As Ford counts down to the 50th anniversary of the Mustang, here's another in its series of videos featuring highlights of the Pony Car story - in this case the first collaboration between Mustang creator Lee Iacocca and Texas chicken farmer Carroll Shelby, who up till then was best known for marrying a big Ford V8 and a small British sports car to create the Shelby Cobra.
When the Mustang was released in April 1964, it was stylish, affordable and fun to drive. But it wasn't a race car - far from it. The Mustang had been developed on a shoestring budget using mostly off-the-shelf parts and was originally intended to have no more than a 255 cubic-inch straight six.
’SECRETARY’S CAR’
So when Iacocca asked Shelby late in 1964 to develop the new two-door into a racing car, the Texan was initially very sceptical. Legend has it he called the Mustang a "secretary's car" and said that in order to make it competitive he'd have to rip out the rear seats, uprate the suspension, completely rebuild the brakes and replace the engine with the then-new Windsor V8, tuned up to about 350 horsepower (260kW).
"OK," said the Ford vice-president, "Do it."
And thus was born the GT350, progenitor of the Mustang reputation as a muscle car, and the basis of two of Hollywood's most enduring star cars - Steve McQueen's 'Bullitt' chase car and Eleanor from 'Gone in 60 Seconds'.