Built In Detroit 2021 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Still A Dream Of Particular Drivers

By Maureen McDonald
Senior Editor
Michigan Bureau
The Auto Channel

Detroit August 15, 2021; Best part of the Woodward Dream Cruise 2021 was getting to test drive a 2021 Ford Mustang Mach 1. This is one of the fastest cars on the road with a plethora of people pleasing features. It even has a fan to warm your butt while burning rubber.

This Mustang carries a $53,4000 starting price with mileage estimated at 15/23, except when putting the eight-speed transmission through its paces. Under the hood is a 5.0L TiVCT V8 engine with sequential multi-port electronic fuel injection.

What was remarkable was how comfortable the car was. Excellent ability to step in and out, seats broad and deeply cushioned to enjoy the journey even in rush hour traffic. It boasts of 37.6 inch headroom, 45.1 inch leg room and even more important, 54.9 inch hip room. You don’t have to fold yourself into the vehicle to have a good time.

I got into a conversation with my friend and driver Joe Cabadas about a project I’m researching on English cars in the early 1900s. Vehicles were so rare, so noisy, so hated by those with horses and bicycles that they implemented the red flag rule in 1865.

According to the Irish Times: A requirement began with the Locomotives Act of 1865 which stated: “One of such persons, while any locomotive is in motion, shall precede such locomotive on foot by not less than sixty yards, and shall carry a red flag constantly to warn the riders and drivers of horses of the approach of such locomotives and shall signal the approach thereof when it shall be necessary to stop, and shall assist horses and carriages drawn by horses, passing the same.”

The Irish Times said the red flag notion was debunked but it remains an important part of history, when the horses got a leg up on the four wheeled horseless carriages. In 1896 when cars were making more progress, legislation was passed that abolished the necessity for a pedestrian preceding the motor car and, at the same time, allowed cars to travel at a speed of 14mph, although this was reduced to 12mph by the local government board. In Ireland, however, the local government board, under Sir Henry Robinson, himself a keen motorist, maintained the higher limit of 14mph.

Intriguing to look back, as we look around at Dream Cruise to see the muscle cars of the 1960s and 1970s and the feat of engineering the Mach 1 produced today. Cars are capable of speeds up to 200 mph, riding in a comfort utterly unknown in 1900.

If the Mustang Mach 1 is a triumph of gas engines, the Mustang Mach E was available for test drives with an engineer on board.

The electric crossover SUV installs seven motors and delivers 1,400 horsepower. Three motors up front, four in the rear with differentials supplying torque to each wheel. Differentials can be adjusted for driving, drifting or racing.

Ford builds the Mustang at two plants. The gas model is made in Michigan and the electrified version comes from Mexico. So far in 2021, the production numbers are clear: 27,816 Mach-Es and 26,089 gas-powered Mustangs. The ICE Mustang still outsells the Mach-E by around 3 to 1 in the U.S., but that's not the case in EV-forward places like Norway, according to Car and Driver.

The power shift is coming. Will the American public be ready?