In the early 1960's the only domestic sports
car was the Chevrolet Corvette, which was out of most peoples price range. The Ford Thunderbird had grown into a
much larger luxury vehicle. Therefore when the Mustang came out, it was exactly what the public wanted.
The Mustang was unveiled to the public April 17, 1964
at the World Fair in New York. On that day over four million people visited showrooms, and over 22,000 Mustangs
were ordered on the first day. Advertisements and commercials for the Mustang appeared in over 2,600 newspapers
and on all of the large television networks. In the first year of production over 417,000 mustangs
were sold, which surpassed the record for most car sales of a single model in one year by far.
In 1966 the first legislation requiring exhaust emission
control devices was passed. This piece of legislation said that cars must reduce their emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide,
and crank case hydrocarbons by 72%, 56% and 100% respectively. More than half of the cars on the market failed to do this
and they were given an extension until the government became much more strict in 1973.
1967 was the beginning of the muscle car era. Mustangs
got their first real high performance engines, which were gas guzzlers but there really weren't any strict EPA standards at
this time. Engines got more and more powerful(worse and worse for the environment) until 1973 when the fuel crisis began.
