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Here’s How The Shelby Mustang Was Advertised In 1967 – Let The Man Speak, Let The Car Shine!


Here’s How The Shelby Mustang Was Advertised In 1967 – Let The Man Speak, Let The Car Shine!

Manufacturers don’t need to advertise their halo vehicles on television. They can include it as a teaser, for sure, but the goal of any manufacturer is to move the daily, bread-and-butter cars. The Dodge Viper didn’t need an advertising gimmick at all, but you can bet that the red color on the Viper helped sell Dodge Spirit R/Ts and just about every other 1990s Dodge product out there. GM is notorious for not really showing off their hot rods in advertising. But what about back in the day? You can find commercials for the Ford Mustang Mach 1 and the Chevrolet Chevelle SS, which calmly tout the capabilities of the car in a mature, no-nonsense manner. Or, you could see the Dodge ads for the Charger that were racy enough to cause controversy, with Cheryl Miller suggesting that you could be Dodge Material if you didn’t mind a gaggle of beach beauties showing you more than just a little bit of affection (and pissing off your girlfriend in the process.)

But the Shelby Mustang? Seeing the normal Mustang advertised was a no-brainer…by 1967 every other manufacturer was still scrambling to respond to the gauntlet that Ford Motor Company had thrown down three years prior with the pony car. Chevrolet and Pontiac would have their answers ready for 1967, and Ford even got internal competition in the form of the Mercury Cougar. So reminding folks that the Mustang was still the hot ticket was just a hedged bet. But the Shelby Mustang spoke for itself, right? There was no mistaking Carroll Shelby for anyone else, and there was no mistaking what his cars were capable of. Between his earlier Shelby Mustangs, his work with the Shelby/AC Cobra, and his racing pedigree with Ford’s GT40 program, if you were a gearhead, you knew that name no question. So why a television ad?

Going out on a limb here, but as the Mustang started to get larger, the Shelby Mustang started to get plusher. 1967 and 1968 are considered pinnacle years for the Shelby Mustang, but there was little doubt that the hardcore racer was starting to get a little bit plush as Ford saw dollar signs. This is often cited as the reason why Ford and Shelby parted ways in 1969 and why Ford did most of the work for the 1969-70 Shelby run. But that’s later on in the story of the car…for the moment, you have a Shelby GT350 and GT500 out at LAX, with the Theme Building in the background. Air travel was still a glamorous affair and the pair of Shelbys didn’t seem to convey power so much as Ford was trying to sell them upmarket.


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