At the press preview, Bidwell said: "We believe Mustang II may be one of those textbook examples of the right product at the right time." The time might have ben different. Originally the "Arizona Project," as it was code-named, was set for debut in April 1974 -- exactly a decade after Mustang I. But Iacocca pressed his people to "squeeze a little time out of it," which they did, making this one of the best-timed announcements in auto history.
There are many pleasant parallels between the first Mustang and this one. Iacocca was squarely behind both cars. Both were launched during boom periods in auto sales. Both were based on chassis elements that were already in high-volume production for popular cars, the Falcon then and the Pinto now. Both were styled through competitive runofs. Both were introduced with two body styles and a high level of standard equipment.
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Both were brewed with a healthy portion of T-bird and both came off the line of the Dearborn Assembly Plant. Ford has putthe lightning rod up just as high as it can to try to get it to strike twice.
The Mustang I, as Ford never ceses to remind us, set a record for sales in the first 12 months after its production of 418,812 units. This topped the first-0year record then held by another Ford product, the Falcon, at 417,174.
The question is: Could Mustang II be a contender for this honor?
On the face of things it doesn't seem likely. Production figures of 330,000 for the 1974 mdel year have been mentioned, for example, and that's a long way from the record.
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Iacocca sees it a little differently. "With all-out overtime," he says, "we could build 396,000 -- maximum. Since the world's record is 409,000, you don't have to stretch your imagination much to set a new record. I think we coud find 23,000 sets of parts somewhere . . ."
And he is confident that Ben Bidwell can sell whatever number he builds. Says Bidwell: "This part of the market will go past a 50 percent share in two years" -- including everything from the compacts downward in size. That share is projected to be 37.8 percent in 1974, and in it will be a hell of a lot of little Mustang II's, pleasing cars that are perhaps more puppy-dog than mustang but none the worse for that in today's auto environment. As the smog starts clearing, the view from the 12th floor in Dearborn looks pretty good.
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