1966 Ford Mustang

The 1966 Mustang had been in production only one and a half years and reached the 1,000,000 sold mark. This was an outstanding accomplishment and one that was celebrated with the Sprint 200 Mustang. The Sprint 200 was exactly the same mechanically as all the other 1966 six cylinder Mustangs, except for the decal on the engine that read "Mustang Powered Sprint 200" and the chrome air cleaner.

Another change for 1966 was the Mustang's appearance in Germany. They were exported as the T-5 Mustang and simply known as the T-5 because the name "Mustang" was copyrighted. The "Mustang" emblems were removed from the vehicle and replaced by the T-5 emblem on the fenders to save the $10,000 copyright fee. The racing program was also being developed during this time.

The GT racing program was in the hands of Carroll Shelby and he began creating aftermarket parts for high performance upgrades on Mustangs. With the parts system arriving at dealerships nationwide the Mustang fans were able to build street legal R-model Mustangs as well as make other modifications and changes to reflect their personal style.

The 1966 production was 607,568 and the 289 cid V8 engine with 206 horsepower remained the most powerful Mustang engine. There were some basic changes to the 1966 model to the delight of Mustang fans and a modified lineup as well.

1966 Mustang Standard The standard models were the coupe, convertible, and fastback. There prices were $2416, $2607, and $2652 respectively.

1966 Mustang Shelby GT The Shelby GT was priced at $4,428. There were only six Shelby GT 350 convertibles in 1966, and all six of them were different colors. This made the 1966 Shelby GT 350 convertible one of the rarest Mustang convertibles. Another change in the Shelby GT for 1966 was the return of the rear seat and more exterior color options. This made consumers happy. Visibility was increased with quarter windows replacing the vents behind the windows. Also, a Cobra replaced the Pony and tribar from 1965 on the fuel door. A badge that boasted "350 GT" was placed on the deck lid of the vehicles, however the first 300 or so missed out on the badge. There were 1001 GT 350s ordered by Hertz for rental car purpose. The cars sported side stripes that read GT 350H, however the public began calling these cars "Rent-a-Racers." Many Mustang owners rented Shelbys for $17 per day in order to switch their regular Mustang engine with the supercharged Shelby engine. After the swap the Shelby was returned to Hertz and nobody was the wiser, that is until Hertz starting catching on. Approximately 800 "rent-a-racers" were made in black and the other 200 distributed between blue, red, white, and green. The black models and some white models came with stripes from the factory, yet many owners added stripes when they restored the vehicle. There were also 11 supercharged 1966 TGT 350S vehicles produced.

High Country Special The High Country Specials were a special Mustang promotion for the years of 1966-68. There were only 333 High Country Specials produced in 1966, with 35 of them convertibles. There were special emblems for the High Country Special Mustangs that the dealers could place wherever they chose. Only Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming dealers sold the High Country Special. There were only three colors as well, these included Aspen Gold, Timberline Green, and Columbine Blue.

Powertrain and Performance

Exterior

The exterior of the 1966 Mustang received some style changes, but slight ones. The front grille received a running horse that appeared to be floating in midair on horizontal grille bars as well as a new gas cap. The previous year's honeycomb grille was phased out. Other changes included lip molding on all Mustang models, newly designed side chrome spires, newly style wheels, standard backup lights and rocker panel moldings. A chrome trim was also used on the steering wheel for 1966. The C shaped rear wheel scoop received three pronged, chrome plated wind splits on all models except the GT. The side mirrors also received a new design.

Consumers were delighted that basic changes were made to the 1966 Mustang. The exterior colors for the 1966 Mustang were also changed a bit, too. The exterior colors included Arcadian Blue, Candy Apple Red, Antique Bronze, Brittany Blue, Dark Moss Green, Light Beige, Emberglo, Maroon Metallic, Ivy Green Metallic, Medium Silver Metallic, Raven Black, Medium Palomino Metallic, Nightmist Blue, Sahara Beige, Sauterne Gold, Sapphire Blue for Shelbys, Signalflare Red, Silver Blue Metallic, Silver Blue, Springtime Yellow, Vintage Burgundy, Silver Frost, Tahoe Turquoise, and Wimbledon White.

Obviously, consumers had a lot of exterior colors to choose from and although there were a million Mustangs on the road they were a mixture of many different colors.

Interior

The 1966 Mustang interior also had a few changes. New patterns of upholstery were available, which made consumers happy. There was also a change to standard padded sun visors on all Mustangs and a new five dial instrument cluster. The new cluster replaced the instrument panel used before that was just borrowed from the Ford Falcon.

Interior trim color selections were wide and included the following: dark red with red, aqua with aqua, blue with blue, black with black, parchment with blue, parchment with emberglo, parchment with burgundy, parchment with black, parchment with aqua, parchment with palomino, blue and white, red, black, emberglo and parchment, aqua and white, ivy gold and white, and parchment with ivy gold. The bench seat interiors were either blue, black, red, parchment with palomino, parchment with blue, parchment with ivy gold, or parchment with burgundy.

The wide selection of interior colors was because each trim level had its own set of interior color selections. This helped to set the different models of Mustangs apart as well as allow individuals to sport their individuality in their car.

In general the 1966 Mustang's interior was very similar to the year before and the biggest changes were interior colors and upholsteries.

Final Thoughts

While still new on the block, Mustang certainly was catching on like wildfire. Selling over one million vehicles in a year and a half of production was unheard of and the car everyone wanted, young and old, rich and poor, was the Mustang. And, from the base model to luxury models there were Mustangs for all classes and income levels.

The Mustang was the new American symbol. It embodied power and style and sold as fast as it was produced. "Mustang Fever" even caught on in Germany despite it being sold by a different name. The body style and design was taking the world by storm and Ford was loving its success.