- Give the car a more aggressive appearance
- Maintaining the flavor of the original Mustang
- The GT Equipment Group was a highly desirable option
It has been said the Ford Motor Company out maneuvered the competition when they launched the all-new Mustang in 1964, answering a calling by the American public for a fresh, new “sporty” car. Ford came up with the winning formula, a car with room for four passengers and looks that belonged on a sports car! As sales exceeded one million units, and to say the machine had taken America by storm would be a massive understatement.
Soon after the Mustang hit the marketplace on April 17th, 1964, the Ford designers and engineers had to start the process of coming up with the second-generation of their Pony car creation, a successor to their original design. Because it was early in the game, they went into this project somewhat “blind” as there was no real way to determine the car would be a sales winner despite the impressive initial sales surge and not simply a “flash in the pan” which in time would lose its luster with buyers.
What to do? Give the car a very light restyling, or perform a major facelift? They chose the latter. The summer of 1964 saw several 2nd-generation Mustang concepts in various stages inside the Ford styling studio. The work being done was important for the Mustang brand, as it could possibly make or break the longevity of the car. This was not the time for them to rest on their laurels.
“Change it but don’t change it” was the general directive given and the people doing the work didn’t know for certain which way to go to give the car a more aggressive appearance, or a softer, more flowing form of the original.
The wheelbase of the car remained at 108 inches, and the new Mustang retained the familiar long hood, and short deck styling. However, the length grew by 2 inches, it became wider by 2.7 inches and sat slightly higher by +. 5 inches. The overall body profile was now more aggressive, and slightly more exaggerated as compared to what it replaced, however, it was executed beautifully all the while maintaining the flavor of the original Mustang.
Up front, the mouth of the grille was redesigned to be wider and longer, cleaned up with the removal of the gill-like styling impressions on the sides of the grille opening as seen on the first-generation cars and the two extra inches of the length of the car and was placed in the grille area. This helped in providing a more pronounced, distinctively different head-on appearance.
This 2+2 Fastback body style 63 B is a GTA model, which means it came factory with the “GT Equipment Group” option, as well as an automatic transmission option.
The A stands for automatic transmission and GT equipment included a handling package with higher spring rate F&R springs, stiffer shocks, larger sway bar, grille-mounted fog lamps, power front disc brakes, GT fuel cap, F70 x 14 tires, rocker panel stripes and GT or GTA side emblems. Except for cars equipped with the 200-hp base 289-cid V-8 engine, dual exhausts were also part of the GT package.
Other new options included a tilt-away steering, power front disc brakes, a built-in heater/air conditioner and automatic speed control. The new Mustang could be ordered as a more well-equipped car as compared to what it replaced, and the car was starting to “grow” a bit, as the curb weight was up about 140 pounds over a similarly equipped previous model. With a starting price of $2461.46 for the Hardtop, $2,592.17 for the Fastback and $2698.14 for the convertible. There was a massive amount of interest in the car from the buying public, and In all, some 472,121 1967 Mustangs were sold, which was over a two-to-one margin to the rival Chevrolet Camaro.
With the bigger, broader body came a larger engine compartment and now ample room for the large 390-cid 320-hp big block Ford engine, which was made available as an option. This was a result of moving away from the smaller front inner structure of the original Mustang which was actually derived from the Falcon using off-the-shelf chassis components to a new larger platform, and with this came refinement work in the front suspension.
Coil springs were still used with the new arrangement and were relocated to the upper control arms because of front suspension geometry changes. The layout of the upper A-arm pivot was lowered plus the roll center was raised, this provided a better ride and with less understeer, a complaint of the original Mustang handling.
The revised front end widened the front track by 2.7 inches. Steering was improved with the use of polyethylene-filled ball joints and the steering ratio was changed with a new quicker ratio to give a smaller overall turning radius. Other refinements included new rubber bushings at the suspension attachment points, providing for a reduction in noise, vibration and harshness. Leaf-spring rear suspension with asymmetrically positioned shocks remained, and 1967 was the first year for dual hydraulic brake systems on Mustangs.
The changes to the interior, including a new dashboard, complete with a large speedometer and tachometer that dominated the instrument layout, a deep-dish steering wheel, wider bucket seats, more seat padding, and the backseat was relocated rearward ever so slightly, to give some more leg room for rear passengers. This particular car has the Black Vinyl Luxury interior option.
