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Ford Redraws the Racehorse

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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.

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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.

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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

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