Ford Mustang 1965 News

Ford is seeing yellow for this year's SEMA show. The annual Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas is always a temple for excessive modification, but Ford has kept the cosmetic custom weirdness to a minimum for their Project Yellow Jacket Mustang.However, the real beauty -- and brawn -- lies under the yellow skin. Created by Ford and Vortech Superchargers, the car is powered by a 5.0-litre Coyote V8 engine that was treated to one of Vortech's V-3 Si blowers. The result is 451 kilowatts and 640 Newton metres of torque with 7.5 psi of boost. That's a big improvement over the 313 kilowatts and 528 Newton metres the Coyote makes in a stock 2014 Ford Mustang GT.However, it's not quite enough to outdo the Shelby GT500's 5.8-litre supercharged V-8, which chucks out 494 kilowatts and 855 Newton metres. Ford has to maintain its Mustang hierarchy, after all.The Yellow Jacket sports a carbon fibre cowl-induction hood and 3D Carbon Boy Racer body kit for a bit of added visual muscle, and rolls on iForged Icon wheels (20- x 9-inch front, 20- x 11-inch rear) and Falken Azenis FK453 tires (275/40/20 front, 315/35/20 rear). Other modifications include Baer brakes with six-piston calipers, a tuned suspension, and a Webasto sunroof.www.motorauthority.com 

Up to 300 Ford workers in Geelong may still have work after they are made redundant when the company stops making cars in Australia in 2016, after a small Melbourne company yesterday announced it was planning to recruit them. Power Systems Australia is looking to make gas-fired generators to export to markets in Asia and the Pacific. It currently employs 22 people in the Melbourne suburb of Campbellfield, but is planning to start a new factory in Geelong. The company currently makes electrical and electronic switchboards, and repairs and recalibrates power supply systems, but has also been researching the development and manufacture of power generation and supply systems. Ford announced earlier this year it would cease building cars in Australia, and in a special Ford event in August -- attended by global CEO Alan Mulally -- confirmed that we would see the next Ford Mustang here as a hero car in place of the Falcon.  

The 2015 Ford Mustang is on track for an auto show debut within the next six months and already many of its details are becoming known. Today, we learned that engineers developing the car have targeted a substantial weight saving for the new model. A source familiar with the car’s development told Edmunds that the 2015 Mustang will be only slightly smaller than the model it replaces but weigh around 180kg less. The 2014 Mustang equipped with a V6 tips the scales at just over 1587kg which means the new 2015 Mustang may be as light as just a bit more than 1400kg. The source said engineers were trying to improve the fuel economy of the car, though no doubt lobbing off around 180kg from the current Mustang will also yield significant gains in virtually every dynamic statistic. Combined with a new independent rear suspension, the lighter weight should see the Mustang turn in new levels of performance at the track. The 2015 Mustang is expected to be about 38cm shorter than the current car and 15cm narrower. Getting the weight down will be done by using lighter materials such as aluminium instead of conventional steel. Improved chassis design will also mean less reinforcement will be needed. www.motorauthority.com  

Watch the full Ford Mustang RC chase video

James Bond ‘Goldfinger’ Aston Martin was epic, and the $4.62 million that Steve Champagne (yep, a real name) gave American customiser George Barris for the real Batmobile was serious money, then you'd be wrong.Ford as part of an ongoing product placement arrangement with Warner Bros who financed the movie. Ford also offered two big Galaxie 500s for the baddies to drive in the chase scenes but they were rejected and the producers bought two new Dodge Chargers. And so the main players in this iconic car chase were gathered for the fray.David Burrell is the editor of retroautos.com.au

What’s the catch? That’s just for the body shell. Ford’s Detroit HQ has approved a new stamping edition of the steel bodies for the first generation of Mustangs. It comes ready for paint, but buyers have to build the rest of the car – from the wheels up. However in the US that could be readily done, with a quick search of the internet showing that you can order a reproduced version of just about any part for the car. However the news will also be welcomed by those want to restore an original, but are faced with a large amount of rust cutting. The new body shells will have better rust protection than those made in the 60s, says Dynacorn Classic Bodies, who will build the Mustangs. The California specialists’ catalogue already includes 19767-70 Mustang convertibles and fastbacks, as well as the 1969 Pontiac Firebird and 1967-69 Chevrolet Camaro convertibles and coupes.

One we found on a shelf at the back of the Carsguide vault. Motown legends Martha and the Vandellas on the assembly line at the Ford Rouge plant on June 15, 1965. You can imagine today’s OHS departments going into meltdown at the sight of this.This was a promo film, created by The Ford Motor Company, which was heavily invested in making the community work at the time.The Mustang became a text book example of smart marketing and advertising.This public relations film was just one more aspect of what was considered part of a “classic” new model introduction to a market that would become the largest, most consuming, best educated and the biggest bunch of whiners in the history of mankind.

Ronnie and Garry King now have two 1960s Mustangs."I had exotic cars like the E Type and Maserati but they cost a fortune to maintain and the Porsche was a fabulous car but almost boring because it did everything so well," he says."These (Mustangs) don't handle or stop, but they have character and you have fun driving them. Parts are also easy to get and cheaper. You can buy virtually any part for these cars."The conversion from Euro exotics to Yank Fords happened three years ago when they bought a 1965 Mustang Fastback, but the love of 'Stangs began decades ago when Garry watched Allan Moffatt and Ian Geoghegan racing them. "I loved their simplicity," Garry says.He bought the 1965 Mustang Fastback in 2008 for $US27,000 from a Las Vegas owner. "It didn't sell in an online auction because of the oversized wheels," he says.He's since changed the wheels to more stock items, replaced the gearbox to match the engine and touched up the paintwork. King says it's now worth as much as $70,000.It features a 289 cubic inch (4.7-litre) Hypo K Code V8 engine with 271hp (202kW), a four-speed manual top-loader gearbox, drum brakes and crossply tyres."They were set up for racing with the same engine and gearbox as the Shelby Cobra 289," he says. "This is what Shelby based the larger 350s on." He calls it Miss Kitty because of the K Code engine.But his pride and joy is "Carroll", the 1969 Shelby GT500 he bought a few months ago for $75,000 in New York. "We were actually looking for a GT350 and didn't think we could afford one of these," he says. "It's worth about $140,000 to $150,000 in Australia."The GT500 was a personal favourite of American racer and car designer Carroll Shelby and was the only Mustang he purpose-built, rather than modified. It features a 428 cubic-inch (seven-litre) Cobra jet engine, so called because the venturi air vent in the centre of the bonnet rams air directly into the air filter."It's quoted as being 335bhp (250kW) but it was in the days when they understated the power so it's probably more like 435bhp (324kW)," he says. "The Fastback is sweet, but this an animal."From the A pillar forward and at the tail it's made of fibreglass, it has taillights from the Thunderbird and an air scoop in the side to ventilate the rear brakes.A design fault in the original model had the fuel filler in the rear right above the dual exhaust pipes, so when owners advanced the timing, it would backfire and explode in flames. In this later model the fuel tank was ventilated forward of the exhaust.King has done little work to it except to replace the brake master cylinder, power steering hose and the tyres which had been on it since 1988.It features power front disc brakes and rear drums, three-speed auto, rear louvers and factory air-conditioning which makes it the summer drive choice of the Kings. They plan to take it to the first national Shelby rally in Dandenong, Victoria, next October.Meanwhile, the GT500 and the Fastback share the carpeted garage with an old Vespa scooter called Lola while their daily work vehicles are parked out in the street.

The Bonhams & Butterfields auction featured actor McQueen's 1949 Chevy pick-up truck offered for sale for the first time by his widow Barbara Minty McQueen. It sold for $37,570.McQueen died in 1980 and left a legacy of films, many of which included car and bike stunts performed, in large part, by the ruggedly handsome actor. They include the motorcycle chase scene in the 1963 war movie The Great Escape and the car chase through the streets of San Francisco in the 1968 movie, Bullitt, which is considered by critics to the best of all time.The auction included a first special edition Mustang Bullitt presented by Ford to McQueen's son Chad who is a professional race driver. Number 1 in the series and dubbed ‘McQueen 1’, the Mustang is in factory original and unmodified condition and has only 2012 miles (3238km) on the odometer. It was not sold but was estimated to go for up to $85,000.McQueen not only performed many of his own film driving and riding stunts, but also raced cars and bikes and represented America in the International Six-Day Enduro motorcycle event. His 1940 Indian Chief motorcycle used as his ‘Hollywood bike’ and featured on the cover of the book Steve McQueen: The Last Mile sold for $106,450 while his 1919 Indian Daytona twin with FLXI sidecar did not sell but was estimated to be worth as much as $135,000. It may not be a car or bike, but its McQueen motoring credentials are bona fide: a Heuer-mounted stopwatch set, used in the film Le Mans, starring McQueen was sold for an undisclosed price.A spokesman for Bonhams & Butterfields said they could not comment on post-sale negotiations, nor publicise the last bid price on unsold items. "But I'm sure Bonhams would certainly entertain offers from interested buyers," he said.Other celebrity vehicles in the auction included a 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz formerly owned by Frank Sinatra which was bought for $131,000 and motoring enthusiast Sam Garrett's collection of 28 American and European cars.Garrett invented the mascara brush by taking a brush used in the maintenance of camera equipment and, together with Max Factor, applying the concept to make-up.His collection includes a 1927 BNC type 110 Roadster, 1935 Brewster Town Car, 1937 Rolls-Royce 25/30 Limousine, 1948 Packard Custom 8 Wagon, 1950 Morgan SS and 1967 Mercedes-Benz 600 SWB.