This review first appeared in the September 2025 edition of the Cruisin' News,
"Oregon, Nevada and California's classic
auto news & marketplace."
To subscribe to the Cruisin' News, visit www.cruisinnews.com, call (916)
933-0949 or send an email request to subscribe@cruisinnews.com. Mailed requests for information should be
sent to Cruisin' News, P.O. Box G, Virginia City, NV 89440.
Sacramento, California -- All these years, it has followed me around.
At the 1964 Indianapolis 500.
At the 1964 World's Fair in New
York.
My mother's first car, a notable
fact given that she grew up in poverty and did not get her first driver's
license until she was 40 years old.
The car in which I learned to
drive.
It's a Ford Mustang, of course ... and
yeah, the name still has a romantic ring to it, right?
My recent week in a Mustang
Premium coupe certainly proved the point.
In traffic, fellow motorists gave me a thumbs-up. Parked in various lots around town, my beauty
wearing "Carbonized Gray Metallic" paint drew admiring crowds.
I'm not sure that the creators of
the Mustang envisioned all that would come when the model was introduced in the
early days of Lyndon Johnson's presidency.
Naturally, a lot has happened
since then to bring the Mustang into the modern age.
Most pleasant for me was the
2.3-liter turbocharged power plant rated at 315 horsepower. There's a satisfying rumble when starting the
car, and my tester felt strong and smooth when opened up on the highway. It
felt more comfortable at 70 miles per hour than it did at 35 mph.
The tested Mustang -- stickered at
$51,935 -- included a fair number of high-end components. That list included Brembo brakes, a 13.2-inch
center stack screen, specialized ambient lighting and a heated leather-wrapped
steering wheel.
For all of its muscle, fuel mileage
was pretty fair at 21 miles per gallon in the city and 29 mpg on the highway.
Back in the day, it was common for
owners of specific sports cars to wave at each other on the highway. You get a little bit of that feeling in the
Mustang ... Call it the price (or reward) for being an icon.
There are so many sports cars on
the market now -- and so much horsepower -- that it's easy to get lost in the
blizzard of nicely shaped machines.
But the Mustang takes things a
step further, with a strong sense of history behind the wheel, back to a time
when American automakers were competing furiously ... and not quite hearing or
seeing the wave of high-mileage, foreign-made cars on the horizon.
Philosophy and nostalgia aside,
the current Mustang remains a pleasure to drive.
The fact that it's part of
automotive history -- and still a head-turner among all ages -- is just a
bonus.
