The 1971 series Mustang was the largest
and heaviest Mustang ever produced. They were 14" longer and nearly 800
pounds heavier than the original Mustang. This substantial body change was
partly because Pony car sales were stagnant and the market was flooded
with competitors. A second problem for Mustang was the federally mandated
automotive requirement to reduce the amount of lead used in fuel and
pollute less. These changes resulted in substantial power reductions
starting from 1972 onward.
The 1971 Mustang was the last muscle car
Mustang would see for nearly 18 years. The 1971 performance king was the
429 CJ optioned Mustang ($436) producing 370 horsepower and propelling the
car to a 0 to 60 mile-per-hour speed in about 6 seconds. These
high-powered Mustangs would only deliver about 11 mpg while the standard
302 cubic inch Mustang would deliver about 17 mpg. These cars did not
have a particularly high speed with the 302 reaching only about 86 mph and
the big 429 reaching a little over 100 miles an hour flat-out.
1972
onward would be a nonexistent time for performance Mustangs. An
interesting elements during this
time is how the auto manufacturers recalculated horsepower figures from
gross to net horsepower. This meant that comparative horsepower's numbers
would be reduced but pollution controls played a much stronger role in
horsepower reduction, reducing the six cylinder model to 95 horsepower,
the 302 cubic inch model to 136 horsepower and the 351 Cleveland to less
than 275 horsepower. By this time the muscle car was dead - a victim of
car manufacturers inability to cope with pollution control requirements.
An interesting side note is the fact that today's six cylinder Mustang
produces over twice the horsepower using substantially less fuel and
reducing pollution by over 90 percent and at the same time delivering 50
percent better fuel efficiency. (The Ford engineers should be credited)
The 1972 Mustang continued to remain an
excellent value with the basic six cylinder hardtop listing at $2,760
while the eight convertible sold for approximately $3,189. This
reasonable pricing structure may have been partly the result of sales
slipping to 150,000 units for the 1971 model series. These low sales
figures convinced Ford that they had to return to the basic Mustang pony
car design but the final execution known as the Mustang II was considered
by many to be the worst Mustang series.
