for those who didn’t mind simply looking as if they were soaring to great heights while negotiating everyday traffic with no fuss or muss. Unlike its temperamental Boss cousins, a driver-friendly 351-powered Mach 1 could stand by patiently in the pickup line at JFK Elementary without blowing its top, and still appear awfully damn hot.
So much sporty feel plus proven pony car practicality equaled sky-blazing sales success. While Dearborn’s last GT was quietly rolling into the sunset, 1969’s Mach 1 was reinventing Mustang popularity, with production surpassing 72,400. Just so you know, that first-year figure fell about 15,000 short of the GT’s total 1965–1969 tally.
GT: GETTING MUSTANG ROLLING
It was the car’s first birthday, but it was buyers who received the presents. On April 17, 1965, Ford announced two new Mustang options: the snazzy Interior Decor Group, with its galloping-horse seat inserts and simulated walnut paneling, and the GT Equipment Group, a sporty addition that helped put the spurs to Dearborn’s little horse.
The original GT package was only available with one of two optional 289-4V V-8s: the 225-hp Challenger or 271-hp High Performance. It included the existing Special Handling suspension, unassisted front disc brakes, dual exhausts, fog lamps, and a flashy five-dial instrument panel in place of the standard Falcon-style dash.
When five-dial instrumentation became the norm for all Mustangs in 1966, it helped reduce the price for the second-edition GT package. Adding a set of F70-14 Wide Oval tires into the mix pushed the price back up in 1967. Heavy-duty underpinnings carried over, along with front discs (now power-assisted) and those familiar fog lamps. New out back was a pop-open gas cap, adorned with appropriate “GT” lettering. Revised naming also appeared this year, as manual transmission cars wore familiar “GT” identification and automatic-equipped models were given “GTA” fender badges.
The Mustang’s original $165 GT package could be added to all three 1965 models: coupe, convertible, and fastback. Unassisted front disc brakes and dual exhausts with chrome tips were included also.
GT Mustangs represented the flagships of the fleet into 1968 and were offered one final time in 1969. GT fender badges did not appear on the last of the line.
Revised GT identification appeared in 1967, as automatic-transmission models were adorned with “GTA” fender badges. Gas caps, in either stick or auto mode, still read “GT.”
Engine choices doubled in 1967 after the 320-hp 390-ci FE-series big-block was allowed entry between the fenders of Ford’s newly enlarged Mustang. A 200-hp 289-2V joined the list, too, meaning a single exhaust appeared beneath a GT for the first time.
GTA differentiation didn’t return for 1968, nor did standard front discs, which at least were mandatory options when an FE big-block was installed. The remaining standard stuff included a new base engine (a 302-4V small-block) and revised styled-steel wheels. The 14x6 argent-colored rims wore bright trim rings and small center caps sporting red-painted “GT” identification. Trading argent paint for chrome plating was optional.
Ford’s hottest GT yet debuted in April 1968, fitted with the aforementioned 428 Cobra Jet big-block plus a whole host of hot parts (see Chapter 2). Although all regular-production CJ Mustangs were GTs in 1968, the 335-hp option became available for non-GTs as well the following year.
The GT and Mach 1 shared engine lineups in 1969, and the latter also borrowed the former’s new non-functional hood scoop and racing-style hood pins. GT fender badges went missing this year, and those two letters weren’t mated with another Mustang until 1982.
HEADING UP 1969’S HERD
Both Boss Mustangs, 302 and 429, were originally developed by Ford’s performance contractor, Kar-Kraft, in Brighton, Michigan. Kar-Kraft then handled final “Boss-9” production duties, rolling out its first in January 1969, nearly three months ahead of the initial small-block Boss.
Able to operate at a slower, steadier pace than the home factory, Kar-Kraft was better suited to perform various time-consuming modifications to Mach 1 SportsRoofs delivered right off the Dearborn assembly line. Making the transformation from Mach to Boss involved, among other things, widening the engine compartment by 2 inches, relocating the battery to the trunk, and adding reinforced shock towers. On the outside went a large functional hood scoop and fenders clearanced especially to supply operating room for standard F60 Wide Oval rubbers mounted on chromed 15x7 Magnum 500 wheels. Beneath that scoop was the star of the show, the 375-hp “Shotgun motor,” with its aluminum cylinder heads and competition-style oil cooler.
Although the nimble Boss 302 was born to do battle with Chevrolet’s Z/28 Camaro on the Trans-Am road racing circuit, the brutal Boss 429 was created to satisfy NASCAR rules, which stated that any model or engine could compete on its stock car tracks as long as at least 500 regular-production examples were sold to the public. But nowhere was it specified that the pair be built together. Once legalized between Mustang flanks, the Boss 429 V-8 went to work on the NASCAR circuit behind the extended snouts of Fairlane-based Talladegas.
Powering the Boss 302 in 1969 (shown) and 1970 was an exclusive small-block created by combining a modified Windsor block (incorporating four-bolt main bearing caps) with the free-breathing canted-valve cylinder heads then being readied for 1970’s new 351 Cleveland V-8. Output was 290 hp, and a 4-speed stick was included in all cases for both years. (David Newhardt Photo, Courtesy Mecum Auctions)
Ford initially applied the Mach 1 nameplate to a futuristic personal hovercraft, called a “Levacar,” originally displayed at the Rotunda in Dearborn early in 1959. Shown here is Ford Engineering & Research vice president Andrew Kucher, who first proposed using air jets to propel daily transports 30 years earlier. In 1961, the Aluminum Model Toys (AMT) company released a 1/20-scale plastic version. AMT’s model kit even included a blow tube (with mouthpiece) that allowed this little Levacar to ride around on a “cushion of air” just like the real thing. (Photo Courtesy Ford Images)
Following its prototype stage at Kar-Kraft, the Boss 302 was refined at Ford Engineering, where Mat Donner was responsible for its superb chassis, made up of “mostly adjustments” in his words. Fat F60 Wide Ovals on 15x7 Magnum 500s (painted in standard form, chromed optionally) again appeared, as did those requisite wheel arch mods. Hank Lenox supplied an exclusive power source; he assembled a special 302-cube V-8 based on a modified Windsor block fitted with four-bolt main bearings. On top went new canted-valve cylinder heads then being readied for Ford’s upcoming 351 Cleveland small-block, introduced for 1970.
Boss production rolled over into 1970 before changing attitudes at Ford deemed the combo no longer viable in the face of tightening federal standards concerning both automotive safety and emissions. The times, they were a-changin’, too.
MACH 1 LAUNCH
Mach 1 identification first landed on a Blue Oval vehicle 10 years before it began gracing the 1969 SportsRoof. An out-of-this-world concept, to say the least, the Levacar Mach 1 went on display in Ford’s Rotunda in the spring of 1959, leaving witnesses wondering how the heck the darned thing worked. Not one wheel was in sight, yet brochures claimed a possible top end of 500 mph. What was up?
The Levacar was. It was suspended a few inches above the roadway or turf by pressurized atmosphere directed through three “levapads.” As soon as it was free of rolling friction, this personal hovercraft purportedly could be pushed to sky-high ground speeds by horizontal air streams, sorta like those that delivered George Jetson to and from work (in glorious color) every Sunday night on ABC television from September 1962 to March 1963. Of course, although this intriguing technology worked fine in Hanna-Barbera cartoons, it never managed to propel its way from the Rotunda into reality. Rorry, Reorge.
A second Mach 1 sighting came in 1967 when this concept car was created (by customizing that year’s redesigned production model) for the auto show circuit. Further modifications followed for the 1968 show season. (Photo Courtesy Ford Images)
Far more realistic was Ford’s first Mustang-based Mach 1, a show car initially captured on film in Dear-born’s design studio in November 1966. Basically a custom take on 1967’s restyled fastback, this red-painted beauty featured a radically chopped top and notably large rear-quarter scoops ahead of the wheel openings. Equally hard to miss were two hefty racing-style fuel fillers; one was countersunk into each C-pillar. A revamp for the 1968 show season lengthened the nose and duck tailed the rear, in the latter case tipping off a new exterior cue awaiting SportsRoof customers a year later. A hatchback roof also was added, foretelling a regular-production feature to come for the 1974 downsized Mustang II.
Ford reportedly spent $150,000 on another 1967 show car, the Mach 2, a fiberglass-bodied two-seater that featured a 289 small-block mounted amidships. (Photo Courtesy Ford Images)
Mach 1 concept updates for 1968 included more radical nose treatments and a hatchback roof. (Photo Courtesy Ford Images)
A second concept car, tagged Mach 2, appeared in 1967 with its engine mounted amidships. Ford reportedly spent $150,000 on this attractive two-seat coupe, with plans reportedly calling for it to pick up where Carroll Shelby’s comparatively rude, crude Cobra roadster left off. But again, life couldn’t imitate art. Too bad; in another time, the playful Mach 2 might’ve made the regular-production grade, if only briefly. Kinda like Pontiac’s Fiero.
Although the regular-production Mach 1 didn’t have its own exclusive brochure in 1969, it did star on the cover of that year’s main Mustang promotional publication, and rightly so.
With their feet firmly planted in the real world, Ford people apparently figured they didn’t need to go overboard when the moment finally arrived to launch their sales-ready Mach 1. No exclusive press releases were prepared, nor was the car given a coming-out party. It was simply mentioned, rather humbly, during Ford’s 1969 lineup long-lead press conference, held in Dear-born in July 1968.
“For 1969, we look for great things from Mustang Mach 1,” said merchandising manager William Benton before meandering on to speak in equally understated tones about the Thunderbird, Falcon, and Fairlane.
Mach 1 magazine ads in 1969 featured two-page photographic representations and artists’ conceptions. Note that the tail striping in this rear view does not feature the die-cut “Mach 1” lettering that apparently was a last-second addition to production models. (Photo Courtesy Ford Images)
“The Mustang in 1969 will have considerably expanded market coverage and appeal in all-out performance with the Cobra Jet, in luxury with the Grande, and in performance and luxury with the Mach 1,” added Light Vehicle chief engineer Tom Feaheny, reserving his unbridled enthusiasm, perhaps, for Mustang’s redesigned ventilation system. Hell, Benton didn’t even open with 1969’s pony car news, choosing instead “a slightly unusual approach” that first concentrated, with admitted pride, on Ford’s best-selling light trucks.
Motor Trend (August 1968) and Car and Driver (November 1968) also covered Ford’s latest and greatest pony car right up front. According to Motor Trend’s Robert Irvin, the “Mustang Mach 1 . . . will not put its namesake out of the picture, but rather, into a better one.” Notice Dearborn’s newly hired president, fast-thinking Bunkie Knudsen, beaming above. (Photo Courtesy The Enthusiast Network)
So what was the Mach 1? Chopped liver?
Not at all. Nor was it a shrinking violet. As far as publicity pushes were concerned, it was the car itself that honked its own horn early on. With a little help from speed demon Mickey Thompson, an old friend of Bunkie Knudsen’s from his days as Pontiac chief.
Both Sports Illustrated and Hot Rod were on hand in the summer of 1968 when racer Mickey Thompson took three 1969 Mustang SportsRoofs, striped up in Mach 1 regalia, to Bonneville to kick up some salt. Thompson’s team left Utah with 295 new USAC speed and endurance records, achievements that Ford’s ad guys wasted little time touting in black-and-white print ads. (Photo Courtesy The Enthusiast Network)
In 1960, Thompson became the first American to surpass 400 mph on the salt at Bonneville in his Pontiac-powered Challenger I. Eight years later, he was back at the Flats and again had Knudsen’s support. Only this time he brought three mucho-modified pre-production Mustang SportsRoofs, assembled at Holman-Moody (Ford’s competition contractor in Charlotte, North Carolina), then delivered cross-country to Thompson’s shop in Long Beach, California, for final prep, which included adding Mach 1 stripes for prime hype value. Painted yellow, red, and blue, the trio featured noticeably lowered NASCAR-spec chassis and radical tunnel-port V-8s: 427-ci FE big-blocks for the red and blue models and a 302-cube Trans-Am small-block for their yellow running mate.
Mickey Thompson also promoted the Mach 1 brand one quarter-mile at a time in 1969 using two funny cars, one blue, the other red, both powered by 427 single-overhead-cam (SOHC) V-8s. Danny Ongais was all but unbeatable in the blue flopper; Pat Foster piloted its red running mate. (Photo Courtesy Bob McClurg)
Thompson and co-driver Danny Ongais assaulted Bonneville’s test courses at various times during July, August, and September 1968, eventually setting 295 United States Auto Club Class B and C records for both speed and endurance. The United States Auto Club (USAC) B classification was for cars with engines displacing 305 to 488 ci; C was for displacements of 183 to 305 inches. Thompson’s two 427 Mustangs concentrated on top-end B runs beginning with both standing and flying starts. The yellow small-blocker went after those same straight-line speed standards plus various long-distance records, established on a rutted 10-mile oval. Kicking up sodium nonstop for 24 hours, it averaged 157.663 mph and piled up 3,783 miles, 405 miles farther, and 17 mph faster than the existing best 24-hour performance in Class C.
USAC officials were amazed, Knudsen was pleased beyond measure, and Ford’s advertising guys back East were more than willing to spread the word in no time flat. “All these records make an undeniable statement about the new 1969 Mustang,” touted the resulting magazine ad, placed in all the right buff books in the fall of 1968. “Never before has any car combined the performance to go so fast and the durability to do it for so long. What this means to you: The 1969 Mustangs are winners; at the track or on the turnpikes.” Curiously, not once was the Mach 1 name mentioned in this black-and-white one-pager.
Hot Rod, however, gave due credit, this after Thompson invited editor Ray Brock (and Sports Illustrated feature writer Bob Ottum) to turn some high-speed laps around the Bonneville oval during the team’s initial Salt Flats visit in July. Brock didn’t disappoint, putting the three purpose-built pony cars on his October 1968 cover, along with the main man behind the machines. “Mickey Thompson proves 1969 Mustang Mach 1 performance with Bonneville endurance runs,” read the accompanying blurb.
Ford’s original Mach 1 also made the covers of Motor Trend (August 1968), via artistic conception, and Car and Driver (November 1968). Then came the aforementioned March 1969 Car Life issue, leading up front with “The First Great Mustang.”
Hyperbole? You make the call.
