What is it" First-ever European variant of iconic muscle car.
Key features: V8 and 2.3 engines, hard or soft tops, tempting price.
Our View: On slipping into the cabin of Ford?s new release, the latest variant of a model with half a century of history but for the first time available in Europe, the writer?s colleague comments on the lack of Ford badges ? there is not one, on the bonnet, the interior, even the rear flank.
There doesn?t need to be any, however. In their place sits a chromed image of a horse in full flight, leaving no doubt this is an example of one of the few truly iconic model names in the motoring world ? Mustang?
As indicative of the US muscle car line as Camaro is to Chevrolet, mention of the name Mustang immediately conjours images ? mostly of Hollywood superstar Steve McQueen pulling increasingly sideways slides in the 1968 movie ?Bullitt?, a seqence regarded by many as the greatest celluloid car chase of all time. Throughout its long history the Mustang has reflected its era, some versions more successfully than others, and now, entering its sixth generation, it benefits from a maker that is very much looking globally, espousing the ?One Ford? philosophy.
What this means is that Ford?s icon, previously merely imitated on this side of the Atlantic with models such as the Capri, is now being officially allowed outside its US home. For the first time there is a distinct European model of the Mustang, even extending to right-hand drive versions for UK...