From sketch to production…
During the process of designing the new sporty car that would eventually become the 1965 Ford Mustang, the various design proposals went under many names including Avanti, Allegro and Torino. Even the design by Gale Halderman that was chosen as the basis for the production model was originally called Cougar until the Mustang name was chosen.
The Mustang name first appeared on the Mustang I sports car concept of 1962 and it featured a galloping horse badge conceived by designer Phil Clark. The emblem was evolved further for the production car in 1964 and has continued to receive updates in the nearly 50 years since.
In early summer-1962, as California-based race car constructor Troutman and Barnes was assembling the running version of the Mustang 1 concept, the Ford designers gathered in the studio back in Dearborn to review sketches for the badge. The goal was to create something that reflected both a horse for the car’s name and that the car was American. Phil Clark had been sketching ideas for a horse badge for several years and the team preferred his concept for a galloping horse with a a red, white and blue tri-bar design to reflect the Mustang’s American heritage.
While the Mustang concept was being completed in September 1962, a competition was held among the Ford designers for a four-seat sporty car. More than a dozen very different designs were proposed but ultimately a design by Gale Halderman was selected as the basis of what would eventually be sold as the 1965 Mustang. Each design had a different name to distinguish them and Halderman’s proposal was called Cougar. The grille featured a stylized big-cat contained by a surround that would eventually be known as the pony corral.
There was considerable debate about which direction the Cougar or pony should face; left or right. Various design models during 1962-1964 can be found with logos pointing in either direction.
During 1963, Ford prepared a second concept based on one of the production prototype body-shells that would eventually be called Mustang II. The proportions of the pony logo as used on the Mustang I were deemed too tall to fit nicely in the production-style grille corral. Design studio modelers Charles Keresztes and Waino Kangas were tasked with creating a new versions of the pony for the grille and fender of the Mustang II concept and the 1965 production car. Here Keresztes works on a further revision of the badge for the production 1974 Mustang II.
Waino Kangas’ final wooden sculpture of the production grille pony.
Source: Ford Aug 26, 2013 | Dearborn, Mich.
Read more at: www.ford.com