FORD MOTOR COMPANY AND MUSTANG CLUB OF AMERICA TO MARK 50 YEARS OF MUSTANG WITH TWIN BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

| Automotive CLASSIC CARS, Ford Group News

Ford Classic

1964_Worlds_Fair_Ford_Exhibit_1965_Mustang_neg_CN3430-805 (1)

  • A celebration of Ford Mustang will take place April 16 through April 20, 2014, to honor 50 years of the iconic car
  • Open to enthusiasts from around the world, the event is so large it will be held at two locations – Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway
  • Fans will enjoy a wide range of events from car cruises to live bands, ride-and-drives, exhibits, celebrities and open-track exhibitions

The celebration of 50 years of Ford Mustang will be so large Ford Motor Company and the Mustang Club of America plan to simultaneously hold it at two locations from April 16 through April 20, 2014. Open to everyone, not just Mustang owners and MCA members, the event will be held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. and at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas.

“Working closely with Ford, we want to make the official Mustang 50-Year celebration the most important car event of 2014,” said Ronald D. Bramlett, Mustang Club of America executive director of the Mustang 50th Birthday Celebration. “We hope everyone who loves this iconic car will join us to share their personal Mustang story.

“Whether you love modern or vintage Mustangs, Shelby or Boss, racing or cruising, a new fan or have been enjoying the lifestyle for years, we’ll have something memorable for everyone at both locations.”

Charlotte Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, two of the most prestigious racetracks in the United States, are positioned to allow the maximum number of enthusiasts worldwide to attend the Mustang 50th Birthday Celebration. MCA will also organize “Pony Drives” so Mustang owners can travel in an organized group to each venue.

“Mustang enthusiasts are among the most passionate fans in the world,” said Steven Ling, Ford car marketing manager. “These twin events are really for them. We’re proud to be part of this celebration of a car that’s often called the soul of Ford Motor Company.

“Everyone has a Mustang story, and we will give people a forum to express those stories with others who also love this car.”

The original American pony car has been extremely successful for Ford, with more than 9 million sold throughout its lifetime. A key aspect to its success is that the car has always been offered in a variety of configurations, appealing to a wide variety of people.

“One of the highlights at both venues will be a display featuring examples from each of the first 50 model years of Mustang,” said Bramlett. “We’ll include cars released in April 1964 to the latest models out of Flat Rock Assembly Plant.”

Since the Ford Mustang was launched at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, it has become an important part of pop culture. Mustang has more than 3,000 appearances in film and television, plus hundreds of musical references. With nearly 5.5 million fans, Mustang is the world’s most popular automotive nameplate on Facebook.

Always evolving, each new model year of Ford Mustang has been embraced over the decades, offerings people a way to express themselves. Mustang has been a canvas for personalization. From 600-horsepower-plus versions that can exceed 200 mph to the most affordable models that get more than 30 mpg and deliver more than 300 horsepower, Mustang’s universal appeal has made it a symbol of Americana.

Twin celebrations
The tentative schedule for both venues is:

  • Wednesday, April 16 – The first official day of the Mustang 50th Birthday Celebration will feature vendors and exhibits as pony drives and members arrive
  • Thursday, April 17 – With April 17, 1964 acknowledged as the official birthday of Ford Mustang, Mustang Club of America will conduct opening ceremonies followed by a host of activities. Fans will enjoy a birthday celebration complete with cake and everyone singing “Happy Birthday.” Track time, Ford ride-and-drives, hot laps and other interactive activities are planned. Car displays, vendors and special exhibits will all be there to celebrate Mustang’s 50th
  • Friday, April 18 – The event will be in full swing with track events such as road racing, drag racing and other interactive driving events. Car displays, vendors and special exhibits will be on hand. MCA will have a themed dinner with live entertainment
  • Saturday, April 19 – Festivities will follow the same pattern as Friday. The evening will feature the Saturday Night Banquet, with guest speakers and entertainment
  • Sunday, April 20 – Easter Sunrise Services will be offered at both tracks. There will be parade laps around both speedways, and other memorable activities and photo opportunities will fill the day. MCA will have closing ceremonies in the afternoon

Details are being formalized for the event. Information will be continuously updated on a special website, www.mustang50thbirthdaycelebration.com and at the MCA website, www.mustang.org

1964_Worlds_Fair_Ford_Exhibit_1965_Mustang_neg_CN3430-231

FORD MUSTANG ADDS TO NEARLY 3,000 CREDITS WITH LEADING HERO CAR ROLE IN UPCOMING ‘NEED FOR SPEED’ MOVIE

  • A one-of-a-kind, customized Ford Mustang plays a prominent role in the upcoming film from DreamWorks Studios, “Need for Speed,” based on the long-running video game series
  • Mustang fans have crowd-sourced a list of about 3,000 Ford Mustang appearances on the large and small screen over nearly five decades
  • Mustang made its silver screen debut in the 1964 James Bond film “Goldfinger” just months after its launch
From appearances in James Bond’s “Goldfinger” to Steve McQueen’s “Bullitt” and now “Need for Speed,” the Ford Mustang has had one of the most prolific entertainment careers, with appearances in nearly 3,000 feature films and TV shows and a global fan following.
With a résumé like that, Mustang may someday get its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Mustang has been so popular that one avid fan used crowd-sourcing to create a database on the Web dedicated to cataloging the pony car’s appearances.
“My Mustang interest started in 1966, when I was 14 years old,” said Stefan Thorarensen, founder and board member of The Icelandic Mustang Club. “My aunt bought a Poppy Red 1965 Mustang Fastback, and I have never gotten over it.” Thorarensen began collecting VHS tapes and DVDs as his passion for Mustang grew. In 2009, he used a list of 300 movie and television show titles as the starting point for creation of a comprehensive, crowd-sourced site called MustangImdb.com. About 100 contributors have grown the list of Mustang on-screen appearances to nearly 3,000 titles.
This crowd-sourced effort is just one demonstration of the power of Mustang, with such a broad worldwide fan base that it even includes clubs in such far-flung locales as Iceland, Poland and New Zealand, where it has never officially even been offered for sale.
Leading roles
Mustang got off to a quick start in the movies and has never looked back. Just eight months after its debut at the 1964 New York World Fair, a Wimbeldon White convertible was the mount of choice for a beautiful assassin hunting down James Bond in “ Goldfinger.” Several years later, Bond himself took the wheel of the pony car as he raced through the streets of Las Vegas in “ Diamonds are Forever.”
By 1968, Mustang was already an icon on the road, but the late Steve McQueen transformed the pony car into a movie star in its own right with what is widely acclaimed as the best car chase ever filmed, the nine-minute climax of “Bullitt.” Forty-four years later, that same sequence would be reprised on the small screen for the series finale of “Alcatraz.”
The 2000 remake of “Gone in Sixty Seconds” produced another iconic pony in the form of Eleanor, the silver and black 1967 Mustang driven by Nicolas Cage. That car was recently sold at auction for more than $1 million and has spawned numerous replicas.
Back to the silver screen in 2014
As Mustang celebrates its 50th birthday next year, it will hit the silver screen once again in DreamWorks Studios, “Need for Speed.” The new film, inspired by the long-running series of driving video games fromElectronic Arts, features the Mustang throughout the adaptation of the gaming franchise. The film’s star, Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad”), will be joined by a one-of-a-kind, customized Mustang playing the role of the hero car.
“We’re thrilled to have Ford play such an important part in a film adapted from one of the most popular video games of all time,” said Keith Koeppen, Ford marketing communications manager. “Mustang has an incredible history appearing in movies and ‘Need for Speed’ will be a great way to continue its hero car legacy.”
Created with the help of designers at Ford, the one-off Mustang is perfectly cast for the high-stakes racing and stunts included in the film that fans will love. The Mustang features a more aggressive look due to custom bodywork including wider fenders and features like a lowered suspension and custom 22-inch wheels and tires. Even the fog lamps are new, with high-tech LED halo lamps around the air intakes.
A hero car needs a hero engine, so this Mustang has been fit with a 900-horsepower all-aluminum supercharged 5.8-liter V8 modified by Ford Racing. To top it all off, the car gets a custom paint job with specially formulated silver topped by blue stripes that glow when struck by light in the dark.

About the Mustang Club of America

The Mustang Club of America is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation, care, history, and enjoyment of all model years of Mustang, Shelby, Boss, Saleen, Roush, SVT Cobra, Steeda, and McLaren. Membership includes enthusiasts throughout the United States, Canada, and worldwide and more than 170 Regional Clubs.

 

also View;  Ford Mustang (1964-1999)

Scroll to Top