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ON THE ROAD WITH TWO MUSTANG II's/By John Christy
No matter how assiduously or meticulously we test a new car in the
usual sense of instrumenting its behavior, checking its fuel consumption in a controlled situation and so on, we never get the point of view of an owner unless we live with it on a trip away from the normal office routine and at the mercy of the road, the elements and strange service facilities.
We had tested and tried the new Mustang II in all the usual ways, both in our own facilities and at the factory proving grounds. Were it an evolutionary example of an on-going model, that would have been enough. But in this case we felt that we had to find out more--how it would feel to the new owner who picked one up and had to head off on a vacation or a business trip--in short, whether when we lived with it we'd grow to know and love it--or hate it.
The cars were the top models of the two distinctly different versions of Mustang II. One was the Mach I with all its options including rally suspension, fat radial tires, 2.8-liter V-6 engine and the four-speed box. The other was the one known as the Ghia, the luxury notch-back with all the walnut-burl type trim, velour upholstery and nearly every other gubbin in the arm-Iong option list that would make for creature comfort and civilized motoring. Both were also air conditioned.
The excuse was a photo session at Harrah's Automobile Collection in Reno, Nev. The routes to that Northern Nevada watering-cum-gambling place from Los Angeles can be dull and fast, or interesting and fast, or just plain interesting. We chose a combination of the latter two and threw in the Ferrari Owners' Club hill-climb in Virginia City for further interest and the chance to do some otherwise illegal barreling on a closed road course. The idea was that John Lamm and I would swap cars somewhere in the midpoint of the trip and then compare notes. Lamm started out in the Mustang Mach I and I got the Ghia.
One of the first things we noticed, having gotten off to a late start and having to grab lunch on the fly, was that the central console in either car would very neatly hold one of those cubicle half-pint cartons of milk without spilling though it was a bit of an effort to avoid getting sandwich crumbs on the crushed velour upholstery in the Ghia. The next thing noticed was that in spite of the usual
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| Motor Trend DECEMBER 1973 51 |
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latter-day anemia or seeming anemia in the engine compartment. both cars wanted to lock into a cruise speed that tended toward the illegal. It was all very unobtrusively done -- we'd move out at the legal freeway speed and look down at the meter to see that we were pushing above 75 toward 80 mph. This occurred even though there was a slight but steady rate of climb from the Los Angeles basin to the Owens Valley gateway to the Sierras where we would be spending the best part fo the next several days.
The Ghia's cruising was nearly effortless and the performance, thanks obviously to lean carburetor settings, seemed to get better above the 3000-foot level. This phenomenon continued until roughly 5500 to 6000 feet of altitude reached, at which time the spark retarded the exhaust gas recirculation effect made themselves felt and the performance went away insofar as any tries at rapid acceleration were concerned. The car would move out and would still cruise as before but passing slower cars was a matter of laying back and judging timing rather a quick burst. It may have been teh transmission or it may have been one of those minor variations of tune from car to car, but the automatic-equipped Ghia could pull away from the stick shift Mach I at altitudes of 6000 feet and more though the Mach I would take it on the level at lower altitdes. The Ghia, which achieved better fuel economy on our controlled 145-mile test look than the Mach I. lost its slim edge on this haul. The explanation for this is that it would automatically shift down for a pass at anything under 70 mph if it was booted hard enough. The Mach i on the other band, didn't need
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to be shifted for a pass except when slowed to 45 mph or so. Those automatic downshifts, at least on the long uphill haul, cost roughly three miles per gallon.
We swapped cars in Virginia City and it was even more apparent that we were dealing with two entirely different types of car, witht he Ghia in this case having the edge. The Mach I was just as fast and, in quick jump-offs from side streets onto heavily traveled roads, its agility and four-speed box were a help but the Ghia in other respects felt more all-of-a-piece, as though the builders had done a better job of homework. The Mach I suffered in small details that were more annoying than serious. Such things as the fact that no two pedals were on the same plane hurt the impression as did something that was probably unique to this particular car: a stretching clutch cable that got worse as time went oni until the clutch pedal had to be slammed right into the pile carpeting to make a clean shift. It may just be the layout but there also seemed to be more resonance in the Mach I. Where the Ghia was restful to drive and over the logn run produced near-zero fatigue, the Mach I was more work and six hours did cause some fatigue.
The sum opinion was that they were both excellent cars for the money and type and the difference would hardly be noticed without direct comparison of the nature to which we subjected them. The Ghia is, for a totally new model, well sorted and finished. The Mach I coudl still stand some sorting out and a bit more attention paid to such small details as pedal alignment and other ergonomic areas that make the difference between a good car and a fine one.
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| 52 DECEMBER 1973 Motor Trend |
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