Did you know that in the late 70s, the Mustang became so forgettable that Ford was about to bring their prized pony to a point of no return?
▴2 The story goes back to 1979, when Ford decided to give the Mustang a complete makeover due to the 2nd and 3rd generation Mustang selling so poorly.
▴3 The identity of the Mustang was still there, but Ford couldn’t decide if they wanted to appease the fickle car consumer and make the Mustang a luxury GT or keep it as its storied sports car.
▴4 Ford decided that the 4th generation Mustang would avoid the muscle car route and go compact coupe. The transformed Mustang would be built in collaboration with Mazda, which Ford owned a 25% stake in. It would only be available with front wheel drive, powered by a Mazda motor, transmission, & chassis, but Ford would design the exterior & interior. This car’s code name was SN-16 and was a radical departure from their tried and true recipe.
▴5 - ▴6 Everything hit the proverbial fan in 1987 when AutoWeek’s cover story spilled the beans on the SN-16 Mustang and the Mustang fan boys went HAM. Ford HQ received thousands of letters from the faithful who demanded the Mustang stand out, not fit in.
Keeling to pressure, Ford held off on the Mazda-partnered Mustang and continued to produce the 3rd generation until 1993, ▴7 culminating in the Ford Cobra R. But what about the SN-16? Well, too much money and almost half a decade had gone into developing this car just to scrap it.
▴8 Ford decided to make their prototype the Ford Probe GT & Mazda MX-6, where it earned rave reviews for being stylish, nimble, having a peppy motor, and extremely well engineered. The car went on to become a cult classic, as it will always be seen as the “Could Have Been A Mustang”.
Unfortunately, due to lack of evolution Ford decided to axe their collaboration with Mazda in 1997.
Mustang fans dodged a bullet, but let’s raise our glasses today to the Ford Probe, the car that kick started Ford’s passion to compete to become the leader of the American sports cars market once again and continually create Mustangs that keep kicking ass!
📸Sources:1 @Ford | 2 wikipedia | 3 public domain | 4 wikipedia | 5 + 6 @autoweek | 7 @fordperformance |8,9 @Ford |