SMU: Did Ford name the Mustang in honor of SMU football?

Legend has it that there is a connection between the Ford Mustang and the SMU Mustangs. At first glance it would seem wishful thinking on the part of a small private university in the Southwest. However, on further inspection this legend might have some legs. Then again, it may all be coincidence.

In 1960 Lee Iacocca took over as Vice President of Ford's car and truck division. Iacocca later went on to be President of Ford and later Chrysler where he engineered what could be called in sports terms "a late fourth quarter comeback" to keep Chrysler from going out of business. But back in the early sixties Iacocca was trying to find the right concept car to increase Ford's sales volumes. Work on a small sports car initially resulted in the T-5 concept car which was a two-seat mid-engine roadster that was about the size and shape of the '80s Pontiac Fiero. That concept car was given the project name of Mustang and in later years was referred to as Mustang I. As Iacocca mulled the release of this car, he was reminded that although people loved to look at the two-seated '55 Thunderbird, not that many people bought the car. In addition, the company would be taking on the daunting task of beating the European makers at the roadster game, so the concept became bigger with additional seating in the rear and a larger engine. Like the Model T, the focus was to bring a car to market for the "everyman" at a price under $2400. The car that eventually rolled off the assembly line in April of 1964 was an immediate success and over a million units of the car were sold by the end of the year.

So what about the name? The concept of a smaller, sportier car to thrive where the Ford Falcon and Ford Fairlane were faltering was being kicked around in the late '50s. John Najjar (one of the chief designers of the T-5 concept) is credited to be the first to float the name because of his love for the P-51 Mustang fighter plane of World War II. There are other stories that point to Robert Eggert (a Ford market research manager that bred quarterhorses) who lobbied to include the name in the company's focus group testing. In either case, the name Mustang appears to have been attached to the T-5 project very early on and there is plenty of photo evidence to prove that. When the project went back to the drawing board to become a 2+2 it seems the name was really up for grabs. Prospects included Cougar, Thunderbird II and Torino, among others. The designer preferred Cougar and Torino and there are photos from 1963 that show what we know as the classic Mustang bearing the Cougar name and badge. How the final determination was made is not exactly clear, but it's said that the Mustang name tested best in those focus groups we mentioned earlier. All we know is that when the car was revealed to the press in September of 1963 it was bearing the Mustang name and the name stuck.

Now, why does SMU think they had a hand in naming the Mustang? Because Lee Iacocca said so. Turns out Haden Fry's undersized Mustang team traveled to The Big House in Ann Arbor in September of 1963 to take on a typically imposing Michigan squad. Although they lost 27-16, the team apparently gave the Maize and Blue more than they bargained for. Following the game Iacocca made his way to the Mustang dressing room and addressed the team. According to all sources he said, "Today, after watching the SMU Mustangs play with such flair, we reached a decision. We will call our new car the Mustang. Because it will be light, like your team. It will be quick, like your team. And it will be sporty, like your team." There are even stories of Fry receiving one of the first models that came off the line. Supposedly it was blue with a red top, just like the mustangs blue jerseys and red helmets of the day.

When we triangulate these stories, it's obvious that Iacocca entered the stadium that day with a pretty good idea that the new car would be the Mustang. Did SMU's performance put the decision over the top? Maybe, but his mind was probably already made up by this point. But for an old school marketing genius to walk into a room full of well-to-do college boys in the new car's target market and not share a convenient truth would be a sin in the business world.

Okay. But what about the Mustang logo? The team has sported a Mustang almost identical to that of the Ford product for years. Who sported it first? Who gave permission to who? Well, it appears that the iconic Mustang logo was designed by Phil Clark leading up to the car's release in 1964. Clark provided roughly nine versions of a galloping mustang to choose from. After some feedback from designer John Najjar, the design was put in the hands of Waino Kangas who carved the Mustang in mahogany. That carving was used for casting the emblem that has appeared in the grills of Mustangs for over 45 years. In 1968, the SMU Mustangs and the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League both for the first time wore red helmets that sported white mustangs on the side that were dead ringers for a silhouette of that Clark/Najjar/Kangas version of the mustang. Both organizations today license products with that mark under their own registration. In 2006, Ford made headlines for agressively pursuing legal action to protect the Mustang name by demanding all after-market parts companies who had Mustang in the name to remove it or face legal wrath. However, it's not apparent that Ford has ever taken steps to enforce any type of protection of the Mustang logo. It's possible that Ford figures that their prospective customers are football fans and the use of the logo only cements goodwill in the minds of these future Mustang owners.

So there you have it. No other Ford tie-ins. That is, except for the fact that SMU now plays at Gerald J. Ford Stadium...no relation.

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