Thank you very much.
And whatever comes
Oh, I'm gonna make it happen
Fire all of your guns at once and explode into space
I like to delight in every metal thunder
Oh, smooth to me and the feeling that I'm under
Yeah, I'm gonna make it happen
Catch the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once and explode into space
And like a true nature's child
We were born, born to be wild
We can count so high
I never wanna die
Born to be wild
An automobile may be transportation to some people, but to many it's a love affair.
These cars hold a unique place in the hearts of their owners and those who can only dream of owning them.
These special cars evoke an ideal.
Sexy, luxurious, fast, sleek, beautiful.
They are the epitome of the word classic.
It all began in 1885 with Carl Benz and his brother Otto, who produced the first commercially manufactured automobile.
In 1893 in America, Charles Durier demonstrated his.
And in 1896, Henry Ford built his quadricycle.
Here, years later, Henry Ford and his wife take a spin in his quadricycle around their estate in Michigan to celebrate an anniversary.
In 1896, Durier became the first to mass produce automobiles, building 13 identical ones in Springfield, Mass.
His company would eventually be bought from him and become Chevrolet.
In 1903, there were 1,000 automobile manufacturers.
This same year, the Ford Motor Company was founded and produced the Model A, which went 30 miles per hour and cost $850, which was a lot of money back then.
Henry Ford was determined to revolutionize the assembly line.
Instead of having the men move to the car, he decided to time moving the cars past the men.
They tested the idea by having a strong man pull the car slowly past the workers.
As they perfected the method, the time it took to assemble a Model T went from 12 hours to 40 seconds, dropping the price from $850 to $300, making it possible for everyone to own one.
The car changed people's lives.
City folk went to the country, sometimes unexpectedly running into other people.
Roads were still more suited to the horse and carriage, but you could drive through a thousand-year-old California redwood.
As the automobiles' popularity grew, so did traffic and parking problems.
Cars became bigger and more luxurious.
The electric starter replaced the hand crank, making it easier for women to own cars.
In 1925, 25 million cars were produced in America.
Clearly, the love affair with the automobile was well underway.
These cars illustrate the emerging importance of styling.
Duesenberg brought out the first straight eight, the EL29 cord with front-wheel drive.
Duesenberg's high-performance cars stunned the world.
The J Model with 265 horsepower and SJ Series with 320 horsepower, which would be like introducing a car today with 1,000 horsepower.
Cadillac's 1930 V-16 cylinder car.
The 1930 Packard.
The 1932 Lincoln.
The 1933 Chrysler LeBaron.
The Bugatti Royale. Fewer than 10 were sold.
This Hispano Sevesa made of tulip wood was used for racing.
The Mercedes SSK.
A 1931 Rolls Royce Phantom II sedan.
In the 30s, besides styling, car buyers appreciated performance, as shown in these letters from two of America's most famous outlaws,
John Dillinger and Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde fame, written to Ford praising their cars.
Barrow wrote, while I still have got breath in my lungs, I will tell you what a dandy car you make.
I have drove Fords exclusively when I could get away with one.
For sustained speed and freedom from trouble, the Ford has got every other car skinned.
And even if my business hasn't been strictly legal, it don't hurt anything to tell you what a fine car you got in the V8.
Even without such endorsements, engineering and design became more innovative.
The 810-812 cored body shape changed radically.
The 1936 Lincoln Zephyr.
The 1938 Cadillac with no running board.
The first post-World War II car was brought out by Studebaker.
The 1946 Kaiser Fraser eliminated fender forms with straight-through body form.
Here's the infamous Tucker, which was never manufactured.
Flush side styling became popular. Car sales boomed.
The automobile had evolved from utilitarian means of transportation to a stylish, high-performance car.
And just as it was in the beginning, the two leading car companies in America were still Chevrolet, now part of GM, and Ford.
Both companies took notice of the fact that during the war, GIs had driven European sports cars such as the MG and Morgan and had brought some back to the States.
Up to 1953, American manufacturers were only building big, family-sized luxury cars.
But this was about to change.
In 1953, America's first sports car, the Corvette, was born.
Introduced at GM's Motorama at the Waldorf Astoria, January 1953, the Corvette was such a hit, people lined up for over 30 minutes just to get a glimpse of America's first, and to Corvette owners, only sports car.
There were 300 built in 1953, but only 180 sold for just over $3,000.
It came as a convertible in Polo White with a sportsman red vinyl interior.
It had a top speed of 108, reaching 60 miles per hour from a stop in 11 seconds.
Its engine nickname, the Blue Flame, was a straight six.
This is a 1953 Chevrolet promotional film.
Notice that the driver has to reach inside to open the door because it came without door handles.
In addition to the speedometer, it had a tachometer to measure engine revolutions.
Harley Earle, Zora Arkus-Duntov, Bill Mitchell, and Ed Cole are considered the fathers of the Corvette.
Because of a lengthy aluminum strike, the very first Corvettes were made of a revolutionary new material, GRP, glass-reinforced plastic, which became a permanent part of the Corvette.
After last-minute holdups, not all of those first 300 cars, all convertibles, looked alike. Some had different hubcaps or other parts.
Harley Earle and Ed Cole wanted to design a car to compete with the European sports cars such as Jaguar, Porsche, Mercedes, and Ferrari.
The Corvette is often referred to as the American Ferrari.
In 1954, 3,265 were built, all convertibles.
It didn't take long for Ford to come up with their own idea of an American sports car. Within a year and a half of Chevrolet's introduction of the Corvette, Ford introduced the Thunderbird.
It was a sleek, two-seater sports car. September 9, 1954, it rolled off the assembly line.
Franklin Q. Hershey, chief stylist at Ford and his young assistant William P. Boyer, seen here in the passenger seat, had done sports car rendering since 1950, trying to interest management.
Louis Crusoe, Ford executive vice president, went to the 1951 Paris Auto Show and it spurred his interest in a European-type sports car.
A number of other names are credited with helping the Thunderbird evolve, including Jean Bourdainet, who would later work on the Mustang. But Bill Boyer and Frank Hershey's names stand out.
Unlike the early Corvette, the Thunderbird was an all-weather automobile with an all-steel body, a V8 292 cubic inch Mercury engine, and either three-speed manual transmission or Ford-o-matic automatic transmission.
It also had roll-up windows. It came in raven black, turquoise, white and bright red. 16,000 were sold the first year.
It came with a hard top that popped off, and its price started at $3,000.
Davash designed the Power Dome as the bulge in the hood was nicknamed. It covered the carburetor without raising the entire hood, therefore maintaining a low, sleek sports car profile.
This Power Dome would pop up on many other sports cars.
Ironically, almost immediately, the new Ford president, Robert McNamara, who would later become Secretary of State, began to push for a four-passenger Thunderbird. But that was many years off.
Lewis Krusko had promised to give a $250 suit to the person who named the car. Finally, at the eleventh hour, Gib Giberson, who had grown up in the Northwest and knew the old American Indian myths, came up with Thunderbird.
They couldn't find a $250 suit in Detroit in 1954, but Giberson designed the first T-Bird emblem, a handsome turquoise and silver creation.
The Thunderbird emblem only appeared on the engine. At this stage, it still carried the Ford crossed flags. The name inscription appears near the tail light, and it carried the famous T-Bird hatch marks.
Because it's the very first Thunderbird off the production line, its license number is 001Bird.
The Thunderbird was a true sports car. At the 1955 Daytona Beach Speed Weeks, Joe Ferguson swept all honors among American production cars, averaging 124.6 miles per hour and beating every Porsche and Austin Healey and all but one Jaguar XK120M.
Like the Corvette, the Thunderbird had been designed in response to the popularity of European sports cars with American soldiers who had served in Europe.
Now, Ford presents the newest version of an automotive classic, the Ford Thunderbird for 1956.
You'll recognize the beauty of line that in only one year has won the heart of all America.
Now let's take a look at what's new in the Thunderbird for 1956. Notice how the spare is encased and mounted outside the car.
This gives the new Thunderbird a longer, smarter silhouette and gives you far more space in the luggage compartment.
You can have your choice of many striking new two-tone color combinations.
In addition, you have, or can get, all of Ford's lifeguard design features. The deep center lifeguard steering wheel, lifeguard instrument panel and sun visor padding, Ford's nylon seatbelts, and lifeguard double-grip door latches, features that mean added protection in the event of an accident.
And as for performance, it will be a revelation. Just wait until you have felt the eager surge of the new 225 horsepower Thunderbird special Y8 engine.
The 1956 T-Birds won the production class Standing Mile at 88.8, close behind the modified Corvette driven by Zora Arkus-Duntov at 89.7 miles per hour.
The 1955 Corvette had the innovative 265 cubic inch V8 engine, the first Chevrolet V8 since the war.
1956 could have been the end of the Corvette, but Zora Duntov helped create a new design which included the trademark side indentation.
It was also the first year a hardtop was available.
At GM's Motorama at the Waldorf Astoria, the restyled 1956 Corvette and other GM models and prototypes are displayed.
Buick Centurion, Oldsmobile's Golden Rocket, Pontiac's Club de Mer,
Chevrolet's Impala, looking like a Corvette station wagon,
and Pontiac's Firebird II, which takes us on a journey through a futuristic world.
In 1957 racing at Sebring, the Corvette won in its class, 20 laps ahead of the nearest Mercedes 300. This win put it in the history books.
The 1957 Corvette had a fuel injection system designed by John Doza and Zora Duntov and optional four-speed transmission.
The 1957 Thunderbird was refined with a new front grill and bumper guards. The porthole improved visibility.
1957 was the last year for the two-seater Thunderbird.
The daring Thunderbird demonstration team became the symbol of the sports car. Here Ford introduces the 1957 T-Bird.
Their F-100 Super Savers are powered by Pratt & Whitney J-57 engines, manufactured by the Ford Aircraft Engine Division.
Now here are three more super performers from Ford, the 1957 Ford Thunderbirds.
You're looking at the latest version of America's most talked about car. For 57, Ford has shaped the classic Thunderbird profile into a completely fresh, completely distinctive style all its own.
New swept back tail fins and the longer rear deck add elegance to its lower than ever lines. These new dimensions give you more luggage room too.
Even with a spare tire inside, you get more luggage space than last year. You know, there's not another car like it in America.
It's powered by a big 312 cubic inch V-8 engine with twin four-barrel carburetors.
A $500 option was a Paxton McCullough Supercharger, which increased performance. The blown car would get to 125 miles per hour in well under seven seconds.
Only 208 blown cars were built with Daytona in mind, but the Automobile Manufacturers Association decided to de-emphasize racing, so the T-Bird's racing career came to an end.
The Association's decision affected other production race cars such as the Corvette, which couldn't race under the Chevrolet banner.
In 1958, Corvette had five engine sizes, 9,000 sold, and more chrome was added.
And this is it, the brilliant new version of an American classic, another Ford first, Ford's new four-passenger Thunderbird.
In 1958, when the four-seater Thunderbird arrived, nicknamed the Square Bird, it caused a furor.
Purists were horrified, but a sporty car with a back seat was just what the public wanted, and it still had unmistakable Thunderbird style.
37,892 were built in 1958. By 1960, production was over 92,000.
Changing to a four-seater ensured T-Bird's success and survival.
It anticipated the public's desire for a car that was fun to drive, but had room for the family. Prices started at $3,631.
Thunderbird commercials conveyed an elegant, luxurious lifestyle appealing to upscale buyers.
No wonder it turns heads wherever it goes. Here's America's most individual car.
In fact, it's the only car of its kind in the world. For now, the Thunderbird carries four people in elegant comfort.
If you've always wanted a Ford Thunderbird, and who hasn't, now's the time to get one, for all this car can be yours at a price far below that of other luxury cars.
Watch. The rear deck lid has opened up. The power control top rises.
Then disappears out of sight into the exclusive hideaway compartment. The rear deck lid hides it completely, and you have one flowing line of pure Thunderbird beauty.
Here's a car that gives four people all the individual room and comfort of a much larger, costlier car, plus glamour and dazzling performance that's all Thunderbird all the way.
The 1959 T-Bird differed from the 58 in detail only. It had pointed chrome fender ornaments instead of the hatch marks and relocated namescript.
Prices rose about $50. Production reached $67,456.
And romance. Thunderbird, America's most admired car, because its lines are so beautifully pure and clean. Thunderbird, America's most wanted car, because it is unique in personality and prestige.
Thunderbird, America's most distinctive car, with doors four feet wide that make it so easy to get in and out of, with the four widest, deepest, most comfortable seats you ever rode in, with all the headroom and legroom any four people could want.
And here's the Thunderbird exclusive, the service console, with power window control and ashtrays within easy reach of all passengers. It looks like a thoroughbred. It moves like a thoroughbred.
Compact as it is, the 59 Thunderbird handles with an ease and assurance you'll have to feel to believe. The Thunderbird is a true luxury car, powered and sized to give you the kind of performance you've always associated only with sports cars.
It's nimble. It's quick. And the way it corners, you'll think roads were grooved for Thunderbirds.
You are about to know the thrill of seeing that which has never been seen before.
You're about to enter a beautiful, exciting, wonderful new world, the world of 1960.
For the first time in history, you'll see
not one
not two
but three completely new kinds of Ford cars for 1960.
A wonderful new world of Fords. And now, the world's most wanted car.
Thunderbird, the finest of fine cars, the last word in wish it were mine cars, the dream car of the wonderful new world of Fords.
1960 Thunderbird.
It's morning. The sky promises a top-down day, a Thunderbird kind of day.
Thunderbird, everything about it means performance. Neatly, completely automatic, the top slips out of sight.
And every flowing act of steel says, this is how a Thunderbird performs.
The Squarebird was primarily a luxury car, but it was quite fast.
With the 352, it hits 60 miles per hour from a stop in 11 to 12 seconds, and the 430 hit that in about nine seconds.
Make a road. Every road's a Thunderbird road.
Let the wind follow you. The handling is spectacular.
The roads appear to float through your fingers.
Your engine, the optional 350 horsepower Thunderbird Special V8.
It's a big engine, always seems to run relaxed.
With all this power, a Thunderbird can afford to loaf and take it easy. You know its strength is there.
Corvette remained a pure sports car.
In 1960, sales topped 10,000, helped in part by Thunderbird's shift from a two-seater to four.
Four Corvettes competed against the likes of Porsche, Ferrari, and Mercedes in the grueling 24-hour Le Mans race in France.
Only one Corvette finished, taking eighth place, but it surprised and impressed the Europeans.
Presenting Thunderbird 1962.
Now in a new sporting edition.
Only 1,427 of these were sold, a rare car indeed.
This is the car in which you discover the world is flat.
It was designed as a substitute two-seater for those longing for a little bird.
Mr. Bud Kaufman created a fiberglass tonneau with front seat headrests to cover the existing convertibles rear seat area.
Rarity makes this one of the most desirable T-birds.
The rarest are those with the M-series engine. A mere 120 were built.
A fiery Thunderbird V8 engine is leashed to your fingertips, eager for flight.
This is Thunderbird 1962.
Now in four new models. Four passenger hardtop, convertible, the distinguished new Landau with leather-grain vinyl top, and sports roadster.
This is Thunderbird 1962.
Under the owner Ted Davidson demonstrates the Wettlaufer engineering retractable convertible.
An automatically operated rear hinge deck lid that completely conceals the stowed top, which is raised and lowered by a complex mechanism.
The 1961 Corvette had minor changes, except for the restyled flattened rear deck.
This design would be reflected in models until the mid-1970s.
1962 would mark the end of the second design era. A radical change was about to occur.
Bothered by rumors that Ford was creating a high-performance sports car to challenge Corvette, Chevrolet decided a dramatic change was in order.
This comparison shows the major styling change.
In 1963, the revamped Corvette appears, the famous Stingray.
It was an instant hit, doubling Corvette production.
Its design, influenced by aerodynamics, was the flattened wedge, split rear window, pop-up headlamps, cut-off rear, and recessed tail lights.
The rear window divider makes the few unaltered ones very collectible.
Available as a convertible or coupe, it remains one of the most exciting cars ever built.
In this rare film shot at the General Motors Grand Prix Proving Grounds,
a group of Chevrolet research and development engineers and Zora Arkus-Duntov, flanked by two famous Corvette race drivers, Dr. Dick Thompson and Dave McDonald,
are about to evaluate a new all-American sports car, the Corvette Stingray.
The Corvette Stingray is an all-American sports car.
Yes, I tried just what you said, the acceleration was very definitely improvement.
Acceleration from a dead stop was really fantastic. It's really got what it takes to come on.
And I couldn't spin the rear wheels. When I got out of here, I stepped on it first as hard as I could, but it didn't spin.
It's a new independent. Could you break loose? Not at all.
It has a high-speed stability. Oh, very good.
This car really looked good. I was following, you know, up at high speed, we were over 100, and it really looked nice.
It's solid, so it was nice. Beautiful up there.
So, well, I'm actually well in love with it, but it's kind of a great car. You guys are, yes, but important.
The improvement's impressive.
In 1957, all the automobile manufacturers had agreed to stop competing in racing.
However, Bill Mitchell, out of his own pocket, and other Corvette engineers, continued to support racing, doing it out the back door.
Racing has always had an influence on the design and engineering of the car.
The 1964 Corvette had a single rear window and smoother, quieter ride.
Introducing a new styling classic, the 1964 Thunderbird.
Thunderbird commercials stressed an upscale sportiness.
Completely new on the outside.
Completely new on the inside.
Thunderbird steps out again, setting the pace with fresh, exciting ideas.
From any point of view, Thunderbird is truly unique, an American original.
Its styling is a new departure in the Thunderbird tradition.
New lines, yet reminiscent of past Thunderbirds.
It came with optional features, such as warning lights for doors and fuel, etc.
Popular year after year.
The massive, rugged bumper and grille enhance Thunderbird's quality appearance.
The long hood, sharply defined lines and smooth surfaces give Thunderbird a pleasing design.
Graceful and powerful.
And here's the most luxurious Thunderbird, the Landau.
The 1964 Landau. Superb, elegant, tasteful.
No adjectives fully describe this exquisite Thunderbird.
But only by road testing the magnificent new Thunderbird can you appreciate how beautifully better it is in 1964.
This animation shows the smoke exhaust system.
The 1964 Thunderbird.
Unique in all the world.
Unique and more desirable than ever before.
Test drive a Thunderbird now.
Thunderbird had grown out of its sports car beginnings to become a luxury four-seater.
But Ford had another car on its mind.
In 1964, the Mustang was born.
Ford realized that the post-war baby boom generation was reaching car buying age
and would represent 40% of the market, so they designed a car with them in mind.
Due to its innovative styling, it received the coveted Excellence in American Design Award from Tiffany, the prestigious jewelry company.
Ford executives wanted the car to cost no more than a dollar a pound.
It weighed 2,500 pounds and cost $2,368.
Due to its popularity, people generally paid a premium.
Mustang made its debut at the 1964 New York World's Fair, where it was a tremendous hit.
The phenomenal sales that followed would make automotive history.
Over four million people visited Ford dealerships the first weekend the Mustang was on sale.
The demand was so ferocious that dealers had to close their doors.
Mustangs had to be sold by lottery, and one mesmerized truck dealer drove through a car dealership window.
100,000 Mustangs were sold in the first four months, a thousand a day in 1964.
The Mustang launch was one of the biggest media events in automobile history.
On April 16, 1964, over 30 million people saw the Mustang unveiled on primetime television in commercials like this.
They boasted about the wide choice of options, which were the largest of any car.
All seats best illustrated in this 1965 2 Plus 2 and 1966 hardtop by these recently restored embossed pony seats.
Padded instrument panel.
This restored classic 1966 has the original Mustang cigarettes.
Sporty trunk.
And pony carpeting.
These wild Mustangs became the car's symbol.
Mustang is coming. Mustang is coming April 17.
The unexpected, the new Ford Mustang.
This 1962 Ford documentary shows the Mustang's evolution from an idea
to an illustration.
Then a clay model is created and turned into a fiberglass model, which is put through a wind tunnel test.
An aluminum body is checked against the model before being assembled.
After final additions are made, the car is tested on the track.
Lights swivel down for street driving, as does the license plate, which folds up for racing.
The very first racing prototype was named Mustang after the World War II fighter plane.
However, the horse, a less warlike symbol, would become its namesake.
Research showed that people under 25, single people and those buying second cars, wanted a sportier car than what their parents had.
It was the right car for the right time.
It was a sports car with a backseat, just what the public wanted.
In 1965, 77,000 2 Plus 2 Fastbacks were sold, 102,000 convertibles and over a half a million hardtops.
America went Mustang crazy, and the love affair with the pony car is as strong as ever.
In 1966, the Thunderbird had a reshaped, checked grille with wide-winged bird emblem.
Another new feature was cruise control with buttons mounted in the steering wheel spokes for convenience, dubbed fingertip speed control.
Leather upholstery, a combined AM radio, 8-track stereo player.
This would be the last year for the factory-built Thunderbird convertible.
Thunderbird had now evolved from a sports car into a larger luxury car.
But like the Indian myths that it was named for, the Thunderbird legend lives on,
thanks to those collectors, restorers and fans of the early classic Thunderbird who ensure that it always remains a dream car.
Meanwhile, Chevrolet realized that Corvette's appeal was crucial to maintaining its youthful and high-performance image.
The Stingray styling would continue through 1967.
Ford had failed in its attempt to buy Ferrari, but managed to make an agreement with famous race car driver and engineer Carroll Shelby.
Mustang became the flagship of Ford's performance program and succeeded in changing Ford's conservative image to a more youthful and aggressive one.
Shelby had managed to convince both Ford and A.C. Cars Limited in England that he had an agreement with the other party.
He told Ford that he had bodies ready for Ford's 260 engine, and then told A.C. he had engines looking for bodies.
This is how these beautiful and rare A.C. Cobras came about.
To convince people that the car was being mass-produced, he managed to pass off the only A.C. Cobra car he had as several different ones,
by painting it different colors for the car magazine editors to test.
In 1966, with Shelby guiding the company's performance division, Ford won the Le Mans race with three of its GT40 Mark IIs in the first three positions.
The race car turned into a high-performance production car with a 289 cubic inch four-barrel V8 engine.
Ford designed the powerful Shelby Mustang Cobras, which carried the snake emblem and were hot cars.
The racing wins of Ford's muscle cars may explain why, in 68, the GT350 and GT500 had their best sales year.
Up to 68, Shelby had made only six convertibles a year as presents for friends.
68 was the first year the convertible was available to the public.
In 1968, Corvette styling changed again.
The blue 1967 Stingray styling has disappeared in the yellow 1968 Corvette,
which was influenced by the Mako Shark II, an experimental model and show car around since 1965.
Bill Mitchell caught a shark, mounted and brought it back to Larry Shinoda,
who stylized the shark's jaw and teeth and even the coloring, which was a gradation from light gray to dark blue.
The story goes that the paint shop repainted Mitchell's shark to match the car, since they couldn't get the car to match the shark.
The 1968 had a tunneled roof with removable panels, sloping front end and rear spoiler, and proved immensely popular.
It went to 100 miles per hour from a stop in 20 seconds.
A convertible was available with a removable top.
Mustang's Mach 1 replaced the GT and did 0 to 60 in under six seconds.
Car life called it the fastest standard passenger car they had ever tested.
Mustang's Boss 302 and Boss 429 had first appeared in 1969.
The Boss was primarily designed to compete against the Camaros in the Trans Am racing series.
There were only 1,934 built in 1969.
This was obviously not a mass market automobile.
These 1970 Boss Mustangs came in striking colors, grabber orange, grabber blue, and grabber green.
1970 Corvette won car and driver's pole as the most popular car,
had a manual four-speed transmission and 390 horsepower 454 LS5 V8, the largest Corvette engine.
It had been 17 years since the first Corvettes, named after a World War II French ship,
had rolled off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan on June 30, 1953.
Stingray now appeared as one word.
In 1971, Ford advertises a tamer mass market version.
1973 was the last year for the convertible for a decade.
However, Ford continued to stress Mustang's muscle cars and youthful appeal.
In the 1979 commercials celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Mustang,
the horse reappeared, recalling the early Mustang commercials of the mid-60s.
In 1976, Corvette also stopped making convertibles until public demand brought them back in the mid-80s.
The 1978 Corvette again had a styling change, wraparound fastback, rear screen reminiscent of the 63 Stingray.
It was its 25th silver anniversary, and two special limited edition cars were produced,
which were collector cars right off the line, the silver anniversary and the Indy pace car replica.
1982 marked the end of another Corvette generation with a custom exterior and interior,
glass hatchback and crossfire injection 5.7 liter V8 engine.
The 1980 Mustang takes on the Porsche 924 and outperforms it, proving a compact car need not be wimpy.
Then in 1982, it takes on the Camaro and beats it in 7.3 seconds.
Ford reminded the public that the Mustang originated from race car design and engineering.
In 1983, another styling change occurred for the Corvette.
Derived from a design known as the Aerovet, it came from research in the Boeing wind tunnel
and produced a more aerodynamic car.
Also, rack and pinion steering was added.
Here in 1983, Ford shows the Boss being forged at its foundry.
The theme was familiar.
Back in 1964, Ford had shown its first Mustang at the foundry.
This is a comparison between the classic 1953 convertible representing the first Corvette
and a Burgundy 1988 convertible representing the modern era.
These are other 80s cars.
The oil embargo in 1973 and federal safety regulations in the 70s and 80s
greatly affected both design and engineering of most cars.
High performance and fuel efficiency don't easily go together,
but Corvette boldly continued to stress performance and avoid becoming a compact car.
Some Corvette owners modify their cars.
The most beautiful modification happened in 1960 when Gary Laughlin asked Sergio Scoglietti,
who made bodies for the Ferrari 250 GT, to design a hybrid Corvette race car.
Only three were built, and although it never became that envisioned race car,
today it is highly admired as a work of art.
The Corvette has always been a style leader,
as shown by these changes in design from the 1953, 57, 64, 68, 78, and the 1983.
Today, Ford, as in the past with Carroll Shelby,
had a race car driver, Steve Saleen, help create the high performance Saleen Mustang.
This Saleen is very rare indeed.
The only one with Connolly leather and one of only two that are automatic,
this 1988 has a 302 engine and 225 horsepower.
In 1989, Mustang's 25th anniversary was celebrated at Knott's Berry Farm in California.
There were thousands of Mustangs, and over 100,000 car fans were brought together.
People came from as far away as Switzerland,
and picked up fellow Mustangers in France, Scandinavia, and England.
They boarded a ship in Southampton, and after arriving in Florida,
drove cross-country to Los Angeles, picking up American Mustangers along the way.
They called the caravan the Great American Pony Ride.
There were rows of early Mustang convertibles, hard tops and fast backs,
rows of Shelby Mustang Cobras, Bosses and Mach 1 and 2s, and even rare Shelby AC Cobras.
They came in every color and from all over the world.
It was a celebration of not just the car, but of the people who have kept the legend alive.
Mustang lovers are a varied lot.
Some are purists who won't change a single detail.
Others are into heavy modifications.
Some love the old classics.
Some love the muscle cars.
But they all agree on one thing.
They won't be trading it in any day soon.
Like all true legends, there are always those doubters who are sure it won't last
and those who don't think it should.
But those people who would never let the legend die created a phenomenon.
Most cars are ultimately discontinued, and more than once Ford and GM thought about it.
But the reaction was so great that the Mustang, the Corvette, and the Thunderbird
will never be put out to pasture.
Chevrolet created the Corvette.
Ford created the Thunderbird and the Mustang.
But the enthusiasts, the collectors, the restorers, and fans,
have made them classics and ensure that their legends live on.
On any given weekend, anywhere in the country, there's a classic car meet taking place
where collectors, restorers, and fans get together.
Although the car's values have soared in recent years,
surprisingly few collectors offer them for sale.
For the most part, these fans are not in it for the money,
but for the love of these classic cars.
Therefore, we dedicate this tape to car lovers everywhere.
Get your motor running, head out on the highway, looking for adventure in whatever comes our way.
Explode into space, and like the true nature's child, we were born, born to be wild.
We can climb so high, and never gonna die.
Born to be wild.