It’s still convertible season in the Northern Hemisphere for a little while longer this year. Summer can sometimes feel too hot to have the top down, where closed windows and air conditioning might be preferred. (Some will even cruise with the top down and the air on, which I have experienced firsthand.) Even an unusually warm spring day can still feel just a bit too cool for open-air motoring when a gust of wind will remind you that the temperatures aren’t quite up there yet. It’s fall that seems absolutely perfect for enjoying your convertible, with temperatures still warm enough to relish the feeling of being outside while in a car, but cool enough and less humid to where you’re not sweating and can’t also taste the air.
If I had a convertible and a covered, secured garage in which to store it year-round, I would probably enjoy three-season cruising any weekend I felt like it, especially if I owned a nice example of one of the first two model years of Ford Mustang, one of the United States’ favorite convertibles. It was a different time in the U.S. market when the original Mustang was first introduced, but it still amazes to me to think that over 174,000 Mustang convertibles were sold for both the 1965 and ’66 model years (including almost 102,000 alone for extended first-year ’65), where only about 81,000 Mustangs of all stripes were sold in 2020. Just to put another number out there, almost 1,289,000 Mustangs were sold during its first two official model years, starting in April of 1964.
I present four different examples of early first-generation Mustang convertibles I photographed while they were being actively enjoyed around Chicago: three ’65s and a ’66, and with three of them as photographed in autumn and one in spring. I realize that it’s possible, especially with classic Mustangs, that some have been restored or slightly modified from their original form from the factory to suit the owners’ tastes, but I did my best with the information available to me to positively identify the model year and official color name of each example. If the rear quarter panel trim on the above example is an accurate indicator, it is a ’65 finished in Phoenician Yellow. Photographed in the Andersonville neighborhood in Chicago’s north side on Saturday, May 10, 2014, this was on an unusually warm spring day, with temperatures topping out at 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 Celsius).
This Silver Blue ’65 was spotted on Saturday, September 21, 2013 in the arty Wicker Park neighborhood. The high was 66F (19C), and it was partially cloudy. I had been on an assignment that day for a now-defunct magazine for which I had been hired as a photographer. I didn’t enjoy everything about being on someone’s payroll (deadlines, formatting issues, the business end, the time that it took, etc.), but that experience taught me a lot about what actual working photographers deal with regularly, even if my my assignments were only on a monthly basis. I remain very grateful for all of what that opportunity had granted me. When I saw this scene, I especially liked that this looked like a father-son afternoon activity, when I saw a kid’s hair peeking out over the upper edge of the door.
The image of this ’66 convertible in Silver Frost spotted in Lakeview combines so many things I love in just one frame. This sighting was on Sunday, October 13, 2013, and the high was a sunny 64F (18C). I just returned from Las Vegas with friends earlier this month for my first trip there since 2019, and it occurs to me that I seem to give myself permission to do delicious things like eat at IHOP only when I’m on vacation. I blame my own vanity, but I’m often torn on such trips between choosing to eat everything I want, whenever I want, or continuing my normal, healthy eating, sleeping, and exercise habits in an attempt to look (and yes, feel) good by the pool.
Now that I’ve been a teetotaler for over a year and a half, I reasoned that all of the calories I otherwise would have consumed in alcohol form with my friends may now be “spent” eating things like a stack of pancakes drenched in maple syrup, with a side of bacon. (Bless you, Denny’s on Fremont Street.) At first I had thought this Mustang to be a GT, but it’s missing the “GT” badge on the front fender and the “MUSTANG” lettering within the lower-body stripe. The Silver Frost color was introduced for ’66, and the hue of this car definitely isn’t the Silver Smoke Gray that was offered for ’65. This entire scene including a classic A-Frame IHOP, but with me behind the wheel instead of this gentleman, would be something out of the road trip of my dreams.
This final example, a ’65 finished in Ivy Green, was spotted on Sunday, October 12, 2014 just a few city blocks east of Wrigley Field. The high that day was a familiar 64F (18C), and what I remember most when getting a series of photos of this car was that this family seemed very friendly. The driver actually slowed down just a little bit to allow me to get my shots, and I also remember the young daughter actually thanking me for taking their picture! It was a casually life-affirming moment in so many ways, just to see a nice family spending time together and enjoying the lovely fall weather in a classic Mustang.
I’m definitely a “summer guy”, but I’m getting all my familiar, cozy, fall feels as leaves continue to change and fall to the ground in beautifully random, dotted patterns on the sidewalks in my forest-like neighborhood. There are probably only a handful of days left for top-down driving this year, but I hope that people will get out and enjoy their convertibles as they are able. It’s going to be a little bit of a haul before spring 2022 is here. I had once owned a Fox-body Mustang, and I saw that car as being the ticket to inclusion into the club of Mustangers across the nation, even if it will not go down in history as being particularly memorable. It was good-looking, efficient, comfortable, and practical. Perhaps most importantly, it was mine. I loved that car. Here’s to celebrating a make and model that has brought so many different kinds of people together simply by its very existence.
Thanks, Dennis – great shots! The intro of the Mustang synched with my starting to really notice cars, at age 8. I remember “riding” in one at the NYWF at the Ford Pavilion’s Magic Skyway. Only the Corvette competed with the Mustang for my number 1 favorite car – I went back and forth. The first-gen Mustang was just a perfect design, in my view, and the intro of the Fastback was the icing on the cake. What a time to be a kid!
Thanks, Alan. To see the Mustang at the New York World’s Fair would have been incredible. Last year, I had read a book called “Once In A Great City” about one year in Detroit (1963, I think), but there was a chapter in there that referenced the Mustang rides at the NYWF… and how they didn’t always work properly.
The sales of the original Mustang look vaguely preposterous, until you realize that in 1964, there were 190-odd million US folk.
Several hundred thousand of the younger of those taking off their metaphorical top and letting a bit loose was but a tiny representation of the great – and, surely, psychologically necessary – unloosening then in progress, especially for the proportionally better-off workers of a country that was then sat upon the very top of the world.
It helped that very few cars in history have ever got the styling so right for the right occasion. Even to a non-Mustanger like me, it still looks good in every way.
As always, Mr D, a contemplative read, and in this case, an appropriate paean to the virtues of a briefly-flamed cultural passing.
There also weren’t nearly as many automotive choices then. The number of nameplates and models in the U.S. market is so much more now, even in proportion to larger yearly total U.S. sales. There especially weren’t a lot of choices like the Mustang. Mustang sales dropped hugely over the next few years as more competition came on line.
Definitely agree the Mustang was absolutely the right car at just the right time. Probably the best example ever!
I would somewhat disagree with you. In the years 1960-1964, domestic compacts were selling very well, and the sporty-trim versions were becoming quite popular with the same demographic that then turned their attention to the Mustang. I’m talking about the coupe and convertible versions of the Dart, Valiant, Chevy II, Falcon, F-85/Cutlass, Tempest/LeMans, Special/Skylark, Rambler and Lark, and of course the Corvair too. All of these coupes and convertibles, increasingly the bucket seat versions, were collectively a hot new segment of the market, and led directly to the Mustang, which encompassed their features along with a new and even sportier look.
The sales of all those other compact coupes and convertibles took a serious hit after the Mustang arrived.
And the sports car market was another source of Mustang buyers. There was quite a significant number of affordable sorts cars available then, and this was their peak years for sales, in the early 60s.
Good points, there were a lot of smaller cars already that were generally competitive with the Mustang. I still tend to think of it as its own unique and new thing, and the market certainly reacted to it as if it were. It’s amazing what good styling and a little repackaging can do!
I always run the air conditioning with the top down. It makes a surprising difference on hot days in stop and go traffic at speeds up to 35 mph or so. Any faster than that and it doesn’t really matter – the cold are blows away long before it can reach you.
Speaking of A/C, a huge part of the inordinate number of early Mustang convertible sales is how affordable A/C was just beginning to become available across all model lines (instead of just premium nameplates), and there would be a downward spiral of convertible sales from that point forward. It’s worth noting that even factory A/C on those early Mustangs wasn’t very integral to the HVAC system and had much more of a floor-mounted, add-on appearance. It might have technically worked, but it didn’t look very aesthetically appealing.
Once cheap(er), integral A/C became available on all cars, along with hardtops and vinyl roofs that did a good job of copying the convertible look, well, it’s no wonder that convertibles would become extinct within the next ten years (although, as everyone knows, they’d come back in the early eighties when sporty hardtop coupes would be replaced by stodgy ‘formal look’ rear windows).
I owned a convertible once. One thing I loved to do was drive in cool weather (50s-60-s with the top down but windows up and heat on. It was very refreshing. Massive fresh air and just enough coolness to be refreshing, just enough heat to keep it comfortable.
Tom, I’ll tell you – riding in my brother’s Cabriolet with the top down and the air on was a revelation at the time. I was like, I didn’t know one could do this! LOL
The name “Mustang” itself was a stroke of genius in keeping with Lee Iacocca’s transforming the frumpy Falcon into a “sporty car for Everyman.” The mental image of a wild pony cavorting under big, clear Western skies was perfect. In today’s urban society, what name could be conceived…and could the Mustang concept ever have gotten past the dull grey men on the Board of Directors?
Great points! Even post-space age, I can’t think of a place or thing that might have the same connotations of freedom that “Mustang” probably did at the car’s introduction – in a society still fascinated by westward expansion.
My parents in 1966 with the 66 Mustang Convertible in Springtime Yellow. The car my Brother in law let me drive at age 15.
Looks Gorgeous! And is that a 63 Grand Prix lurking behind?
Indeed it is….In Nocturne Blue.
Love the picture! When I was researching Mustang factory colors from the first couple of years, it was interesting to see the nuanced differences – say, between Springtime Yellow and Phoenician Yellow. The fact that a pale yellow existed at all as a choice.
A significant factor of the Mustang convertible’s popularity is that this was during the late years of the great sports car boom, which was all about top down driving. The Mustang was marketed and seen essentially as a 2+2 sports car, very affordable and without the downsides of the little European ones. Any resistance to buying an MGB, Midget, Spitfire or such was now gone, and the marginal rear seat capacity was important icing on the cake.
It didn’t matter how it went or handled for many/most of these buyers; it was all about looks, image and the joy of top down motoring.
The Mustang’s huge sales numbers make sense too if one sees it as essentially a sporty compact, inasmuch as it stole large numbers of buyers who would otherwise have bought a high-trim version of the many compacts on the market then (Falcon, Chevy II, Valiant, Dart, F-85/Cutlass, Tempest/LeMans, Special Skylark, Rambler and even the Lark), all of which had been selling quite well in the three-four years before the Mustang arrived.
Convertibles always sold in higher numbers in models that appealed to the style-conscious. GM (which was almost always the most stylish of the Big 3) had strong convertible sales compared to the competition – especially Chrysler, which usually appealed to a more practical demographic.
I would also suspect that a lot of Mustangs were bought as second cars in a family. Last time we discussed Mustangs, you rightly pointed out that baby boomers were a small part of the buyer pool. But baby boomer’s middle-aged parents were big Mustang buyers. How many Moms were sick of station wagons by the time the kids were in high school and college, and were ready for a fun car? It is a lot easier to justify a convertible when Hubby’s big, practical sedan is available for primary duty.
Agreed with all of that. I knew of several kids in high school who got access to Mom or dad’s Mustang to get to a weekend dance or party. Lucky them!
In one case, it was his grandfather’s!
Mustang Mania was very widespread. My point was this it hoovered sales from a number of categories, but certainly the sporty compacts were a significant one.
Lovely, evocative collection of photos! You have the in-motion technique nailed.
Fall is my favorite time of year, and in central Virginia, the warm weather continues well into November. Winters are relatively mild as well. We pay for it though with our brutal summers.
My favorite photo of these 4 is the silver blue one with the father and son team.
Thank you so much. It’s all about smoothly following the subject car with the camera lens and pivoting slowly as you click away.
I know I wrote that I’m a “summer person” in this essay, but the truth is that I find something to really love about all four seasons where I live.
What a great collection, Mr. D! And surprise, not a red one in the bunch. These came in such a wide variety of colors that all gave the car a different personality.
When I was in late grade school (early 70s) a family across the street had a couple of college-age boys. Two years in a row they bought a clean, used Mustang for a 3rd car for the boys to drive. When they went back to college, a clean Mustang was a really easy sale. The one I remember best was a light yellow convertible, only I think it was a 67,
Thanks, and you bring up a great point about the ubiquity of red Mustang convertibles. I’m not sure I have ever photographed a red first- or second-year Mustang that wasn’t at a show before, but I’m sure I could be wrong about that.
I think I know that pale yellow color you’re talking about – I like it I think better with a lighter colored top than with the black one.
I love the Silver Blue and the Phoenician Yellow models…so many great colors back then! All four are great cars and great pictures, but I always wonder why so many people don’t bother using a fender emblem template when they put new fenders on early Mustangs (I’m looking at the otherwise very nice Ivy Green one). It seems like it’s a 50/50 chance that the emblems will be way off.
Normally, I’m very much not nit-picky, but that’s always been a pet peeve, I guess.
I’m pretty sure the 1/24 scale model of a Mustang convertible I have on display in my house is the Silver Blue – one of my favorite colors ever offered.
I’m not normally a huge fan of convertibles but in my head it is the canon bodystyle for first Gen Mustangs, living up to the sports car feel matching it’s long hood proportions. The Mustang had a lot of influences (Monza especially) but within the Ford (extended) family you can actually see the Mustang, at least the 289s, as the mainstreamed Ford designed and approved successor to the narrow bodied small block Shelby Cobras when Ford was desperate for a cool sports car. It may not have had the pedigree or true sports car performance of the Cobra Roadster but it had the image in its set back passenger compartment and up to date mid 60s wrapper, with relatively good everyday practicality and comfort.
The standard wheel covers are really attractive to me too, I actually like the look of them better than the styled steel wheels
I am almost certain I got gas at that shell station/circle K behind the ivy green Mustang, the only time I ever filled up in the city and the nozzle stop mechanism didn’t work – it kept pumping after the tank was topped and I didn’t notice until my shoes were soaked in gas.
I also really like the standard wheel covers on the original first- and second-year Mustangs. Such a great design and so far removed from the “poverty caps” that came standard not that much later.
That Circle K always intrigues me because I remember that brand from the southeast and haven’t seen any other Circle K’s anywhere else around Chicago. I’m qualifying that by stating I don’t drive, but I think I’d normally notice something like that.
Not much to add here other than to say thanks Joe for another well-written and well-photographed article.
Today I parked next to a 5th generation GT, which was noticeably rusting around the wheel wells. And I thought, Wow, how could such a NEW car be rusting like that? Because I was thinking how this 2010 (?…I think that was pretty much it) car was 46 years newer than the 1964 models that I recall and think of as “real” Mustangs. And then I realized that even this was a 10 year old used car, where rust becomes an issue here in New England.
All of which made me reflect upon just how long the Mustang has been with us.
Oh, and come to vacation in New England. We’ll go to IHOP and won’t tell anyone. 😉
Thanks, Jeff – and it’s funny that you mention the rust on the fifth-generation car. I have done “Mustang math” a lot over the years, as you described it. It seems so odd to think that when the SN-95 came out in the fall of ’93, the Mustang was only 29 years old. Nowadays, a ’92 Mustang is 29. That just doesn’t seem possible, but it’s true. I started feeling old when I recently saw a ’96 Mustang in my neighborhood and started feeling nostalgic, but that’s a topic for a different post. 🙂
Late to the party here, but very nice post and great pictures, Joseph.
It’s nice to see these Mustangs out and about.
Great pictures as usual. 🙂
The blue ’65 would be my pick. Love the color & those wheel covers are what I picture on the early Mustangs.
Great pictures! Thanks for highlighting these iconic classic cars. A silver blue Mustang convertible was in the movie “Princess Diaries” with Julie Andrews teaching Anne Hathaway how to drive. The Rotary Club of St. Michaels is raffling off a silver blue convertible 1965 Mustang. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.rotarystm.org. Good luck!
That car is stunning! I hope it goes to a good home.
The CC effect is a strong force, only yesterday on my freeway commute home I spied in my rear view mirror a white 65 with that classic Ford nose up in the air stance, proudly displaying its lower control arms. He would have doing about 65 mph. I could hear it working hard as we were going up a hill at the time he passed me.
It had skinny tires with wheelcovers the same as the blue convertible, it looked a little fragile and spindly, and a tiny single exhaust, and absolutely gorgeous.
It was great to see one of these in such original form, just like it would have been back in the mid 60s.
I love this imagery. I’m sure the purchase of many Mustangs was justified from an economy standpoint. This is a great argument for why the four-cylinder Mustang convertibles weren’t a joke, per se. The original 170 cubic-inch ,six-cylinder base engine in the 1964 1/2 had all of 101 horsepower to power a 2,800-pound convertible. The 2.3L four in the base ’91 convertible had 105 horses, and the car weighed only 200 pounds more.
My ’88 Mustang with the 88-horse version of the 2.3L made a little noise at highway cruising speed, but unlike the ’65 you spotted, mine didn’t seem to strain too much. At least with the air off. 🙂
Thanks to you Joseph for another great article, especially the photos. I’ve had two early Mustangs, a 2007 coupe, and my current ’96 convertible. The fact that the Mustang was a four to five seat car, especially with three kids in the back, made it easy to rationalize the purchase. I’ve always considered that the “mild” models were the real soul of Mustang. While there have been some real fire breathers offered in the past, the base six models were more than adequate, while the 289 was available to handle auto and a/c options. My ’96 has been a real top down favorite, especially driving up highway 50 to Lake Tahoe or down US101 to Pismo Beach. I like driving it over the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges into The City. There’s a reason that early open cars were referred to as “touring cars.” I recommend that if you won’t buy one, then rent a nice convertible for a long weekend and hit the road.
Jose, I may well take your advice! I’d love to write about that experience here from my own experience. It’s funny you should mention the ’96, a generation and model year I love. I found one such car in my neighborhood not too long ago, which I did photograph and plan to write up.