Ford Redraws the Racehorse

Holy of holies, they're messin' with the Pony!

Ford Motor Co. said today that its much-anticipated 2010 Mustang will have a redesigned badge. In most circles, this falls somewhere in the yawner category, about on par with the International Bureau of Weights and Measures recalibrating the meter.

Yet Mustang lovers are a special clan, avid enough to support at least six monthly Mustang-themed magazines, roughly 100 U.S.-based owner clubs and thousands of niche websites, including the Icelandic Mustang Club and the Mustang Mafia. By comparison, another legendary fan car, the Chevrolet Corvette, has only four magazines.

So there is little doubt that what Ford describes as its "more defined, more angular" Mustang badge will make tsunami-size waves in the 'Stang world.

UPDATE: Ford has produced a video on the new steed's logo job, for all you die-hards.

The new badge (pictured, top), which will grace the six-cylinder and GT models, comes in a new tinted chrome color. And what was formerly an Art Nouveau-smooth racing stallion, all smooth curves and liquid grace, has become a Deco beast, shoulders squared off, mane a series of hard spikes. It is, at heart, a rougher, far less gentle, animal.

“It’s more chiseled and more defined and looks more like a wild horse,” said Douglas Gaffka, chief designer for the Mustang. “It’s more realistic in terms of proportion to an actual Mustang.”

To bring the badge redesign -- the first since the 1994 model year -- to life, Ford tasked senior designer Rick Howard (who apparently rides horses) with equine duties. The company required him to spend "hours researching images of horses and understanding their appearance in natural, wild settings."

Of course, to the untrained eye, the changes Mr. Howard achieved are minimal. They also raise the question of whether Ford, which lost $8.7 billion in the second quarter and has seen sales slip 14% this year (including a 25% decline for Mustangs), ought to spend less time plonking senior designers in front of pictures of National Velvet and more time producing cars people actually want to buy.

Then again, perhaps such things matter. As one anonymous Mustang enthusiast put it on the allfordmustangs.com forum.

The Mustang is my shepherd; I shall not want.
It maketh me burnout on black pavements;
It leadeth me beside busy freeways;
It restoreth my soul;
It leads me in the path of quickness for its names sake.
Yea I walk through the valley of rice,
I shall fear no turbo, for Torque art with me;
Thy clutch and thy throttle they comfort me.
Thou preparest a Track for me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou hast anointed my engine with oil;
My car overpowers.
Surely traction and victory shall follow me,
All the days of my life,
And I shall dwell in the house of the Fast Fords Forever.
~Amen

--Ken Bensinger

Photo of new and old Mustang badges courtesy of Ford

Comments

[Jolnir the Happy Viking]

I like the new horse. Its ears are forward which signifies a happy horse (truth). By comparison, the old horse, with its ears back indicates an angry horse that's about to do something unpredictable. I don't like unpredictable. But I like Fast & Happy.

[Maggie Knowles]

Ford needs to focus on better fuel efficiency.

Part of Barack Obama's economic plan is to help the American auto industry become more competitive by building cars that get 150 miles per gallon, helping to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. And these cars will be built here in America creating high-paying job for Americans.

I don't get the American auto industry. They've had over 30 years to design better cars for better fuel efficiency and they haven't done it. I guess they must have all their dollars invested in BIG OIL.

[gm]

Definitely a yawner. A little drop of salve in an ocean of hurt for Ford.

[Jason J McCabe]

Lame, it's hard to tell the difference. Upon inspection the new logo is not as good of a rendering. But really, with that subtle of a change, what's the point? How about you have someone (other that Jay Mays) design the car to look as sexy as the original? We are tired of clunky looking cars that look like they were designed in adobe illustrator. Who designed the new Mini? Put that guy on the job.

[David in Los Angeles]

yawn

[rythm oil]

give me a f'n break, ya'll. what ford needs to do is bring back the excitement of the original mustang.

it was built on a falcon chasis with everything you could get on a falcon. but it wowed everybody with its styling. where's the wow? in the badge?

i think not.

[VIz]

Staying with the subject, the new logo is nice!

[SmogFree]

The American auto industry is part of the petro-chemical
mafia, which has actively encouraged Americans to be
gas guzzling, gluttonous and illiberal morons who scoff at creating efficient commuter and high-speed rail transport.

I grew up in LA in the sixties, which is why I hate the
internal combustion engine and the corporations that glamourize it. The American fetishization of the automobile, as evinced by this Mustange logo article, is pornographic in its intensity.

I hope the price of gasoline keeps climbing, and that SUV
drivers drive their attack vehicles off a pier.
I wish nothing but total failure for both GM and Ford, at least until they offer successful plug-in vehicles for sale.

These companies are anti-American.Also, American oil
companies should be nationalized. Paging Hugo Chavez.

[kuda buda]

If they were going to do a story about Ford you'd think they'd have something more impressive to say. The car doesn't need a new badge. It needs a new engine.

[Jim]

Redesigning the badge passes for "innovation" I guess....

They can only rob from their past and design nothing with original value. The current Mustang styling is old and rehashed.

Ford designer "J Mays" (what a pompous character to be named by just one letter) is spending more time refining his own image than Mustang's.

[Mike]

@ Knowles - 150 MPG cars? Really? A moped can't even do that. Be sure to let us all know how the Xylaxians do that, on your next visit to Earth.

@ SmogFree - How nice for you that you can afford to live in your little fantasy world, too. Most of us can't.

Here in the real world, economics generally rule how things get done. Gasoline and oil are among the cheapest, safest, and more efficient fuels we've managed to discover in the last several hundred years.

Wishing economic ruin upon titans of global industry is foolhardy and shortsighted. Believing Big Government will solve all of societies ills is beyond that - it's idiotic and insane. Einstein said insanity is repeating the same actions over and over again, and expecting different results. We can't rely on a promise of a government policy which would dump billions of $ into a sinkhole made by fantasy imagineering and charletans to actually shore up or truly revitalize our economy.

[Jason J McCabe]

Mike,

150 MPG is not a fantasy. Check out the 300 MPG Aptera that will be available very soon. The Aptera's looks make a Lamborghini seem dull and it only costs $30,000. Hey Ford, where's your Aptera? How about you GM?

http://www.aptera.com/

[Maggie Knowles]

Mike - what you call fantasy, others call the America Dream. The extraordinary thing about being human is visualizing what could be, then doing the work to make it happen.

I first learned about cars that get 150 miles per gallon from a lecture I heard in 2006 by a guy named Armory Lovins founder and CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute. He wrote a little book you can download from his web site, Winning The Oil Endgame. You can view the lecture at http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/346/

[Fearless]

I will buy an Aptera or a T-Rex (http://www.campagnamotors.com/) in the next couple of years for my daily commuter.

The T-Rex has a similar price point but not quite the extreme milage. Plus it's Canadian. I'm leaning toward Aptera because it's American.

However, each will only be a daily commuter. I have four children, a dog and a cat. Until someone gets really smart and figures out why Americans buys SUV's and makes a plug-in hybrid Durango or Suburban, we will have to still depend on foreign oil.

I mean, neither vehicle will tow even a modest trailer.

Do any of you ultra-environmentalist people realize that I still have to drive my four kids to school five days a week? Then, double that same group of trips a few hours later to get them all home?

Aptera says it wants to revolutionize transportation. Make a plug-in hybrid that gets fantastic mileage and can seat 7 TALL people (did I mention that my family is tall? I'm 6'3" and my 15-year-old son is already 6'), and can tow 6,000 lbs.

When that happens, my family could literally throw our gas guzzling vehicles away overnight.

I can only buy and drive what's available. Today's hybrids are a joke because most of them cost more than the money you save on gas. Those that do save you money, only pay for themselves in a period of time longer than their warranties.

Curious.

--Fearless

[Fearless]

I will buy an Aptera or a T-Rex (http://www.campagnamotors.com/) in the next couple of years for my daily commuter.

The T-Rex has a similar price point but not quite the extreme milage. Plus it's Canadian. I'm leaning toward Aptera because it's American.

However, each will only be a daily commuter. I have four children, a dog and a cat. Until someone gets really smart and figures out why Americans buys SUV's and makes a plug-in hybrid Durango or Suburban, we will have to still depend on foreign oil.

I mean, neither vehicle will tow even a modest trailer.

Do any of you ultra-environmentalist people realize that I still have to drive my four kids to school five days a week? Then, double that same group of trips a few hours later to get them all home?

Aptera says it wants to revolutionize transportation. Make a plug-in hybrid that gets fantastic mileage and can seat 7 TALL people (did I mention that my family is tall? I'm 6'3" and my 15-year-old son is already 6'), and can tow 6,000 lbs.

When that happens, my family could literally throw our gas guzzling vehicles away overnight.

I can only buy and drive what's available. Today's hybrids are a joke because most of them cost more than the money you save on gas. Those that do save you money, only pay for themselves in a period of time longer than their warranties.

Curious.

--Fearless

[Scrabcake]

Just bought several thousand shares of Ford, bargain bin time. Wish they'd work more on the car behind the logo too.