That was eight months ago, and I can think of at least a half-dozen unphotographed 1960s Mustangs around town, so let's take a look at this lil' red devil with the super-rare horseshoe bumper guards.

This is our third Alameda 1966 Mustang, after this beat-to-hell one and this pretty nice example.. At this point, Alameda has provided at least one example of each first-generation Mustang, with the exception of the '64-1/2 and 1970-72 models. I'll keep my eyes open for those, so we can complete the set.

In 1966, the base Mustang coupe cost $2,416; add a 289-cube V8 and you'd spend an extra $105 (for the 225-horse version) or $433 (for the 271-horse version). If you wanted the 390 from the factory, tough luck- that wasn't an option until '67. The base price on the '66 Ford Falcon coupe- under the skin, essentially the same car as the Mustang- was just $2,060, with the same 289 engine options available. Then consider this: for $2,183, 1966 car buyers could have picked up a Chevy II coupe with a 275-horsepower 327 (and anyone who knows how much the 350-horse L79 327 option cost, please let us know). Clearly, the Mustang's styling made it a huge cash machine for Ford, though this was the last year for zero serious competition from The General.

Unlike the Panamera lift which took place in a freight elevator with a complete automobile, Ford took apart their Mustang and shipped it in pieces, via a people elevator, to the observation deck of the Empire State Building, then reassembled it.
The stunt was dreamed up by the operator of the Empire State Building and Ford happily jumped at the chance to publicize its already wildly successful Mustang. Just goes to show how clever ideas aren't always new ones.

The Mustang atop the Empire State Building

In October 1965, with the Ford Mustang the hottest-selling car in America, the general manager of the Empire State Building had a great idea – to display a Ford Mustang on the 86th floor observation deck of the iconic Manhattan landmark.

Officials at Ford agreed and dispatched a crew to take was careful measurements of the skyscraper's doors, hallways and elevators. They determined that a white convertible Mustang could be disassembled into four main sections and transported – along with many smaller pieces – up to the building's 86th floor in elevators to be reassembled.

Three dry runs performed in Dearborn to make sure it would work. Then, at 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 20, a Ford crew in crisp white overalls began taking the car apart outside the building on 33rd Street.

It all ran smoothly until the crew discovered the steering column was one-quarter-inch too tall for the elevator. Some careful maneuvering was done and by 4:30 a.m., the reassembled car was on the outdoor observation deck and ready to be photographed from a helicopter.

But that wasn't the end of the stunt. Later that morning, the car was taken apart again and moved inside the glass-enclosed observation area that is surrounded by the outdoor deck.

Many of the building's visitors were surprised and delighted to find a Mustang there and assumed it had been lifted into place by a helicopter.

Five months later, on March 16, 1966, the car was disassembled for the last time and removed from the building.

Since its debut in 1964, over nine million Mustangs have been sold but only one ever made it to the top of the Empire State Building.

-Leslie Armbruster, Senior Collections Archivist at Ford Motor Company

Well, it turns out that the 1966 Mustang from Un Homme Et Une Femme was restored a few years back, and we're pretty sure that Vroomscreech has spotted this very car down on the street- in front of a movie theater, of course- in Santa Monica California. Apparently the car in the movie was adorned with both 184 and 145 door numbers, for plot reasons we'll probably never know; this is either the actual car or the work of a heavy-duty SoCal Lelouch fan.

In '66, your new Mustang coupe cost $2,416 with a six-cylinder and three-on-the-tree. Add another 106 bucks and you got the 200-horsepower V8. The '66 Falcon coupe- essentially the same car under the skin- went for just $2,060, so Ford had a license to print money with the Mustang... much as they did during the more recent pickups-with-cupholders era.


2,488 pounds. That's the shipping weight on this car, which weighs about 188 pounds more than the "tiny" Toyota Yaris. But the old Mustangs were rattly and drafty, the radio had just one speaker (pointed at the windshield), and you could hear road noise! Our car-buying forefathers were tough!