If you're a fan of classic American cars, then April 17 is a special day. On this day, we celebrate National Mustang Day, which this year, marks 55 years since Henry Ford debuted the Ford Mustang at the New York Auto Show. At the time, the Mustang was only known under the secret codename "Special Falcon." Today, the Mustang's presence on the road is definitely no secret.
NASCAR driver and 2018 Cup Series champion Joey "Sliced Bread" Logano, who is the No. 22 Ford Mustang GT driver for Team Penske, knows all too well that the Mustang is pretty much the greatest thing since...well, sliced bread. To celebrate National Mustang Day, Logano got behind the wheel of his 1991 Mustang for some parking lot shenanigans. Unless it's a post-victory celebration, you won't see Logano pull any of these kind of moves on the race track, so it's nice to see him show off the Mustang's power and handling when it's not during NASCAR weekend.
In honor of National Mustang Day, here are a few facts that you might not know about the American muscle car:
- While Ford considered names like Allegro, Cougar, and Stiletto, it landed on Mustang, after a World War II fighter plane
- On April 17, 1964 -- the date of the Mustang launch -- 22,000 orders were placed for the car. By the end of the year, Ford sold 419,000 Mustangs.
- The Ford Mustang has appeared in such movies and TV shows as Bullitt, Knight Rider, Beverley Hills 90210, Gone in 60 Seconds, and 2 Fast, 2 Furious.
- The latest Mustang to be released is the the limited-edition 480-horsepower 2019 Mustang Bullitt.
Happy birthday, Ford Mustang! And many more!