[Tigers] Tiger versus Mustang

[Ron Fraser]

Mark
	The Mustang II might be a low point for many but that model saved
the Mustang name from oblivion.  Ford was losing money on the Mustang but
the Mustang II sold well.

Ron Fraser

-----Original Message-----
From: tigers-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:tigers-bounces at autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of Rense, Mark (GE, Appl & Light)
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 12:13 PM
To: snakebit289; tigers at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Tigers] Tiger versus Mustang


Too much caffeine this morning Rande?

I know Ron and I were taking jabs at both of these cars out of affection for
their heritages and their unique characters. I owned six Mustangs, and was
one of the GE Lighting engineers that helped develop the 9004 flush headlamp
system on the SVO Mustang (and Lincoln MK too). I even suffered through the
ghastly inadequacies of a Mustang II Mach I with the German V-6. I still
shudder at that one. My '86 SVO had well over 1000 miles of track day duty
between Nelsons Ledges and Mid-Ohio and with bigger injectors, manual
wastegate, and open exhaust was quicker than most GTs of the time. That
version of the Fox chassis had serious shortcomings, it flexed so badly I
saw daylight through the hatch seals as the chassis loaded up and twisted
like a spring when exiting Nelson's carousel. But you just drove the shit
out of it anyway, marveling at how much fun and fast it was, because that
SVO was still the best handling ponycar of the era. On a later GT I managed
to squeeze in a 351-based 427, it was an impressive stoplight contender.

As for Tigers, between my father and I there have been five, and hopefully a
couple more before I sign off. I could write a book just on what NOT to do
when restoring and maintaining Tigers, never mind their inadequacies, but
somehow I still manage to put about 5K miles a year on them, most of the
time with a wide grin.

So, I believe I have earned the right to disparage both of these marques,
just understand it is with only the greatest of fondness and respect.

'Nuff said.

Bugz

-----Original Message-----
From: tigers-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:tigers-bounces at autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of snakebit289
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 10:03 AM
To: tigers at autox.team.net
Subject: [Tigers] Tiger versus Mustang

It will probably be apparent that I'm not crazy about notion that the Tiger
is a 'tarted up' Alpine any more that I like the dismissive idea, often
repeated endlessly now during the 50th Mustang anniversary, that the first
Mustang  is just a fancy Falcon.

First, calling something tarted up implies it's a little dressed up, and not
very tastefully. Is anyone prepared to say the Tiger body is less tasteful
than the Alpine's? Save the chrome moulding on Tiger I's and IA's, they're
pretty identical. Even interiors are close, the Alpine GT even closer still.
What separates them is the powertrain, and that changes the driving
experience, going from Alpine to a Tiger.

Sure, some of the Mustang
version 1 (1965-1966, I'm not adopting the '64.5 mantra of the Mustang gold
card inspectors) share some Falcon components, and that's probably what
helped the powers that be at Ford to give the Mustang project a green light.
What really separates the two models is the point that the Mustang was meant
as a niche car for Ford. You can argue the point that Barracuda and Corvair
Monza technically was there first. But, neither Monza, or Barracuda, or
Falcon was so popular that they sold 1.2 million examples during the same
time, and they also didn't need to set up three separate assembly plants and
institute 10 hour work shifts to meet demand. Today, with more drivers and
more buyers, when we rave about selling in such large numbers(cars like
Camry and Accord, light trucks like F-150 and Silverado) manufacturers are
happy to push out 400,000 each a year. To me, the surprising sales numbers
for Mustang is what is remarkable, given  that it was not a family sedan
with attendant larger potential market.

Rande
Bellman
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