I consider myself a Mustang fan, so when I received an invitation to check out a special one prepared for a movie, I jumped at the chance. Cars designed for both the big and small screen catch my attention. Granted, this isn’t the 1968 GT 390 Fastback used in Bullitt, or heck, even the Cobra II used in Charlie’s Angels…
…but it’s something.
Ford has teamed up with DreamWorks to promote the Mustang brand, and to that end, this one-off Mustang was created to be showcased in the upcoming Need for Speed movie out next year. Disclaimer: Need for Speed is far from my favorite racing game series (cough EA withholding the Porsche license cough), but it’s clearly loved by many car enthusiasts.
I spoke with Steve Ling, Marketing Manager at Ford, and tried to pick his brain for all things Mustang. His favorite Mustang is, not too surprisingly, the 1969 Boss 302. When pressed further, he admitted that the Mustang II was “not for him” (tisk tisk), but reminisced about every fifteen-year-old boy having a poster of Farrah Fawcett lounging on a Cobra II (you know the one). Despite (or perhaps due to) that chapter in the Mustang story, the Mustang name has endured, and will soon reach the sprightly age of fifty. That’s nothing if not impressive.
As for the car presented to the press, I’m not quite sure what to think. On the one hand, I love the massive haunches. On the other, those wheels are an acquired taste. While I appreciate the fact that it doesn’t have an eye-searing radioactive green paint, or some awful decal job, there a few things left to be desired. While the car will no doubt look great on the screen, in person, some features are a tad off-putting. To wit: the hood scoops seemed to be non-functional, while the conspicuous air intakes on the rear fenders seem out of place on a front-engined car. If nothing else, the car sounded downright mean when started up.
I hope Need for Speed puts up a good fight against that other street racing movie series. Ford certainly won’t say yes to every request for a Mustang — they get more than they can count. Clearly, they see something special happening here. In any case, I won’t say no to car action on the big screen, despite my grudges.
It’s just too bad the car wasn’t available for test drives…
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