This Super Ford Collector Series is on: "The PROTOTYPE - MUSTANG I". This 8 1/2" X 11" print is in black & blue on a real nice fine pebble finish white paper.

Ford Motor Company's interest in racing dates back to the days of the Model "T's" when, ironically, the most famous name associated with Ford speed equipment was "Louis Chevrolet". No one could have guessed back then that Ford and Chevrolet would be locked into an eternal battle for supremacy in both car sales and motorsports racing.

Late 1959 found Ford Motor Company pulled in a number of directions all at once. The first Thunderbirds (1955-57) had already grown from two seaters to five seaters, the innovative, yet controversial Edsel, was in it's final production phase, and FoMoCo was already adopting a "return to racing" policy.

1960 found Ford Motor Company about to embark on what would soon prove to be the most all encompassing performance campaign ever launched by any automotive manufacturer !

As if that wasn't enough, certain departments were working on a new type of car - the compact car.

The domestic car market was experiencing a number of major automotive changes. New car buyers were leaning towards the purchase of smaller economy type cars, and American Motors was filling the bill with it's Rambler American. Even the ailing Studebaker was feeling some revival with it's increased sales of it's Lark. Ford, GM, and Chrysler prepared to meet the challenge, and in the Fall of 1959, all three were ready. Ford introduced the Falcon, GM introduced the Corvair, and Chrysler introduced the Valiant.

Completely undaunted by the incredible failure of the Edsel, and the Retractable Hardtop Skyliners, Ford was also determined to produce another totally new concept in automobiles.

Three prototypes were built: the Median, the Allegro and the Mustang I. Lee A. Iacocca, Ford Division General Manager, gave the Mustang I the go ahead.

It was October 7, 1962, when Ford Motor Company introduced the sporty little two-seater called the Mustang I.

Anxious onlookers praised the sporty little car as professional race car driver Dan Gurney, hot shoed it around the Watkins Glen track in excess of 120 mph. Much to Ford's advantage, Chevrolet's mid-engine, Corvair based, Monza GT experimental sports car also showed up for public display at Watkins Glen. The new Mustang I overshadowed the Monza GT so much that the Chevrolet display looked more like a wake than a new car showing.

Things rolled quickly from that point, and by the year's end, Lee Iacocca's Ford Division people were hard at work designing the Mustang production car.

The article goes on to tell who the company was that produced the actual car, what the specs were, and what the public's reaction was to the car.

To anyone that owns a Mustang, no matter what the year is, you should know that armed with the information from this design exercise, Lee Iacocca and Ford Division set out to build the ultimate pony car...and they did !