Pony Express: The Ford Mustang at 60

‘Mustang Sally, you better slow your Mustang down,’ sang Wilson Pickett in 1966. Bit late, Wilson: by ’66 Ford’s Mustang was already two years old, one of the fastest-selling cars on the planet and a runaway bandwagon of American blue-collar nostalgia more powerful than a Bruce Springsteen ballad. As the US Navy recruitment ad ran: ‘The Beach Boys. Apple pie. The ’67 Mustang. Three things worth fighting for.’

Inculcated in the heartland of America’s love affair with the automobile, the Mustang was (and remains) shorthand for endless roads, endless summers and the endless legs of bare-foot girls sitting on the hood.

Sixty years old tomorrow (17 April) and with 10 million sales under its belt, love for the Mustang has never been stronger as celebrations, displays and get togethers kick off all around the world. Last weekend the British Motor Museum at Gaydon saw an estimated 700 owners attending Mustang Day, the New York Motor Show hosted ‘Mustang Mania’, a display of some of the most important Mustangs in history and on 27 and 28 April The Classic Car Boot sale will welcome a cornucopia of Mustangs and parts thereof at Granary Square, Lewis Cubitt Square and Coal Drops Yard.