Motorcities Story of the Week

The Ford Mustang was introduced on April 17, 1964. It generated the “pony car” class among American automobiles. The Mustang had a performance look with its sports car design and sculptured side styling. The front end of the Mustang incorporated a honeycomb style grill in gunmetal gray and featured the infamous Mustang emblem.

During 1965, the Mustang GT 350 models, built by Carroll Shelby, were introduced. The sleek fastback model generated high interest among sport car enthusiasts. All 1965-66 cars featured the K-code 271hp 289 modified to produce 306 hp. The GT 350 models were truly a street legal race machine that is considered rare. The current price tag on a mint condition model is $46,900.00.

In October of 1960, General Motors introduced a new trio of truck models called the Corvair ’95. The Corvair ’95 received its name from the line which included two pickup trucks and a panel delivery truck mounted on a 95-inch wheel base.
The Corvan models, which were the panel delivery models, offered no side windows on the vehicle while the Greenbrier models offered windows throughout. The Greenbrier model was 70 inches wide and 68½ inches high.

The Loadside models, which were only produced for two years, were a pickup truck version of the Corvair. The Loadside model is considered as the rarest Corvair trucks for only 369 models were produced.

In 1899, the first police vehicle, which was an electric automobile, patrolled the streets in Akron, Ohio. It was one of the first and few towns to offer automobiles for its police officers. The electric automobile required to be recharged after every 30 miles. During the 1900's, horses and motorcycles were used for patrolling various city streets. In 1908, Harley-Davidson credited Detroit, Michigan as being the first purchaser of police motorcycles. In the early days, police motorcycles were preferred for their maneuverability on city streets and enforcement traffic laws. The motorcycle was also an inexpensive form of public transportation that evolved by police and the armed forces providing a stable production market for more utilitarian machines.

On July 2, 1912, Mr. Bill Mitchell was born in Greenville, Pennsylvania. His father was a Buick dealer who regularly brought home trade in Stutz and Mercer sport cars. At the age of 15, Mr. Mitchell received a summer job as an office boy at the Barron Collier advertising agency in New York. While working at the Collier’s agency, he became interested in sports car racing and soon was illustrating event programs for American Road Racing Club.

In 1930, Mr. Bill Mitchell enrolled at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and studied at the Art Students League in New York. During the early part of his career, he developed a drawing technique characterized by action and dynamism. In 1935, he took his automotive designs to General Motors Vice President of Design, Mr. Harley Earl. Being beyond impressed by his drawing technique, Mr. Earl hired Mr. Mitchell as General Motors automotive designer.