In production for 14 years, the Fox-body Ford Mustang was ubiquitous, beloved, or reviled, depending on your Motown allegiances. But the road it took to get to showrooms was long, winding, and a little weird. Mallory McMorrow guides us through archival photos of the Fox's design process.
It could have been a mess. The initial directive was that the car had to have an upright grille and front fascia. This led to horrifyingly boring design ideas like this:
Of course, some of the looks were pretty interesting. Like this Fox-body with Alfa Romeo Montreal-style slats on the B-pillar:
Midway through the design process, a Ford Europe vet took over as VP as design, and he called for a slanted fascia. That resulted in this...
...and ultimately, this:
So, click here to read the full story. And be sure to check out the 24-image slideshow that shows the design chronology from the original marker sketches to the final, production 1979 Mustang.
Enjoy.
This Fox-body Mustang woody-wagon shooting brake never happened