2005 Ford Mustang Tour Roars Into Philadelphia

DEARBORN, Mich., May 24, 2004 -- Ford Motor Company is bringing America's favorite car to Philadelphia on June 1st as part of a 40-city tour to celebrate Mustang's 40th anniversary, along with an entourage of the Mustangs most devoted fans and their classic cars.

The centerpiece of the tour is the newest incarnation of the Pony Car icon -- a 2005 Ford Mustang GT. It will be accompanied by Ford's 300 millionth car -- a 2004 Mustang GT Convertible -- local Mustang car-club enthusiasts, and a troupe of some 50 drivers and their Mustangs who are crossing the country in a seven-week, 10,000-mile, "The Great American Pony Drive II" to celebrate the anniversary and welcome the new model.

Since its dramatic 1964 introduction when customers flocked to dealerships with checkbooks in hands, Mustang has been the icon of American performance and style.

The task for chief engineer of the 2005 Mustang, Hau Thai-Tang -- who will host the Philadelphia stop of the tour -- was to utilize all the modern technological marvels while keeping Mustang true to its muscle-car and pop- icon roots. The result artfully combines all-new, fully modern architecture with all the soul that makes a Mustang a Mustang -- bold style, a brawny engine and rear-wheel-drive excitement.

"The greatest pressure is recognizing that there are 8 million people out there who have bought new Mustangs since 1964," said Thai-Tang. "These people have had a personal connection with Mustang -- and very definite ideas of what a Mustang must have."

Thai-Tang was 5 years old when the USO imported a couple of Mustang fastbacks to his native Vietnam to boost the morale of homesick American troops. The sight of a white 1970 Mach One turned the little boy into a Mustang maniac. The prospect of someday owning a Mustang seemed remote until Saigon fell five years later and his family fled the chaos, eventually settling in Brooklyn, New York.

"For me, as a boy, my aspirations were pretty simple, just to own a car," he said. "So having a chance to work on Mustang, of all things, has exceeded all my wildest dreams."

As a result, the Mustang meant far more to Thai-Tang than a guaranteed date on Saturday night. "To me, the Mustang continues to represent all that is great about America -- strength, freedom and a sense of inclusiveness. Mustang is and always will be America's car," he said.

Thai-Tang graduated from the Carnegie-Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh, and joined Ford as a Ford College Graduate Trainee in 1988 before getting his master's at the University of Michigan.

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