1964 brought out one of the most famous Fords of all time, the Mustang. A rebodied Falcon with option V8 engines, it was a perfect car for 20 somethings. Ford initially projected sales of 100,000 per year. They were wrong, sales for the half model year of 1964 were 120,000. For 1965, it was 550,000. For 1966, it peaked at a staggering 600,000. The Mustang, contrary to popular belief, was not the first car of its type, that honor goes to the Plymouth Barracuda, introduced just weeks earlier. But Ford's Pony Car captured the public's imagination in a way Chrysler's Fish Car could never hope for.
The Falcon itself was also redesigned for 1964, with more squared off styling.
View attachment 393157
The Thunderbird was redesigned.
After Enzo Ferrari's refusal to agree to be purchased by Ford, Henry Ford II gets revenge with a Le Mans winning supercar, the GT40.
The decision was made to merge Ford of Germany with Ford of Britain to create Ford of Europe. Since 1952, the Cologne based division had sold just 2 seperate cars, both named Taunus, leading to confusion and poor sales compared to GM's Opel as well as Volkswagen. Ford of Britain on the other hand was outselling GM's Vauxhall, the only Western European nation where Ford outsold GM. As such, it would be the Dagenham based division that would be in charge. The Taunuses disappeared, making way for Cortina and Zephyr.