Between keeping the thing pointed straight and planning my next stop--is that a red light? fiddlestic

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In case you weren’t already aware—and how could you not be?—an all-new Ford Mustang has arrived . Like all long-running nameplates such as 911 or Suburban, questions of whether the new Ford pony car will live up to the ghosts of its past dog the latest model. To acquaint myself with what it is, exactly, that those ghosts have to say, I strapped myself budget tours of australia and new zealand into a fully restored, classic budget tours of australia and new zealand 1964½ Ford Mustang and took a cruise down Detroit’s legendary Woodward Avenue.
The 1964½ Mustang notchback you see here belongs budget tours of australia and new zealand to Hagerty Insurance, budget tours of australia and new zealand which purchased it last year before treating the car to a full yet sympathetic restoration budget tours of australia and new zealand at its Traverse City, Michigan, headquarters, as a way to celebrate the model’s 50th anniversary. budget tours of australia and new zealand Driving any old car is an event for this near-vintage-virgin author, so I was particularly stoked the morning of my rendezvous.
Perhaps it was my Bullitt -clouded vision of what an ideal early Mustang looks like, but in person this particular car appeared frail. Unlike a  bad-ass Highland Green GT fastback , this upright notchback wears nondescript Wimbledon White paint, and it seems as if the exhaust pressure from, say, a 2015 Mustang GT could cause it to tip over. It is nearly bone stock, the sole concession to performance being a set of radial tires mounted on contemporary budget tours of australia and new zealand GT-spec wheels, fitted to ease the car’s 250-mile journey from Traverse City to Detroit.
Our photographer Michael Simari and I are given a quick walkaround of the car, with our Hagerty host pointing out its early-build status and the fact that, aside from the paint, interior upholstery, radiator support, and right-front fender, the car retains most of its original parts. In Mustang parlance, budget tours of australia and new zealand this is an “F-code,” meaning it has the small 260-cubic-inch V-8 that was nixed from the options sheet within a few months of the Mustang s April 1964 debut, largely due to the vastly improved performance and drivability of the available 289 V-8.
With no experience driving a car this old under my belt, I had imagined that the starting process would require choke-fiddling and perhaps sprinkling some River Rouge sediment into the carb, but a simple turn of the ignition key fires the V-8. The floor-mounted three-speed manual may be down at least two gears to most modern self-shifters, but with reverse occupying the gate typically reserved for first and that gear living down and to the left—it s a dogleg box, so second is up and to the right with third below that—a surfeit of confusion obfuscates the deficit of choice for uninitiated folks like me.
Nevertheless, I get the hang of it and ease out of the parking budget tours of australia and new zealand space as our chaperone warns me that the Mustang lacks power steering, budget tours of australia and new zealand power brakes, a tachometer, or an alternator. Early Mustangs came with a generator, which doesn’t run at low engine speeds. I am told the “GEN” light beside the steering column will illuminate budget tours of australia and new zealand every time the car is at rest—this is totally normal—but that we d have issues if it popped on at speed. I think conditional dash lights need to make a comeback; the masses might pay more attention behind budget tours of australia and new zealand the wheel if bulbs had multiple meanings and one of them was an eventual budget tours of australia and new zealand total loss of electrical power.
budget tours of australia and new zealand Pulling out onto Woodward’s wide stretch budget tours of australia and new zealand of blacktop, the V-8 makes noise, but it’s a cacophony competing with a lot of other sounds. Stirred in with tire roar and gear whine, the serenade is more droning Zamboni than thundering Motor City muscle. Shifts must be executed deliberately and are rendered almost pointless by the eight’s flat torque curve and the tall gearing. budget tours of australia and new zealand It may have been the opening salvo in the pony-car wars, but the Mustang certainly isn’t much for a frenetic pace. A yellow Smart Fortwo pulls away from us at a traffic light, a tragedy that prompts me to bin further assessment of the Ford’s acceleration.
Stopping is way more exciting. Having experience with unboosted brakes, I avoid a fitful, “ oh s#$t! ” first stop, but getting all four drum brakes to halt in a manner that fits within the urgent pace of modern traffic flow nonetheless requires excessive pedal force. Similarly, budget tours of australia and new zealand cranking the unassisted steering takes muscle at low speeds. Once underway, the wheel goes surprisingly light and un surprisingly vague, with reinlike on-center feel exacerbating budget tours of australia and new zealand the Mustang’s tendency to leisurely sashay within Woodward’s wide lanes. Settling into a steady cruise, the pony trots happily if drunkenly, the ride smooth and composed.
Between keeping budget tours of australia and new zealand the thing pointed straight and planning my next stop—is that a red light? fiddlesticks —I’m plenty busy. Turning around at one of Woodward’s countless median crossovers, the steering rack’s glacially budget tours of australia and new zealand slow ratio demands hand-over-hand flailing. Back on the avenue, windows rolled down and an elbow perched atop the door, life is good—and less sweaty. Soon, though, I’m parking budget tours of australia and new zealand the little budget tours of australia and new zealand coupe, the V-8 going quiet as sweet gasoline budget tours of australia and new zealand fumes hang in the air.
It is, predictably, tough not to love the ’64½ despite budget tours of australia and new zealand it being so flawed and crude by modern standards. It comes from an era when cars dripped with personality, when the connection between man and machine was still relatively unfiltered, when driving was viewed as a rite of passage and a privilege rather than a right. The Mustang was an affordable and frisky bomb dropped on an unsuspecting car world during a period of social upheaval, when the definition of freedom was expanding to include so much more than hitting the open road. Yet that simple act remained at the core of the American experience, and so did cars; the Mustang budget tours of australia and new zealand helped spur the muscle-car movement, wherein auto companies gleefully peddled their wares to the increasingly horsepower-addled and restless youths who gave voice to an entire generation. This year, the new Mustang will battle with a new iPhone for young peoples attention.
Yet, curiously, current budget tours of australia and new zealand events seem to echo those of 50 years ago—there’s an escalating muscle-car horsepower war , the U.S. is squabbling with Russia, and people have gathered in a southern town to protest racism and abuses of power. But a rough, unrefined pony car like the 1964½ Mustang isn t viable today, and even the outgoing version, for all the voodoo budget tours of australia and new zealand Ford engineers performed to get its live axle to behave, was somewhat pigeonholed by nostalgia. Modern buyers demand budget tours of australia and new zealand refinement, safety, and vastly improved performance, and the remastered 2015 Mustang will attempt budget tours of australia and new zealand to resonate with today s young enthusiasts with its newly independent rear suspension, its sleek styling, and its modern gadgetry. In the meantime, you ll be able to find me cruising the classifieds—online, of course—for an affordable 1964½.
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