With over 60 years of history on file and 16,000 feet of shelves, the Ford corporate archives is a place that we imagine we could spend a week digging through and still want more. As part of the countdown to the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Mustang, Ford recently released a video where their own Dean Weber takes viewers through the Mustang archives.
The archives contain design documents, photos, product planning, product brochures, dealer brochures, and customer brochures, as well as much more. All of the documents have been carefully preserved to ensure they are in-tact for reference for generations to come.
According to Weber on the Mustang alone there are tens of thousands of documents with all the previously listed information and more. There are even copies of photo negatives, speeches, and concept car information.
The video gets in-depth into press and sales material that was offered throughout the years. Some of these sales brochures we can recall seeing for sale at swap meets, or even in local dealers when Fox-body cars were still new. Weber points out that the brochures follow cultural trends of the time with regard to style, and art, this presented products in a modern format to customers.
There were many sales and press items as well that tried to incorporate Mustang into a certain lifestyle. Depending on who Ford was marketing the car to, youth, affluent middle age adults, or people just looking for an exciting lifestyle, there was something for everyone in much of the Mustang literature and ads throughout the years.
It’s an interesting look, and we wonder what the materials will look like when the next generation Mustang appears in time for it’s 50th anniversary in less than a year.