In anticipation of the Feds’ demand for mandatory head restraints, Ford built them right into the seat backs. The Mach I’s front buckets are now shaped very much like those in a commercial airliner (the image, right? Mach I, Ford’s own 727). To provide the required headroom with the lowered roof, the seat cushions are on the thin side and have a bony feel to anyone of more than average weight. We quite heartily approve of Ford’s latest science in seat covering material—a breathable knitted vinyl. Not only does it breathe but it also hangs on to the seat of your pants with a kind of non-skid grip that keeps you from sliding around at the mercy of side forces.
The instrument panel has been compartmentized into one section for the driver and one for the front seat passenger—each with a huge padded visor for protection. The driver’s side contains a large tachometer and speedometer flanked by a fuel level gauge on one side and a temperature gauge on the other. Anything else you may want to know is going to have to come from those mysterious lights. The speedometer is marked in what seems to be quarter-mph increments and so it tends to be hard to read, especially so since it’s at some distance from the driver’s eyes. Despite all, the traditional Ford 70-mph redline is unmistakably there. On the passenger’s side a very busy clock has been provided for viewing enjoyment. Of course all of the instruments have been set in an imitation wood background. They’re calling it teak for ’69 but it could be anything but pecky cyprus.
The center console (which has also been teaked) has a raised section directly between the seats which forms a storage compartment. The lid is hinged, not at the rear as you have come to expect, but on the right side in order that it can open away from the driver.
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Normally considered a leader in the sporty car business, Mustang followed its Camaro, Firebird and Javelin competitors by removing the quarter vent windows. Although we usually complain about this alteration for alteration’s sake, it seems to be fairly successful in the Mach I.
The Mustang may have lost its door vent windows for 1969 but the fastback made up for that with its new swing-out rear quarter windows. Instead of rear windows, the old fastbacks had air extractors in its C-pillars.
Even though the exhaust noise was always noticeable in our test Mach I, the overall sound level was low. Probably the 55 additional pounds of sound deadener that Ford claims to put into every Mach has something to do with that pleasant circumstance.
The composite mechanical Mach I is a disappointment. The visual Mach I is a great pleasure. Upon first seeing photographs last spring we knew the car would generate more excitement among car enthusiasts than any Mustang yet, and that is saying a good deal. Because of that premonition we decided that the Mach I would have to be the first road test of the 1969 Detroit crop. To get what we consider to be a valid test we waited until early production models were available, but even then, in order to make our deadline for the November issue, the test had to be performed several weeks before the public announcement date. For that reason most of our evaluations were made on a test track in variance with our usual procedure of about 30% test track, 70% public roads. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough in-traffic driving to compile any representative fuel economy data—a normal part of our road test routine. As we go to press Ford has a few blanks to fill in too, because even though Mach Is are coming off the end of the assembly line, nobody knows how much they’re going to cost.
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It is difficult to escape the conclusion that Ford is trying to make Mustang become too many things to too many people. A six-cylinder economy car and a big-inch stormer on the same chassis simply requires more compromises than are acceptable.
The basic layout, new on the 1967 models, was designed around the 289-302 series V-8 which resulted in a well balanced automobile. The decision to go to the 390 engine was an evil augury. Even though the 428 weighs very little more than the 390, the whole situation is aggravated by the additional 3.8 inches of front overhang. Add to that uncomfortable marriage the ample understeer built into the suspension to minimize the effect of the Cobra Jet’s impressive torque output, and the result of the union is a Mustang that’s more like a plow horse than a polo pony.
It does not make us happy to say all of this: we—and you—have asked Ford to become aware of the enthusiast’s needs and his wishes, and the company has seemed to respond—usually in the right way. For several years the wholly inadequate 390 GT was foisted off as the-top-of-the-line performance option. Now with the Cobra Jet, the largest factory-available engine in any of the sporty cars, Ford pilots have more than a fighting chance in the “go games.”
Engines are nice, Ford Motor Company. And so is 700-mph styling. Trouble is, they have to go together or they won’t go at all.
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