ford mustang
The challenge of keeping an automotive legend evergreen increases in direct proportion to its age, which makes the perpetuation of the Ford Mustang one of the most formidable assignments in American autodom. How well the stewards of this 49-year-old icon discharge their sobering duty is a function of their creativity, their understanding of both Mustang loyalists and potential Mustang wannabes, and—the essential element—budget.
However passionate the keepers of the faith may be, the compelling improvements they might like to install are inevitably tempered by the corporate funding apportioned to the task. The people who file P&L statements aren’t known for their automotive passions, and even less for sentimentality.
With that in mind, the latest updates to the mainstream Mustang, on sale now as an early 2013 model, add up to a freshening. It entails a number of styling tweaks, some cool performance-measuring electronics, a Recaro-seat option (leather or cloth, adapted from the GT500 and Boss 302), a very modest increase in the output of the Mustang’s 5.0-liter V-8, and a couple Shaker sound systems capable of rousing sound sleepers in the next county (and making them glad they woke up).
However passionate the keepers of the faith may be, the compelling improvements they might like to install are inevitably tempered by the corporate funding apportioned to the task. The people who file P&L statements aren’t known for their automotive passions, and even less for sentimentality.
With that in mind, the latest updates to the mainstream Mustang, on sale now as an early 2013 model, add up to a freshening. It entails a number of styling tweaks, some cool performance-measuring electronics, a Recaro-seat option (leather or cloth, adapted from the GT500 and Boss 302), a very modest increase in the output of the Mustang’s 5.0-liter V-8, and a couple Shaker sound systems capable of rousing sound sleepers in the next county (and making them glad they woke up).