Guess what day it is (without consulting your orrey)? It’s March 32, which means it’s The Autopian’s second anniversary! I know! It’s amazing how far we’ve come, and I do mean we, because all of you in front of this page are as much a part of this as we are, here behind it. Two years! And to think when we launched both the Vatican and the American Dental Association both issued terse, irritated press releases stating we wouldn’t last three months! I’m so proud of all we’ve done, and I’m proud to introduce our official Second Year automotive mascot, the Ford Mustang II.
[Ed note: Guess what! To do all of this we need help from readers like you. The good news is that we’re doing a special 20% discount on annual memberships or upgrades today! Just use the code mustang2yearanniversrary or click this link and it’ll apply the code automatically – MH]
We wanted an automotive mascot that had a two of some kind in its name, to convey the extra-double twoness of a pair of years of existence. There’s not a huge set of these, but there are some, like the Ford Bronco II, Chevy Nova II, Volkswagen of Brazil’s Variant II, the non-Studebaker Avanti II, International’s Scout II, and so on. But there’s something about the Mustang II that really drew us in. Maybe it’s the associations with massive success and near-universal respect that the Mustang II is synonymous with? Maybe antonymous, too, which I just realized was an actual word.
I mean, let’s just take a moment here to drink in some Mustang II goodness. First off, I think it’s worth pointing out that Ford seemed to target Mustang II buyers as people who were open to every single possible form of personal transport, motorized or otherwise. These are all from one brochure:
We have boat-people represented here, as the notchback Mustang II sits on the beach, and you could probably stand next to it, quietly, and hear it rusting out. Except for those bumpers, which were plastic, in a surprisingly forward-looking design choice.
And look, here we have the fastback version for the dune buggy/sandrail people! Obscured behind stripey shirt in the background there may be the only example of an air-cooled VW engine (barely) seen in a Ford brochure, too.
A car brochure staple, the colorful biplane, so we have aircraft-flying Mustang II people represented as well.
Even the aircraft people who don’t want to bother with an engine show up, since that’s a glider behind that Mustang II Ghia, with the half-vinyl roof looking like a balding guy’s head, sits proudly there.
More engine-less weirdos! Horse people! We have horse people here, with their dual-lunged, sweat-cooled horses back there, and their horse-named car up front.
And finally, we have motorcycle people, with that BMW bike being the second air-cooled, horizontally-opposed engine shown in this brochure! Ford never showed any of the Mustang II’s engines here (the actually quite good Pinto 4-cylinder, the 2.8-liter Cologne V6, and the 4.9-liter V8 that somehow only made 140 hp from all of those cubes. That’s what was in the car up above there, with the stripes. I wonder what the name of that model was? I wonder if there’s any clue to what it may have been called. Some sort of snake, I think. An asp? Probably. This was probably The Ford Mustang II Asp. Wish there was some way to know for sure!
Also important in our choice for the Mustang II as the official Autopian Second Anniversary Car is that it was the first American car to have amber rear turn indicators! Starting in 1974! Look:
They actually called them “3-color taillights” in the brochures, so they knew what they were doing.
I also appreciate the laziest approach to a sunroof they offered, where the panel just lifts out instead of sliding back into the roof, making it very much your problem to figure out what to do with it then:
This wasn’t like those cars with a Targa roof, like the Porsche 914, that had a special little drawer in the trunk to hold it; the Mustang II just figured you’d toss it in the back somewhere. But, speaking of tossing things in the back, look at these interiors!
Holy pickles, the colors! The textures! I can feel the cold smoothness of the vinyl, or, if it was parked in the summer, the searing hotness that cooks skin immediately upon contact. I can feel the coarseness of that seat weave, and the soothing plushness of that carpet! What a sensory wonderland!
So many varietals from two basic bodystyles, too. It’s a glorious thing.
Anyway, Happy Second Anniversary to us all! We appreciate you all so very much, and I hope you know that, and feel the Mustang II goodness shining down upon you.
Actually the third! There’s the sandrail/buggy, the BMW bike, and the Pitts Special with its air-cooled, horizontally-opposed Lycoming!
You forgot to mention the most glorious part, buried deep down inside all those body styles were the bones of the Ford Pinto!
I love Mustang ll’s. I still have the brochures I picked up as a kid in the showroom. I flipped between wanting a polar white Ghia with an orange (chamois) landau top, side moldings, and interior (It even had opera windows, glory be!!!) to wanting a white and blue Cobra ll like Farrah Fawcett drove on Charlie’s Angels. I was a twisted kid.
Fingers crossed that the Ghia with the glider in the background was a special edition called the Mustang II Ghia Samurai.
It’s kind of shocking to me how the choice of body style completely changes the entire demeanor of the car. The notchback looks like some kind of 4/5ths scale dowdy Buick Riveria, while the fastback has an altogether more purposeful and sporting look.
Yeah, Happy Anniversary! I love The Autopian!
That lift out moonroof reminds me of my very first car, a 1989 “hardbody” 2 door Pathfinder, which I loved dearly back in the mid-90s. The SE model had all of the bells and whistles for the era, including the aforementioned pop-out moonroof and the coolest alloys to ever grace a SUV.
Yes!!!! Always loved the overlooked Mustang II, I think they make excellent platforms for mods really.
Remember kids: The 1974 II had the great 2.3 and the mid 2.8, and for the only time ever no V8.
Oh yeah, and it outsold every Mustang other than the 65, 66, and 67. Somehow.
It also outsold the F body for 74, 75, and 76 but that’s less surprising.
Two Point Oh or bust man.
Back in the early 90s, my stepsister wound up with a beige Mustang II that looked like a used Band-Aid. It was possibly the worst car I’ve ever driven—numb, sloppy, slow, ugly, and devoid of any positive characteristics other than “it will get you there” (sometimes).
You maybe are unaware there was an actual Chevy Citation II. Last year of production. 83-84 maybe. I bought a new Shitation in 1981. What have I done…
Torch, you missed two forms of transportation that were implied, but not shown: 1) woman in the sunroof drying her hair – swimming or scuba diving obviously, and 2) man and woman with golf club – golf cart.
And no hot air balloons! Blasphemy! Oh, wait, that was for beer commercials.
We’re forgetting the Citation II, which might be the best course of action for The Autopian – change nothing.
In 1974, my car-guy father brought home a brand new Mustang II Ghia in green with a white interior. I have only the vaguest memories of it – because a) I was only four, and b) he hated it so much that it traded it in within a month.
Those sunroof shots have big “woman laughing eating salad” energy. You know, you *know* she’s like “uh, okay. Where do I put this absolutely integral pane of glass that keeps rain from happening from the sky directly into my car?”
Happy big 02 to Autopian!
Leave it to you to drop a deuce in the punch bowl during an anniversary celebration.
Ah yes. Mustang two, boredom zero.
Are you bastards partnering with Blipshift today or what?
https://www.blipshift.com/
Happy Anniversary! I always look forward to March 32!
I love that the Cobra is the “Mustang II Cobra II” because “Mustang Cobra II” isn’t moronic enough, apparently.
A girlfriend had one of these, back when I was still wrenching. Had to replace the electric fan and the radiator after only 60k miles. At least it was easy to work on.
I love that it’s the Mustang II Cobra II which makes it even more fitting. It might be the only car with two IIs in the name!
Also, Jason, those are varieties of Mustang IIs, not varietals. Varietal is the adjectival form of the word variety. You don’t say grape varietals, you say grape varieties. But they do have varietal characteristics.
I think it’s important to note that the first six photos don’t seem to show anyone in them who wants to be associated with the Mustang II. Guessing that they had up the offer to get the models in the other ones to pose in association with the car.
And happy anniversary! What’s the official gift for the second anniversary? A can of PB Blaster? Maybe a 10mm socket?
“What’s the official gift for the second anniversary?”
A case of Nulon’s “Start Ya Bastard” ether spray. Use appropriately*.
*Or WILDLY inappropriately, we won’t tell.
For that special romantic someone it’s a “Start Ya Bastard” starter switch. If they “get it” they’re the one!
https://billetautomotivebuttons.com/products/28mm-start-ya-bastard-billet-push-button-switch-push-start
Also comes as a little blue pill….
Bring back the plaid interiors!