ADVANCED MUSTANGOLOGY
>>>>
THEMARTI
REPORT
JUST DROP IT
O
n July 9, 1973, the last
Mustang convertible rolled
off the Ford assembly line
at the Rouge River plant in
Dearborn, Michigan. With the
debut of the ’74 Mustang II,
Mustangs would be available only
as a notchback or hatchback.
In 1976, Cadillac discontinued
the only convertible still being
sold in the United States. Of
course, various coachbuilders
were producing one-off conversions, but no U.S. car manufacturer would offer a drop-top for
the rest of the decade. Secondgeneration Mustangs were never
made available for sale by Ford as
convertibles.
Early in the ’80s, car companies
took notice of the pent-up demand
of the American public for convertibles. Although T-tops and
sunroofs/moonroofs were good
sellers, they were no match for
the wide-open feel of a convertible. Mustang jumped back in after
a 10-year dearth, and sales
exploded. More than 23,000 ’83
Mustangs were ordered in the
convertible body style. One out of
every five Mustangs sold that year
was a convertible. Ford had never
seen such a high percentage of
Mustang sales be attributable to
the convertible. First-generation
Mustangs typically hovered
around 10 percent of total sales.
That year, Fox Mustangs sold at
double that rate.
Even more remarkable were the
economics involved. When the
Mustang debuted in 1964, a hardtop cost $2,345. The convertible
stickered at $2,587, a mere 10
percent more than the hardtop.
When the ’83 Mustang was sold,
the GLX sedan model, from which
the convertible was based, cost
$7,398. The GLX convertible
invoiced for $12,467 — a huge
68 percent increase. That’s a
testament to the buying public’s
strong desire to own a convertible.
Ford didn’t stop there, though.
The year 1982 had seen the reintroduction of the Mustang GT. On May
11, 1983, a Mustang GT convertible
rolled off the Dearborn assembly
line. It was ordered by McCafferty
Ford in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.
But it would not be the first one
sold. That distinction took place on
May 27, 198