Donald Frey, co-creator of the Ford Mustang (the longest living muscle car of all time), recently passed away at age 86.
A few interesting facts about the development of the car:
- “The whole project was bootlegged,” Frey told USA Today in 2004. “There was no official approval of this thing. We had to do it on a shoestring.”
- Some sources report that Frey initially met with his team secretly in hotels while getting the project rolling.
- Frey took the project to Edsel Ford II four times before it was approved.
- Frey and his team created the car — from the eventual approval by top management to the showroom — in just 18 months, and expectations were modest when it was introduced on April 17, 1964, at the New York World’s Fair.
- Ford figured it would sell 80,000 Mustangs in its first year. It sold more than a million in its first two years.
- At his death Frey owned an original Mustang, his son Christopher said, adding that he liked to drive it fast.
A full article on Donald Frey is available from The New York Times – and it’s a terrific read!
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-Robert Kibbe