Top 12 Mustangs That Changed Muscle Car History (Ranked)

Ford once rented out a 306 horsepower, race-bred Mustang by the day. That is just one of the twelve stories behind the Mustangs that changed muscle car history, counted down from number twelve to number […]

No.12: 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang

The 1964 and a half Ford Mustang. It was never supposed to be a performance car. Ford launched it on April seventeenth, 1964, after a record eighteen months of development, and kept costs down by borrowing the chassis, suspension, and drivetrain from the humble Falcon. The first cars came with a sensible six cylinder or a small V8, and soon after, a 271 horsepower Hi-Po 289 turned a budget runabout into something serious.

Here is the twist most people miss. Ford never officially called it a 1964 and a half. Every early car was given a 1965 serial number, and the nickname came from enthusiasts. Today a genuine early car is a collector's blue chip, and the whole pony car revolution started right here.

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No.11: 1966 Shelby GT350H

The 1966 Shelby GT350H. Imagine walking up to a rental counter and driving off in a race car. That is exactly what Hertz offered. Ford, as a major shareholder of Hertz, persuaded the rental giant to buy about a thousand Shelby fastbacks, one thousand and three including two prototypes.

Under the hood sat the Hi-Po 289 V8, rated at 306 horsepower, and most of the cars wore black paint with gold stripes. Here is the twist. Renters reportedly took them straight to the track, and some came back battered. After their rental lives ended, the cars went back to Ford, were refurbished, and were sold to the public as GT350H models. Today the Rent-A-Racer is one of the most beloved Shelbys ever built, a rental car that became a legend.

No.10: 1967 Shelby GT500

The 1967 Shelby GT500. Carroll Shelby's first Mustang, the GT350, was a razor-sharp road racer, but the GT500 was a different idea entirely. It was a muscle car built to dominate the street. Shelby dropped in the 428 cubic inch Police Interceptor V8, topped with two four-barrel carburetors and rated at 355 horsepower.

Here is the twist. The GT500 was bigger, softer, and more comfortable than the track-focused GT350, with an automatic transmission and power steering available, and buyers absolutely loved it. In 1967 it outsold the GT350 by a wide margin. It proved that the public wanted a Shelby with effortless torque and a little luxury, and that lesson shaped every Shelby Mustang that followed.

No.9: 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390 Fastback

The 1968 Mustang GT Fastback, the Bullitt car. In the film Bullitt, Steve McQueen drove a modified 1968 Mustang GT two plus two fastback, chasing a Dodge Charger through the streets of San Francisco in one of the greatest car chases ever filmed. Under the hood was a 390 cubic inch V8, and that single film turned an everyday fastback into an icon.

Here is the twist. The actual hero car was owned quietly by one family for decades. On January tenth, 2020, it sold at Mecum Auctions for a record 3.7 million dollars.

No.8: 1968 Ford Mustang 428 Cobra Jet

The 1968 and a half Mustang 428 Cobra Jet. Ford rated it at 335 horsepower, with 440 pound-feet of torque, but almost nobody believed the number, and with good reason. Magazines, drag racers, and owners all figured the real output was far higher. In April 1968, Ford began installing the Cobra Jet engine in a small group of Mustang GTs, with a unique exhaust flange and a clear mission: win drag races.

It did, quickly. The twist is that the modest number was reportedly part of the strategy, since a lower rating helped in drag racing classes and with insurance companies. The Cobra Jet name stuck for years, and it led straight to the Mach 1 and the mighty Shelby KR. This was the engine that put Ford back in the horsepower war.

No.7: 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1

The 1969 Mustang Mach 1. Ford wanted a car that looked as fast as it was, and it found the formula. The Mach 1 arrived in August 1968 for the 1969 model year, with a matte black hood, a functional shaker scoop that visibly vibrated with the engine, reflective side stripes, and NASCAR style hood pins. You could order it with everything from a 351 to the mighty 428 Cobra Jet.

Here is the twist. It killed the Mustang GT. In 1969, Ford sold 72,458 Mach 1s against just 5,396 GTs, so the GT was dropped, and that badge did not return until 1982. The Mach 1 proved that buyers would happily pay extra for attitude, and it remains the face of the Mustang's muscle years.

No.6: 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302

The 1970 Boss 302. This Mustang exists because of a rule book. The SCCA Trans-Am series limited engines to 305 cubic inches, so Ford built a 302 with big-valve cylinder heads that loved to scream to the redline.

Styled by Larry Shinoda, a designer who had left General Motors, it wore a front spoiler and a rear wing, making it one of the first production cars with both. It was rated at 290 horsepower, and in 1970 Ford sold 7,013 of them. The twist is that this small block car, not a big block monster, is the one many enthusiasts call the best handling Mustang of the era. It still sets the standard for every Boss that followed.

No.5: 1971 Ford Mustang Boss 351

The 1971 Boss 351. Here is the strange part: it arrived just as the muscle car era was dying.

The 1971 Mustang grew bigger, wider, and heavier, and Ford's new president, Bunkie Knudsen, who had come over from General Motors, was determined to keep performance alive. The Boss 351 packed a 351 Cleveland V8 with huge ports and a 330 horsepower rating, good for zero to sixty in about six seconds. Only 1,806 were built, and Ford dropped it after a single year as insurance premiums and emissions rules closed in.

No.4: 1965 Shelby GT350R

The 1965 Shelby GT350R. Carroll Shelby promised Ford he could make the Mustang a winner on the road course, and the R model is how he kept that promise. Only thirty-four of these race-spec cars were built for competition under SCCA rules. They had stripped interiors, fiberglass hoods, a high-winding 289 Hi-Po V8, and no rear seat, which was exactly what made them legal for the B-Production class.

They took the B-Production championship three straight years. The twist is that the road-going GT350 sold on the back of the R's reputation. Racing on Sunday really did sell cars on Monday. Today a genuine GT350R is one of the most revered Mustangs in existence, a car that proved the pony car could be a thoroughbred.

No.3: 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429

The 1969 Boss 429. Ford built this car for a reason that had nothing to do with the street. NASCAR required at least five hundred cars with a given engine to be sold to the public, so Ford could race its new 429 against the Chrysler Hemi only if it put that engine in something you could buy.

The answer was a Mustang with semi-hemispherical aluminum heads, and the engine was so wide that Kar Kraft, a specialist shop in Michigan, had to rebuild the front end to make it fit. Ford advertised 375 horsepower, though one test measured closer to 350. The twist is that the Mustang itself never became a NASCAR racer. At nearly five thousand dollars, twice the price of a base Mustang, only 1,359 were built, and each one is a trophy today.

No.2: 1968 Shelby GT500KR

The 1968 Shelby GT500KR. KR stands for King of the Road, and Shelby meant every letter. Beginning in April 1968, Ford put the new 428 Cobra Jet into the Shelby GT500, rated at 335 horsepower and 440 pound-feet of torque, though almost everyone agrees the real power was far higher. Every KR was built on the normal Mustang line, then shipped to Shelby for final assembly.

The valve covers carried the words Cobra Le Mans, a nod to Ford's victories over Ferrari at Le Mans in 1966 and 1967. The twist is that the party ended quickly. Carroll Shelby walked away from the Mustang project after 1969. The KR stands as the peak of the original Shelby formula: huge torque, wrapped in the most muscular Shelby bodywork of the decade.

No.1: 1967 Shelby GT500 Super Snake

The 1967 Shelby GT500 Super Snake. Only one was ever built, and it may be the most outrageous Mustang in history. Carroll Shelby took a 1967 fastback and fitted a 427 cubic inch racing engine from the same family that powered the Ford GT40, making around 650 horsepower. Then came the twist.

Goodyear needed a car to demonstrate a new high speed tire, so Shelby himself drove the Super Snake to 170 miles per hour. It was meant to be the start of something bigger, but in the end only this single car was built. One car, one racing heart, one legend. Today it is among the most valuable Mustangs on earth, and that is exactly why it sits at number one.

Video Chapters

00:00 Introduction
00:18 No.12: 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang
01:08 No.11: 1966 Shelby GT350H
02:00 No.10: 1967 Shelby GT500
02:51 No.9: 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390 Fastback
03:39 No.8: 1968 Ford Mustang 428 Cobra Jet
04:30 No.7: 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1
05:24 No.6: 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302
06:09 No.5: 1971 Ford Mustang Boss 351
07:01 No.4: 1965 Shelby GT350R
07:53 No.3: 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429
08:45 No.2: 1968 Shelby GT500KR
09:40 No.1: The Number One Mustang
10:25 Final thoughts