"Everything had been pretty ersatz up to that point. One of the stimuli for the program was the Corvair Monza - the dolled-up Corvair. Among the alternatives we looked at were Falcon derivatives like special hardtop models - sexed-up models. But the Falcon didn't sex up so well. We finally got around to the concept of a truly unique car."
A competition ofr designers was proposed.
The Corporate Projects Studio, the Ford Studio and the Lincoln-Mercury Studio were given the package dimensions and asked to engage in open competition, with a limit of two weeks to present clay models. The challenge sent a wave of enthusiasm through the studios.
"To save time," said Joseph Oros, then chief stylist of the Ford Division Studio, "before we started sketching, we worked up a list of do's and don'ts and taked them up on the wall. We didn't want the car to look like any other Ford car. And it wasn't supposed to ape the Corvair Monza. It was supposed to be unique."
Other guidelines:
- The car should embody the long-hood, short-deck, low-profile look.
- It should accommodate four passengers.
- It had to be soundly and exquisitely styled.
- It had to be versatile - adaptable to a wide variety of tastes: sporty enough for the dragstrip, modish enough for the country club, demure enough for church-going.
- It should have good trunk space.
At the end of the two weeks, seven clay models were lined up in the Styling Center courtyard. The winner seemed to "leap out" of the pack. It carred the name and symbol of "Cougar" (a name to be applied to a Lincoln-Mercury Division sporty compact in 1967).
Once the styling was approved, corporate approval of the project came quickly.
A chart was drawn up. Public introduction date was to be April 17, 964, the weekend of the opening of the New York World's Fair. This required a "Job 1" date of March 9, 1964 - the date the first production Mustang would come off the final line at the Dearborn Assembly Plant.
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