Bulldog66

I've been reading through alot of the magazines and old books I own. Some of the stuff that happen toFord from 1960 - present is just good reading. I thought it cool to do a little trivia post and see if folks knew some of this stuff.

So, here goes...

In 1960, Iacocca joined the Ford team as a Junior member to take over the Ford Division. His first project was to **** can a front wheel drive car from coming over to America from Europe.

Does anyone know what car that was?

The Mustang name has been said to be named after the P-51 Mustang Fighter Plane. We know that's not correct, however, what was the deciding factor for the Mustang name.

I'll post more later, just want to see what kind of responses and reaction to these posts I get before doing so.

randy78045

I cant answer your questions, but i didnt know Iacocca was affiliated with ford before chrysler and that mess... Or is that a different Iacocca??

andrewmp6

was it the old mini cooper thats the only fwd i know of in that time frame

Cannonball888

Triumph or Austin Healey?

atomsk680

they originally wanted to name it the cougar, but mercury already had that name copyrighted for their up and comin car

Twister

that, and the 1963 Cougar prototype looked too much like the Vette...I saw it at the Peterson about a decade ago

Bulldog66

He was refering to the Ford Cardinal. The Cardinal was a FWD, small 2 seater that was suppose to be directed at fuel economy. Iacocca also said that Ford was in the midst of the crying in our beer over the Edsel fiasco. He said he knew if Ford went with the Cardinal it'd be another Edsel.

As far as the mustang name.

Iacocca said : It was named by J.Walter Thompson for wild horses.

Dan66

Seriously? You've got nearly 5,300 posts on a Mustang forum and don't know it's Iacocca's baby? He's pictured and written about in every Mustang book ever printed.

65mojoe

Iacocca didn't revive Chrysler until well after his success at Ford with the Mustang. In fact, he did so well at Ford that Henry II got pissed off and fired his ***, which is why he went to Chrysler.

atomsk680

in 73 iacocca was fired. the following year, the mustang sucked because a woman was in on the commitee on what the 74 mustang would look like. she was one of the engineers wives and she owned a 65. she said to the board that the mustang went from a small sporty compact, to a chevelle sized beast! and that it got away from the original mustang idea, thus the mustang II was born. and it sucked untill, 79 when the fox arrived.