By Ted Biederman
MotorwayAmerica.com editor

(April 17, 2014) Years ago while at a Mustang Club owners meet celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Mustang, I was treated to a story about the introduction of the original Mustang in 1964 during the World’s Fair in New York City by a wonderful writer and Automotive Journalist Floyd Freel who was present for the festivities.

Part of the story I was aware of since I had traveled to New York to see the World’s Fair and the new Mustang, which a Ford dealer friend of mine had told me about. At the time I was a young officer in the U.S. Air Force and stationed in North Carolina never even dreaming that one day I would be an automotive writer. But I was a car enthusiast and I didn’t want to miss seeing what I had been hearing and reading about. I had no idea about the following until Floyd told me the story 25 years after the fact.

As Freel tells it, the news conference for the journalists was actually being held at the Waldorf Astoria on Manhattan’s East Side prior to the reveal at the World’s Fair site at Flushing Meadows in Queens on New York’s Long Island. The Waldorf also served as the host hotel for the Ford executives and the visiting, mostly newspaper, journalists.

Journalists being what they are (at least back then), went out for a night on the town the evening before the press conference. They found their way to Times Square and came across a “headline print shop;” you know, “Margie visits Manhattan” (in 96-pt. Helvetica) that served up as a souvenir for the trip to New York.

Needless to say with a few (too many) drinks under their belts, those rowdy newspaper guys couldn’t pass up the opportunity of a good gag. They had printed up “Ford kills Mustang – Fires Iacocca!” Not just one, but hand’s full according to Freel. The next morning they papered (no pun intended) the house with the copies including the chairs of Henry Ford II and Lee Iacocca, who was head of the Ford Division and the titular father of the Mustang.

To make a long story short: Henry the Deuce and Iacocca nearly hit the roof and high blood pressure reddened their faces until they realized what they were looking at. Of course the laughing and rolling in the isle journalists gave a hint to the mischievous prank as well. 

Well after the laugh and a nitro tab or two the press conference went on as planned, they moved out to the World’s Fair and the reveal; Henry and Iacocca flew home and the journalists drove new Mustangs back to Detroit.

So there I was at the Mustang Club meet and Don Peterson, CEO of Ford at the time was also there and I related Freel’s story and asked if he knew about it? “Know about it — I was there!” It turns out Peterson was a Ford Product Planner at the time and at the Waldorf, floored by the gag as were all.

Needless to say ever since the debut of the original Ford Mustang 50 years ago, there has been an ongoing debate about what to call the pony cars built between April and August of 1964. Are they “1964½” Mustangs or 1965 models?

Technically, all of the original Ford Mustangs are 1965 models because all carry a 1965 model year Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) even though Ford introduced it in New York as a mid-1964.

But the majority of Mustang enthusiasts throughout the world are purists at heart, and they know very well that the vehicles produced from April to August of 1964 were different enough from those manufactured during the remainder of the model year to warrant giving them another name.

“An entire generation has grown up calling these vehicles ‘1964½.’ It is part of the lexicon of Mustang history,” said John Clor, author of The Mustang Dynasty. “Technically, all of the original Mustangs are 1965 models, but true enthusiasts know that production of the car ran for a year and a half and that the car changed after the first six months.”

The biggest change was in the electrical system. The so-called 1964½ Mustangs used generators while those made during the standard 12-month 1965 model year used alternators. Also, the V-8 option was different. The 1964½ models used the 260-cubic inch V-8 engine, while the 1965 models employed a 289-cubic inch V-8 engine.

“People like to say there is no such thing as a 1964½ Mustang, and in theory they are correct,” said Charles Turner, national head judge for the Mustang Club of America (MCA). “But there is a wide range of little differences between the cars built before and after August of 1964 that make them very unique. The MCA accepts the 1964½ as a model year because we view it as a different car.”

Those lucky enough to own a Mustang built between April and August of 1964 view their pony cars as a totally different breed of the steed. “We take exception to someone calling them 1965 Mustangs because the ’64½ was a unique car when it was introduced, and it is a very special thing to own one,” said Fred Glazier, who bought his Rangoon Red Mustang coupe in May of 1964. “When you tell someone you have a 1964½ Mustang, people who understand Mustangs know what you’re talking about.”