The Ford Mustang Is Not A Muscle Car.
Let’s clear this up once and for all. The Ford Mustang is not a muscle car and it’s about time people stopped referring to it as such.
It was a pony car. It was indeed… the original pony car. If you don’t already know this, the first hit on a Google search will tell you:
Let’s clear this up once and for all. The Ford Mustang is not a muscle car and it’s about time people stopped referring to it as such.
It was a pony car. It was indeed… the original pony car. If you don’t already know this, the first hit on a Google search will tell you:
Pony car is an American class of automobile launched and inspired by the Ford Mustang in 1964. The term describes an affordable, compact, highly styled car with a sporty or performance-oriented image.
It wasn’t a muscle car.
The muscle car was uncompromisingly designed for power and straight line speed.
It did not have a sophisticated chassis or clever engineering in anything but the engine - let alone have the sleek styling of European performance cars.
The muscle car was the blue collar car guys car. Inexpensive. Any cost or money spent went to straight line power. It was a light-to-light racer. It could also be a cruiser, a road tripper eating up the miles… or a frantic cross country racer chased by the cops driven by the lone driver, the last American hero, the electric centaur, the demi-god, the super driver of the golden west!
Over the years, you could get away with calling the Mustang a muscle car as the lines blurred out of the seventies and into the eighties and nineties. Then even when it was remodelled and brought back to life most recently though, it still had a live rear axle which made the handling suck.
If it made the handling suck, “Why would they keep it?” I hear you ask.
Well, firstly crap rear suspension helps the Mustang lose control and fly into crowds of onlookers if you believe the memes… but most importantly it’s cheaper - which fits with the pony or muscle car ethos.
However in 2015 Ford switched the Mustang over to independent rear suspension.
“What’s a live rear axle?” “What’s independent suspension mean?” I hear some of you ask?
Well, let’s allow Jason from Engineering Explained tell you because he is better at it and I can’t be bothered to type an explanation…
So, where were we?
Right.
Ford switched to independent rear suspension. Awesome. Welcome to the 21st century and going round corners and stuff!
To the point it’s as much fun to drive a canyon as it is to nail it in a straight line.
Yes. The new Mustang is a full bloodied sports car - and a very good one. I had the pleasure of driving one up and down a long canyon road for a day and it was great. Fast, sure footed… fun. I’m originally from Europe and if you had de-badged it completely and sat me inside having not been in one before; I would have sworn it was a European sports car.
It cares as much now about it’s handling as it does it’s power.
The Ford Mustang is not a muscle car. It never really was, and from 2015 onwards it certainly isn’t.
Oh, and neither is the new Camaro.
The only genuine muscle car in production right now is arguably the Dodge Challenger.
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Comments
So theyre not allowed to modernise the cars? Did you know the first off roaders didn’t have a roof? The first hatchbacks didn’t have turbos? The first sports cars didn’t have electronic steering? You described a muscle car as having a “sporty or performance oriented image” how can you maintain that without moving with the times?
I didn’t say it was a bad thing. I also didn’t describe a muscle car as having “sporty or performance oriented image”.
It’s a great sports car - and that I did say.
Stop giving the man so much abuse for one comment sure i loveeeee old mustangs and would like to think of them as muscle but hes right their pony cars and whats wrong with a naturally aspirated engine and back in the 1980s power steering wasnt even a thing so and muscle is made for straight line speed they are pure breed drag racers and i love it that way…who cares about the times classic cars were better anyway
Maybe not in the literal sense, but for all intents and purposes the mustang really is a muscle car
That was my point too, even by the description given in the article, its still a pony car.
It’s to no intent or purpose a muscle car. I used words to explain why.
It’s a sports car. Why can people not grasp that concept? Why the resistance to understanding concepts and their application?
So weird.
nope no Muscle Car here just doing some Crowd control
Thats Jason from Engineering Explained.. Alex is from CarThrottle :)
Ah. My mistake. Thanks for pointing that out.
Just because the Plymouth Superbird added a gigantic spoiler and a streamlined body kit upfront, it does not fall into the tuner category.
Who said it did?
All i want to know is who’s Alex? The guy in the video is Jason Fenske
Yeah, I made a mistake.
Good read mate. Whether I agree or not I found it interesting to read. Thanks for sharing your opinion!
This is ridiculously stupid. I could understand if you were referring to the v6 or eco boost. But a 5.2 L V8. Is definitely muscle. I notice you don’t refer to the body at all but I feel like you also don’t like the new next either. And what is so wrong with drifting. It’s a growing sport. And that seems to be what they are making it for. I totally agree with you about the v6 and eco boost. But anything above 4.6. I strongly disagree
Where did you get drifting from???
Muscle car or not its still a YANK TANK that is easily beaten by European or Japanese cars of the same value. so with that said I don’t think the problem is that people class it as a muscle car, I think its the massive waist of engine size, the enormity of the thing and the fact it doesn’t look “sporty or performance-oriented” in the slightest.
It’s actually a really good sports car.
Hmmm… let me start by saying I don’t much like the Mustang, but in terms of performance per dollar here in Canada nothing beats it. You can get a gt350 for less than $65,000. For that kind of cash you can’t even get an M3, wich cost an additional $10,000 and even thought the M3 is a great car, It pains me to say the gt350 will destroy it (performance wise)
Maybe it’s both? But I do think the GT alone is still a muscle car. Cheap power and fastback muscle looks.
I always assumed that pony car referred to the shape. The whole thing just confuses me. In fact muscle car is has such a loose definition, nearly everything v8 and rear wheel drive can be considered a muscle car. I have to agree with you here, I think the mustang is both, at least the v8 ones are.
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