Most Ford Mustang cognoscenti want nothing to do with 1974-1978 Mustang's, the Pinto-based "II's" that the "II" haters claim either "wasn't a real Mustang" or all but eradicated a decade of seminal pony car pioneering up to that time. This is a 1976 "II" for sale up in, appropriately, Dearborn, Michigan with a $3,700 asking price. No vinyl top, notchback, alloys and a "Cologne" 2.8-liter V-6 - aside from a rather high asking price for any mid-'70's car that needs a fair amount of work, is this really such a bad car?
In a vacuum, I don't think so especially compared to other Ford designs of the 1970's. This car may be festooned with Mustang badging, but squint or blur your eyes for a second or two to see a strong, familial resemblance to the Ford Gran Torino\Mercury Cougar or dare I say Thunderbird of the vintage. Then again, depending on your point opinion, that might not be such a good thing either although I do find at least some dash and elan to the fish-mouthed 1972 Torino's.
Squint again and you may come to some to see what this car really is - a luxurious, longer-wheelbase version of the Ford Pinto. The Pinto association, as much as anything else, may explain the vitriol Mustang fans have for the II's that were replaced by the Fox-body Mustang in 1979. Shoot, this ain't even a Maverick in disguise.
It is somewhat amazing if not miraculous that Ford introduced this car as the Mustang II in 1974 given where the Mustang had been in the few short years since it's most successful launch in 1964. Based on the compact 1960 Falcon, Ford had sold more than a million Mustangs in an elongated first MY run between April of 1964 and the end of 1965. Tack on another 400,000 or so before a rebooted 1967 Mustang and you have one of the most successful vehicle launches in automobile history. Problem was, as was or is almost always the case, subsequent updates of the Mustang where all longer, wider and heavier and the fatter the Mustang got, the more sales declined.
Coincidentally or not, the market had changed by 1967 and Ford needed to update the Mustang to keep pace with General Motors; competition something Ford didn't have to contend with until 1967. Technically, Chrysler had a competitor with their Plymouth Barracuda that was even introduced some two weeks prior to Ford's rolling out the Mustang in '64, but due either to it either being a lightly disguised Valiant, half-arsed marketing campaign or combination of both, it sold poorly.
Much of the credit for the "II" goes to, all of all people, that big car loving Ford honcho, Lee Iacocca. Iacocca agreed whole-heartedly with critics of the 1971 Mustang that Ford's foal had gotten too big and ordered a smaller Mustang dimensionally akin to the '64 to be introduced for MY 1974. And rather than use the compact Maverick chassis, he insisted the Pinto's underpinnings be used; that in-and-of-itself not a bad thing given the Pinto's rack-and-pinion steering and light weight. However, Lido insisted what would become the Mustang II not have an available V-8 engine. That changed come 1975 but the dye was cast with Mustang Nation - the Mustang II was first and foremost an economy car.
Timing being everything, just as Ford pulled the sheet off the Mustang II, the first gas crisis hit in the fall of 1973 and buyers flocked to the 20-MPG "little" Mustang. Ford sold more than 400,000 "II's" that first model year, best since 1967. Soon as the earth cooled and gas prizes stabilized, though, Mustang sales came tumbling down never reaching half of what they were during the dark days of the gas crisis. Meanwhile, sales of General Motors Camaro and Firebird recovered nicely although their replacements were sold along side them in Chevrolet and Pontiac showrooms. "Replacements" based on the Pinto's GM competitor, the Chevrolet Vega. Apparently, cooler heads or more passionate fans of the Camaro and Firebird were able to convince GM suits that gluing "Camaro" and "Firebird" on gussied up Vegas was not a good idea.
Again, much like what Linus said of the Christmas tree Charlie Brown bought, "it's not bad at all, really". Perspective, then, is everything. Some see a car that almost killed off what has become an American automobile institution while others may see it for what it is - either a large Pinto or, dare I say, a smaller Thunderbird. Either way, it was one of the few bright spots for Ford in the 1970's and a Mustang that may have saved the, ahem, breed.
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