Ford Celebrates the Old Mustang With a New Pony

The people at Ford are all misty eyed about Mustang's 50th anniversary, which falls on media day at the New York auto show. It's an emotional time for them as they celebrate the birthday of the Mustang and a milestone marketing effort in the city where it all started at the 1964 World's Fair. To mark the anniversary on Wednesday, the company placed a 2015 Mustang on the Observation Deck of the Empire State Building.

But can a car company celebrate without a new model introduction? Of course not.

There is a Mustang successor, but it was revealed last December in multiple cities, leaving Ford with a potential lack of big news for New York. But in a display of marketing moxie, the automaker filled the void by introducing the Mustang 50 Year Limited Edition.

A true limited edition, with only 1964 copies scheduled for production - 1964, get it? - the anniversary Mustang is available in two colors, Kona Blue and Wimbledon White - the paint worn by Mustang number 0001. No mere showpiece, the car is basically a Mustang GT equipped with that model's 420-horsepower 5-liter V8 and performance package. Special trim and badging distinguish it from the standard GT.

Bill Ford Jr., Ford executive chairman, introduced the anniversary model, relating how his first car was an electric green 1975 Mustang, which he recalled fondly. In remarks released ahead of the reveal, Mr. Ford said, 'We wanted to provide our most dedicated fans with the emotion of the original Mustang in a 21st century car.' Buyers of the limited edition may well experience the emotion of the original buyers but not at the same price, as this Mustang will undoubtedly sell for much more than the about $3,400 of the original V8-equipped model. Neither the cost of experiencing those emotions nor an availability date has been announced.