Meet the New Pony
by CP Staff
According to George Saridakis, Design manager for the 2010 Mustang, it is time for a new Pony badge to compliment the new lines of the car.
Chief designer, Doug Gaffka agrees. "We wanted to give the Mustang pony a more realistic feel. We lifted the head to make the pony more proud, tipped the neck into the wind to give it a feeling of greater speed and better balance. It’s more chiseled and more defined and looks more like a wild horse."
A stronger, more dynamic pony badge with defined edges and crisper forms in a subtly toned tinted-chrome finish will charge across the grilles of the V-6 and GT versions of the 2010 Mustang. For the first time, a black-chrome version of the Mustang pony badge will accent the new GT grille.
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The last time Ford designers considered changing the Pony badge, negative reaction from enthusasts convinced the company to keep the changes minor. A more stylized Pony emblem (above) was first shown on the S197 Mustang concepts, but it never made it to production.
Much different from today's Pony, the original prototype Mustang I had a rearing Pony. The original production Mustang logo was drawn by Phil Clark for the Mustang I. The Mustang logo then was refined for the Mustang II in 1974 by Charles Keresztes, a former member of Hungary’s Olympic equestrian team.
The pony continued on the front grille through 1978 when it was replaced by “FORD” in block letters through 1982. The iconic Ford Blue Oval graced the front of Mustangs through 1993. The pony emblem returned in 1994 with some refinements. The logo was updated again in 2005.
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