Driving at the Speed of Sound

           Sound travels at about 1126 feet per second or roughly 768 miles per hour. Famed test pilot Chuck Yeager was the first person to reach that speed in a jet airplane which helped pave the way for modern jet fighters as well as NASA's space program. They called the speed of sound Mach 1.

           Five years into its initial success with the Mustang, Ford came to the realization that a lot of the people who were buying and driving these cars wanted them to go fast; even faster than they already did. People were “souping” up their Mustangs and running them on the track and even on the street. Plus, arch rival GM was raising the bar with high performance models of their Camaro and Firebird.

            In 1969 Ford decided they would get in the act and began producing a performance based Mustang: the Mach 1.

            OK, this wasn’t really the first factory performance Mustang that rolled off the lines. Automotive legend Carroll Shelby had been playing around with the Mustang since almost the beginning, putting in bigger and faster motors to produce more power. The Boss 302 and Boss 429, the latter being designed with the purpose of being a homologation for NASCAR racing, were true track machines. Along with a lower priced GT series, Ford was doing all it could to fill in any market place gaps.

            The Mach 1 was sort of their “tweener” model, more powerful than the GT models but not as track worthy as the Boss machines. The Mach 1 was a fastback bodied car that not only had some nice performance upgrades from the GT but also some very cool, very eye catching cosmetics such as a completely cosmetic hood scoop that looked totally bad ass.

            But the car was more than just a pretty face. In 1969 Performance Buyer’s Digest took a Mach 1 to the Bonneville Salt Flats where it broke 295 USAC speed and endurance records.  

            With its reputation growing, Mach 1s started showing up in movies in 1971 when one was featured in the James Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever. In 1974 a 73 Mach 1 was driven in the film Gone in 60 Seconds.

            Ford made the Mach 1 through 1979 when new car regulations caused all the auto makers to drop back and re-evaluate their lines. They re-introduced the Mach 1 badge in 2003.

            The car pictured here is an original, unrestored, street driven 1971 Mach 1 with a two valve 351 cubic inch engine with the automatic transmission. This is a beautiful example of one of the bestselling Mustang models of all time.