Ford Mustang’s 60th Celebrated With Some Stripes
10 years ago today, Ford marked the 50th anniversary of the Mustang’s unveiling by recreating a publicity stunt that it had first pulled with the original car in 1965: it plonked a then brand-new sixth-generation car right on top of the Empire State Building.
A decade and another generation of Mustang later, Ford’s gone a little more low-key to mark 60 years since the Mustang debuted on 17 April 1964 at the New York World’s Fair. As the legendary pony car enters its seventh decade, it’s being marked with… an optional appearance package. Oh.
Named the 60th Anniversary package, it’s a US-exclusive option which will be available on both the coupe and convertible versions of the new, 5.0-litre V8 Mustang GT. It features a host of visual nods to the 1965 Mustang (the weirdness of US car model years means that, despite going into production less than halfway into 1964, ’65 was the Mustang’s first ‘official’ model year. Us neither).
These include some very retro side stripes in red or silver, five-spoke alloys and ‘5.0’ badges on the front wings – sorry, fenders. Colour, meanwhile, is a choice between regular Mustang GT shades Vapour Blue and Race Red, and 60th Anniversary-exclusive Wimbledon White, an iconic colour from the original.
There are a few unique trim pieces, including recreations of the original Mustang badge, and each car gets a numbered plaque on the dash (tick that one off your special edition car bingo card).
Thankfully, Ford has stayed very much in 2024 for the car’s performance. It’s unchanged from the standard Mustang GT, which means, in US-market form, 480bhp and 415lb ft of torque, with either a six-speed manual or 10-speed automatic.
In another nod to the model year, 1965 Mustangs will be built with the 60th Anniversary package. It’ll go on sale in the US in the summer.
If it seems a little… underwhelming for such a big anniversary, then it’ll probably be made up for throughout the year with other Mustang derivatives, including the wild track-focused GTD.
The first full sentence spoken by an infant Mike was a review of the ride quality of a Volvo 850. It was “Daddy’s car goes bumpy-bump on a bumpy road,” so would probably need proofreading a bit, but it was a start.
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