1967 1968 Mustang - This Restyle - Worried Lee Iacocca

1967 was to be the first redesign of the Ford Mustang, and this had been put in place almost immediately after the first Mustangs hit the showroom. Lee Iacocca was nervous. Ford wanted to make the car larger. They wanted to drop in big blocks, and this was something Lee Iacocca was opposed to. However, he didn't own the company, so he relented and oversaw its redesign. Would this redesign be successful, or would the American public ultimately reject it? In this video, we take a deep dive into 1967 and 1968 Ford Mustangs. We're going to look at the models, we're going to look at the options, we're going to look at the powertrains, and finally, we're going to look at the production numbers and really see if Lee Iacocca had anything to worry about. Norman discovered the ticket to adventure when he took the Mustang Pledge. Mustang, the original, America's favorite sports car, with three new models. Norman flipped for the new Mustang Fastback, with options like a tilt-away steering wheel that leaps aside, adjust to nine different positions, 390 cubic inch V8, new wide oval tires, and an optional speed control that lets you set your own course of action. Norman discovered a new wave of excitement. Take the Mustang Pledge. No telling where it will lead. You're ahead in a Ford, all the way. Introduced September 30th, 1966, the 1967 Mustang was wider, longer, and looked more aggressive, however it retained the wheelbase of the previous car. The track was widened by two inches. It was available as a coupe, fastback, and as a convertible. In the front of the Mustang, the headlight buckets were deeper, and the grille opening was larger. The Mustang corral was also deepened, and horizontal bars were added. The hood was longer, and the entire front fascia was raked on a forward angle. The roofline now tapered into the side of the car, and the side sculpturing was much more pronounced. Two faux brake cooling scoops were added. At the rear of the car, the turn signal lamps were now three vertical rectangles mounted flush inside a concave rear indented panel that featured a new centrally located gas cap. The roofline on the fastback was altered drastically, as it now extended all the way to the rear of the car. The interior for 1967 was larger and completely new. It featured a new dash layout, and the instrument cluster now featured larger, more readable gauges, and the dash itself had a more streamlined layout. The seats were now deeper and plusher. The door panels were new, and the interior could be accented by brushed aluminum or wood appliques. The padded horn was a safety add for 1967, and it was difficult to miss. The power plants for the Mustang were the 120 horsepower inline straight six as the base power plant. Optional power plants included the 200 horsepower Challenger 209 cubic inch V8 with a two barrel carburetor, the 225 horsepower Challenger 289 cubic inch V8 with a four barrel carburetor, the 271 horsepower Hypo 289 cubic V8 with a four barrel carburetor, that engine put down 312 pound feet of torque, or the 320 horsepower 390 cubic inch S code V8 topped by a four barrel carburetor, and that engine put down a whopping 427 foot pounds of torque. The three speed manual transmission was standard, except when one ordered the 289 Hypo, which offered a standard four speed manual transmission, which was an option for all other V8s, and the cruise-o-matic automatic was optional for all power plants. The suspension was mostly carried over. It featured independent A-arms with coil springs in the front and leaf springs on a solid rear axle in the rear. Popular options in 1967 included accent striping, air conditioning, tin and glass, a center console either with AC or full length without, front disc brakes, power brakes, power steering, a vinyl top, rally pack instrumentation, which included a clock and tachometer, speed control, tilt away steering wheel, a full width front seat with an armrest, a limited slip differential, 14 inch steel style wheels, simulated wire wheel covers, an AM eight track tape player, and a power convertible top for convertibles. Three popular packages were offered. For the V8 cars, the special handling pack, which included increased front and rear spring rates, larger front and rear shocks, a 22 to 1 overall steering ratio, and a large diameter stabilizer bar. For any Mustang, the Sport Sprint package, which included hood vents, recessed turn signals, white wall tires, full wheel covers, bright metal rocker panel moldings, a chrome air cleaner lid, and a vinyl covered shift handle if an automatic transmission was ordered. Early in 1967, the Sport Sprint package was offered on the hardtop body style only, but by June of 1967, the convertible was also included. Then there was the GT equipment group, which could be added to any Mustang with a V8 and a four barrel carburetor. This option included dual exhaust, fog lamps, special ornamentation, disc brakes, GT racing stripes, which deleted the rocker panel moldings, quad exhaust tips with a valance cutout, and the handling package components. The automotive press gave the new Mustang mostly glowing reviews. Car and Driver Magazine stated, and I quote here, anyone who likes the old Mustang ought to go nuts for the 67. It's a much better looking car than the photographs show, and we think the styling is better than last year's. The buying public bought in as well, with Ford dealers delivering 472,121 Mustangs for the 1967 model year, 356,271 coupes, 71,042 fastbacks, and 44,808 convertibles. Maybe it's the new styling for 68, features to choose from like select ship and AM FM stereo radio. Maybe it's standards like bucket seats or options like a new 302 V8 and bold racy hood stripes. Or maybe it's just the original idea, the better idea called Mustang. Ford has a better idea. 1968 brought changes to the Mustang. Up front, the Mustang corral had become much thinner and featured only the corral. The Ford lettering was removed from the hood of the car. On the sides of the car and the lower front fender, a side marker lamp was added in order to meet federal regulations. A bit further back on the fender, the Mustang block lettering was replaced with a single Mustang chrome emblem in cursive writing. On the front of the quarter panel, the dual faux brake cooling ducts were replaced with a single chrome emblem, and at the rear of the corner panel, 1968 Mustangs featured either a reflector or a side marker light depending on the build date, with the earlier cars receiving only the reflector and the later cars the actual side marker lamps. Once again, this was done in order to meet new federal safety regulations. The only change to the rear of the car was a newly styled fuel filler cap. New safety features were rolled out, including a two-spoke energy-absorbing steering wheel, along with shoulder belts no longer being optional. The interior featured new safety-inspired flush door handles. These required a flip up and then open procedure to operate, and a running horse replaces a dot as the high beam indicator in the instrument panel. There were changes in the power plant lineup as well. Midway through the production year, a 210 horsepower, 302 cubic inch V8 with a two-barrel carburetor replaces the 289 two-barrel. The 230 horsepower J code 302 V8 with a four-barrel becomes available, and it replaces both the four-barrel carbureted 289 and the hypo 289. Ford adds the 270 horsepower, 390 cubic inch V8 with a two-barrel carburetor, and in a very limited number, the conservatively rated 335 horsepower, 428 cubic inch Cobra Jet V8 with a four-barrel carburetor becomes available. The 428 Cobra Jet put down 440 pound-feet of torque at only 3400 RPM. New options included select air air conditioning, an AM FM radio, an overhead full-length console, two-tone hood paint, and folding glass panels and convertibles. The GT equipment group now featured new chrome GT wheels with center caps and trim rings, a fold-down GT fuel filler cap, quad-tip chrome exhaust with the lower valance cutouts, front disc brakes, a C side stripe, and GT lower fender badges. The 1968 Sprint package now had a package A and a package B. Sprint package A was available for six-cylinders and V8 models. This added the C-shaped side stripes, wheel lip moldings, full wheel covers, and a pop-open gas cap. Package B was for V8s only. It utilized the components from package A, but replaced the wheel covers with styled steel wheels and added the grille-mounted fog lamps. Ford dealers delivered 317,148 Mustangs for the 1968 model year. 249,447 were Coupes, 42,325 were Fastbacks, and 25,376 were convertibles. Yes, the sales numbers for 1967 and 1968 were down from the two years prior to that. Now, it has to be noted in 1968 there was a 60-day worker strike and that certainly held the productions down for 1968. However, I don't think the redesign was responsible for that decrease in sales. The pony car market had gotten very crowded very quickly. GM had brought in the Camaro and the Firebird. Plymouth had redesigned the Barracuda and American Motors had brought in the Javelin. I think those cars took sales away from the Mustang ultimately. Ford tried to increase sales numbers in 1967 and 1968 by releasing a lot of special editions. Most of those were regional. Some of them went down to the sales office. I made a video about a lot of them, probably not all of them, and you can find that right over here. Now, if you enjoyed this video, please click the like button. That gets this video recommended to others. Also, consider subscribing. I have a lot of content like this on the channel. That's it for today. Thanks for watching. Until next time, we'll see ya.