Opinions can change drastically over half a century. Years back, for example, the idea of a fireproof house made of asbestos sounded like a good idea; we now know that stuff is worse for you than the sweeteners in Tab.
At the same time, certain things that were considered All Bad back in the day are now seen in a new light. We may have laughed at bold brown-and-orange graphics, but now we stick them on brand-new Broncos. As an eight-year-old, my parents might have scoffed at me watching Soul Train on a Saturday afternoon, but time has proven that my very white young ass knew what was dope.
The 1971 to ’73 Mustang was also a product of these times, and after much backlash, they’re finally being respected as a cool-looking rides. It’s high time that we bring the Big ‘Stang back to life.
Who You Callin’ Fat?
Unfortunately, conventional wisdom seems to be that the 1971-73 “big” Mustang was a rather overweight, oversized monstrosity. As with much of this “wisdom,” it’s seemingly a load of crap.
In a recent post of many that I’ve done on Mustangs (hey, you’ve asked for them, so don’t blame me), I posted a picture of this often-maligned Mustang “SportsRoof” and mentioned offhand that this design might be worthy of a revisit. Most of you readers seemed to agree. In fact, you almost demanded that I do this:
It is indeed a great-looking car and almost as iconic as the “Bullitt” 1968 car. Sean Connery’s James Bond famously drove one in Diamonds Are Forever. Famous continuity error: after the two-wheel stunt, the Mustang comes out of the alley on the opposite set of wheels! [Ed note: technically, there’s no goof because Bond and Tiffany are seen changing their angle in a through-the-windshield shot that bridges the exterior shots of the Mustang entering the alley on its passenger-side wheels and then rolling out of the alley on its driver’s-side wheels. That said, this shot was surely inserted later to cover the continuity error – Pete]
Today, the “Eleanor” custom 1968 Mustang is most associated with the film franchise Gone In Sixty Seconds, but it was in fact a 1973 car that featured prominently in the original 1974 film.
Despite this celluloid credibility and striking appearance, the ’71-73 ‘Stang still gets a bad rap by some as being a disgrace to the Mustang line. How did this happen? Part of it might be that it was a departure from the earlier formula for what a Mustang was expected to be. There’s no prominent forward-protruding grille as on earlier car; just a low, wide front opening that features the odd “sport lamps” which Jason has written about before (they’re just extra parking lights with turn signal bulbs and a separate switch that don’t provide any forward illumination). A character line running down the flanks parallel to the ground accentuates just how raised the rear quarter panels are.
Man, the backlight of the “SportsRoof” is so steeply raked that the backlight is more like a sunroof for what passed as a back seat. It’s seemingly a mile front to back but in the rear view mirror, it looks like a mail slot. Yeah, visibility wasn’t great, and the back was claustrophobic, but these things that were considered impracticalities when the car was new just add to the charm today.
The ’72 model thankfully didn’t change much. I like how the black rocker panels break up what might be considered are rather larger fuselage-style visual mass. You’d never think simply chrome hubcaps and “beauty” rings could look so good, yet here we are:
I’ll readily admit that while I love the “SportsRoof” body, the so-called “Hardtop” version of this generation of Mustang is not my favorite, and likely the version that did the most to denigrate the image of the ’71 car. With the Jaguar XJS-style “sail” quarter panels that were often vinyl covered, the whole thing indeed didn’t seem very “Mustang-like” at all.
I think I’d be very tempted to consider a Gran Torino coupe instead if I were Ford shopping in 1971. There was even a “luxury” version of this car sold as the “Mustang Grande.” Having the Spanish word for “big” in the name of something already chided for size was probably not what the Pony Car icon needed (I’m also not a fan of the 1973 nose job).
Oddly enough, the categorization of the 1971 car as a “fat pig” is usually credited as an inside job as a quote by none other than then-Ford President Lee Iacocca. Lido and his co-conspirators at Ford like product planner Hal Sperlich were strong proponents of smaller cars, so they were likely pleased when a woman named Anna Muciolli stood up at a 1968 shareholder’s meeting and asked why the Mustang had moved away from its light and lean beginnings even then (Mrs. Muciolli’s husband was a Ford engineer, and years later her son would later become a product planner for SVO, so Mustang roots run DEEP).
It’s unknown how much influence Mrs. Muciolli’s comment had on Mr. Ford, but whatever the case may be, the introduction of the small, Pinto-based Mustang II happening in the teeth of the first energy crisis turned out to be a master stroke. Loathed by many Mustang “faithful” to the point that it often barely appears in some retrospectives, the 1974 Mustang II was actually the fourth best-selling model year ever.
Here’s a rather famous shot of Mrs. Muccioli with a new Mustang II and Henry Ford II.
The ironic thing about this image is that, unlike his employees Iacocca and Sperlich, “Hank The Deuce” reportedly didn’t like small cars. He also didn’t like Iacocca and Sperlich, whom he would soon unceremoniously fire and inadvertently send to Chrysler. Geez, Hank, if you’d have just toughed it out with these guys a few more years, they never would have saved Mopar from an almost certain death and you’d have had one less Big Three competitor! Oh well.
The little Mustang was perfect for the times and allowed the name to live today, something few remember. Another thing that few remember is that the “fat” Mustang really wasn’t the gargantuan monster it’s often made out to be. You might have seen this chart that I showed a while back:
See how the size of the 1971-73 car is almost the same as the concurrent Camaro, and the Mustang II is the size of a Monza? Nobody will criticize the second-gen Camaro and Firebird as being “too big,” yet the Mustang fat shaming persists.
You guys are smart, so naturally your next question is going to be “how does a big Mach I SportsRoof compare to the current 2025 Mustang?”
Well, would you look at that? It’s essentially the same size; a few inches taller, but the tallest point on the 2025 car is forward of where your head is anyway.
In retrospect, it seems like Ford felt the need to diss the outgoing 1971-73 car to justify the radically shrunken new 1974 model. Well, now the current Mustang is just as big, so let’s give the unfairly maligned ’71 model a new lease on life. Cue the Theme From Shaft as our soundtrack; let’s get to work.
Suddenly It’s 1971 In 2025
I’ve already looked at what a modern-day Fox Mustang might look like and even done a tongue-in-cheek retro Mustang II. If we acknowledge that the current Mustang has been stuck as an interpretation of the pre-1970 cars for the last twenty years, then if we’re really looking at a logic progression of the retro timeline, then it’s those 1971-73 cars that we should now emulate.
After twenty years, the pre-1970 Mustang well has been run pretty much dry by Ford. When the S197 debuted, it was pretty much a dead-nuts copy of the ’68 car in a manner somewhat similar to the Dodge Challenger revival. Like the New Beetle from a few years before, it created a sensation when it came out in 2005.
Over time, the S197 has been replaced with new Mustangs that were updated with new styling cues to “modernize” it, yet you have to wonder how long this can go on. You end up with a “new” car that somehow still has to keep a foot firmly cemented in a very specific time era; a time era where people that weren’t even around when this car debuted are now able to move into “age 55+” communities.
Enough talk: let’s overlay the 1971 body style over the current 2025 car and see what happens.
I did lower the overall height a hair, but you can see that I’ve kept the basic car essentially the same. Despite the rather dramatically different look, the wheelbase, wheel arches, windshield, lower door openings and even most of the hood are unchanged from the current car. The “sport lamps” on the original car are echoed in the shape of the daytime running lights inboard of the headlamps. The tops of the front fenders are flattened a bit, the rear quarters raised slightly, and the roof is reshaped to look more like the “SportsRoof” style, but it’s all very subtle changes. Here’s an animation to show the transformation; keep your eye on the hood and glass to see how little is altered:
In the back, the “kamm” tail of the 1971 model is recaptured, though what looks like white backup lights in the center of each taillight is an amber-bulbed turn signal:
This animation really shows how sharply raked the roof of the current car really is even when compared to the “SportsRoof” style:
On the inside, the steeply raked dashboard of the 1971 car was quite similar to the C3 Corvette:
It’s a dramatic style, though as commenter Urban Runabout indicated, some of the control and gauge placement was a bit haphazard. I’ll overlay it upon the current Mustang dash and replace much of the mess with screens. As I’ve done before, I want the screens to conform to my design and not the other way around as seems to be the case with much instrument panel design today. Maybe people like these upright screens as almost afterthought appendages stuck to dashboards? I don’t know, but I’m not a fan.
A screen in front of the passenger could be an option. If so, when starting the car, the Mustang logo horse would run from left to right across the triple-screen setup as a fun gimmick. Naturally, you could customize these screens to configure a wide variety of layouts to either match the 1971 car’s layout or any other choice of display.
The floor shifter is non-negotiable; if you want a knob or pushbuttons to change gears you’ll need to find another car.
More Phat Than Fat
You guys were right: the ’71-73 Mustang not only works well as a reimagined car, but it fits so perfectly on the current platform that it would be a shame not to bring it back to life.
Autopian readers seem to know a good thing when they see it, and I’m glad to be a humble servant fulfilling your wishes. You’re the voice of the enthusiast community, and we all need to hear how it is to understand how the original and most enduring Pony Car might survive for another sixty years. The Mustang simply cannot and should not die, and you can see that there’s so much nostalgia yet to be explored.
Come on, we’ve spent enough time in the 1968 in Mustang world. Let’s get to 1971 – can you dig it? Right on.
This was the begining of dull. So little glass and tons of big dull body panels
Heck driving these before cameras was a nightmare. Frankly Id label it a 70s Cyber truck. Flat body panels, wasted space and horrible visibility.
No twin NACA scoops? Or is that for a special edition?
I knew people would miss that. Trying to keep it more aero but it does seem like something is missing without them.
Great work, once again. These are fun to read/see.
thank you!
i would love some “reborn retro” cars of some of the malaise year’s best bangers. the early 70s had all the momentum of the late 60s and then the economy just crushed it to hell. but without the mid to late 70s malaise we would never have all the rad early 80s economy car bangers as people had to trim their transportation budgets and drive cars that were economical.
I enjoyed them in the eighties. Long hoods can make side street merges challenging, especially up hill. Not really a fan of rebooted styling in general. There is such a vast amount of concept cars that never made it, that I’d rather see. Your efforts are appreciated nonetheless, just give it a hatchback for tossing a bike in.
I always took it as a tongue-in-cheek homage to Bond’s apparent capability to perform the impossible.
I like it, but that’s mainly because it looks an awful lot like the 2010-2012 Mustang GT from the front.
I find it ironic that Mrs Muccioli, of the Tootsie-Roll abdomen, called the ’71 Mustang a “fat pig”…
I really like your renderings far, far better than the current Mustang – Much cleaner indeed! And dare I say – it probably has better visibility due to the lower windowline and the elimination of the B-post?
And Thank You for the quotes – I wish I could have collaborated on this w/ you for further refinements.
Personally I would have chosen to make the kammback rearward leaning than forward leaning as the current car is – which would have given you even more length to extend the trailing edge of the sports roof rearward, elongating that sloping roofline. Integrating some bumper-guard vertical elements in the rear diffuser would also reference the Grande of the Seventies while further adding bodywork protection.
I perhaps would have also make the character line in the forward bodywork more prominent to give us that extended horizontality which defined the ’71.
As far as the interior – I’m glad you faired in the instrument displays! But I’m missing a T-Bar handle for the gear selector. Squircle cupholders would also be a nice touch – echoing the shapes of the air vents and taillamps.
Finally – With the Olympics coming up – Would it be bad to have a Sprint edition?
Looking forward to your ’71 inspired Convertible….
Okay then.
Particularly looking at the black lower body, I think this design language would work well for a next-gen Mach-E. Although I thought the Fox Body style would also work well for a Ioniq 5 ripoff Mach-E. I’d love to see your takes on those.
71-73 Mustang- the Galaxy-class of pony cars.
I googled for some more detail on this, but it turned up my post from a year ago so I’ll just use that:
71 is also when the Capri came to the US. Perhaps it should’ve replaced the Mustang at that time. The Capri is the real Mustang II
Your modern dash is SO much better than the “blank space with one tablet/screen to controld everything’ look that so many are doing now. Im not sure about the screen in front of the passenger, but the other two are perfect, and how it should be. It looks like there are physical buttons for key controls, which is also good. But….there should be one old school nod to the original: a slider style manual temp control with the red/blue gradient bar above it.
Plus, there could be void space behind all of these screens to secretly store your crap.
One of my friends back in high school had a ‘Powder Blue ‘71 Mach 1.I’m not sure if it was the design of the cabin or what but that was the loudest car I was ever inside of.It did have glass-packs but it was like an echo chamber inside.I kinda think the new rendering looks like a last gen Camaro.
I thought the same thing, a lot of Camaro in that C-pillar.
The front end. When I saw the 1st image without reading, I thought it was a new Camaro.
Aston Martin Victor comes to mind. That looks more Mustang than an Aston.
Did you mean to write misjugged in your headline versus misjudged, because that would fit, too?
Seriously, the Sportroof version of 71-73 Mustangs were pretty slick and in many ways it’s a design that more readily lends itself to evolution than the original. Plus, like many cars, the right paint job can make a world of difference to perception.
Your mod of the current ‘Stang with with features from the Gross Stang is better looking than where Ford finds itself today. Like to have a T-top or targa version, though (hint, hint).
I would have lost a bet that the 71-73 mustang was wider than a modern mustang. It was 1 in narrower. I liked the big mustangs but then again when I formed that opinion it was the early 1980s and the mustang IIs were rusting away around me.
Right? I grew up in the midwest, and I recall precious few IIs running around by the 80s, but plenty of the classics (which were then just thought of as “old cars”) still on the roads.
I saw a Cobra II in Minnesota last mont, Total unicorn sighting.
Ironically the render just looks like a squat Mach-E.
I’d trade my current Mach-E in in a heartbeat for one that looked like that.
“Opinions can change drastically over half a century. Years back, for example, the idea of a fireproof house made of asbestos sounded like a good idea; we now know that stuff is worse for you than the sweeteners in Tab.”
What I want to know is what moron back then thought aluminum wiring for residential use was a good idea. And of course lets not forget to thank Thomas Midgley Jr. for a hundred years of leaded gas.
These ideas look great. And the masses do seem to love the 68. But my fav has always been 69-70. It grew up just a bit from the earlier cars, became way more muscular looking, and not nearly as slab sided as the 71-73
Yeah, imagine the bias that would be put in your head if you were a kid that came home in a ’65 convertible bought brand new and kept until the late seventies.
I was that very kid. It’s taken a lot of mind detox to accept the Big Stang for the cool car it is.
The additional mass at the back makes it look bigger than it is. Love the reimagining of the “Fat ‘Stang”. Pony got back.
Less famous than the 007 connection, but a ’73 Mustang convertible was also Mary Richards’s car on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She got it in the season 3 finale episode, “Mary Richards and the Incredible Plant Lady,” which also featured a young Craig T. Nelson as a mechanic at her Ford dealership. The convertible presumably replaced the white ’70 coupe seen in the season 1 opening credits.
Yes, it was a white base model “hardtop”, right?
The ’70 coupe was. The ’73 was a yellow convertible!
(Mary wanted a green one, but it sold before she bought it. Rhoda bought the yellow one for her, and got really verklempt when she found out that Mary hated yellow.)
If you turn the sound off you’d swear that Gone in 60 Seconds clip was the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage video.
I always hated the look of the big Mustang. Especially the rear quarter panel section. It looks like they didn’t know what to do with it and just made a box.
It’s worse than the SN95 giant front overhang.
First Car was a 1971 Mach 1 with the 351C. I wanted it simply because it was my favorite matchbox car as a kid. ANd thanks tot he fat mustang comments they were rediculously cheap at the time. They were within 200 lbs of each the outgoing 1970 models, so it was often exaggerated.
I also had a bit of thing for Falcon XB/GT’s with NACA hood scoops. SO I really wanted a 71-73 with that hood. I still kind of want to see how a monza front end kit from down under could be adapted to 71-73 sport roof of some sort.