Bored at work? Customize a Mustang!
Few cars in the automotive world resonate in the blood of petrolheads quite like the Ford Mustang. A nameplate with forty years of history, the Mustang began a new class of vehicle known as the muscle car, from which competitors like the Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Challenger and Pontiac Firebird have sprouted. These various marques and models have come and gone, but the ‘Stang has endured uninterrupted since the first generation was launched in 1964.
Now in its fifth model generation, the Mustang’s following is stronger than ever. Alternatives from Europe may be more refined, and rivals from Japan may be more nimble, but none of them can match the Mustang’s level of emotional appeal. The Mustang is a crude piece of technology compared to even a hot hatch, but it makes no apologies for that. Its lack of outright refinement is its appeal. It is a brute and hairy chested monster. Therefore its appeal to us, is not just on an emotional level, but also on an animalistic level.
Which is why it is not surprising that the Mustang can attract such a huge following worldwide despite only officially being sold in US & Canada. Recently the 2010 model year Mustang was launched together with an interactive microsite. The microsite features a customizer, which allows you to design your own Mustang with the resulting image downloadable for you to use as a desktop wallpaper.
Go on and have fun creating your own Mustang.
It was all good fun creating and customizing various decals, rims, spoilers, and even burn out smoke combos for my desktop Mustang. There is also a mode which allows you to create your Mustang together with other random users. A very amusing exercise to see the Mustang change before your eyes an also how the labeled cursors of the other users move about the screen. Unfortunately, there was one slight detail, when it came to downloading the full-sized finished wallpaper, it didn’t work…
Instead of giving me my wallpaper…
This appeared…
(UPDATE: Error has since been fixed.)
Ok, back to work before Jaime catches me.
KON
Visit the 2010 Ford Mustang microsite here.
While it was interesting to learn of this customization tool, this article is so wrong on so many levels I don’t even know where to begin. First of all the Mustang most certainly didn’t start the muscle car phenomenon. As a matter of fact a true muscle car enthusiast would slap you just for calling a Mustang a muscle car. Its not! It did, however start the ” Pony Car” phenomenon, which is it’s correct classification. Another thing, are you suggesting that in over 50 years, which is a more correct estimate of how long this model has been around, that there have only been 5 different Mustang models? Because that is a ludacris statement. As example, since I am not in fact a true mustang enthusiast and therefore dont know ever model, there is the new 2010 model, the previous model which came out around 2005, the terminator model of the early 2000’s, the more feminine appealing mid to late 90’s model and my favorite the fox body of the late 80’s early 90’s. No offense intended but you seriously should do at least a little fact checking before writing an article making so many incorrect claims.
Hi Krys,
Thanks for the comment. Allow me to answer.
“While it was interesting to learn of this customization tool, this article is so wrong on so many levels I don’t even know where to begin.” – thanks for pointing out.
“First of all the Mustang most certainly didn’t start the muscle car phenomenon. As a matter of fact a true muscle car enthusiast would slap you just for calling a Mustang a muscle car. Its not! It did, however start the ” Pony Car” phenomenon, which is it’s correct classification.” – I don’t think a slap is necessary, but I admit my error here. I had confused between the two classifications and made a blunder.
“Another thing, are you suggesting that in over 50 years, which is a more correct estimate of how long this model has been around, that there have only been 5 different Mustang models?” – The most accurate answer is forty-five years, but I was taking poetic licenses with the statement. I did state the year of the first Mustang’s production to be in 1964. However, I didn’t say there were five models of the Mustang, I stated there were five model generations of the Mustang. There’s a difference there. For each generation, there would have been several model revisions and facelifts. For example, the 2005 and 2010 Mustangs are both based on the same platform and mechanicals, and thus belong to the same generation.
“No offense intended…” – none taken. I’ll openly admit that I’m pretty new to the field, as such, I will happily accept whatever criticisms on my path to improvement. I appreciate you taking your time to point out my errors. I will not retract the article, as it is published, but I will leave your comments here together with mine so that readers will have a full view of the available facts.
“… but you seriously should do at least a little fact checking before writing an article making so many incorrect claims.” – point taken.
fantastic! i’ve made my own blog