Ford introduced the Mustang at the New York World's Fair on 17 April 1964 and, according to Ford, took 22,000 orders on the first day. Its running pony had been on Phil Clark's sketch pad for years.
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United States - Active
- Since 1964
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- Official website ↗
A pony at the World’s Fair
On 17 April 1964, Ford rolled a small, long-hooded car onto the stage at the New York World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens. It was called the Mustang. According to Ford, dealers took 22,000 orders on the very first day, and that same month the car appeared on the covers of Time and Newsweek at once, the first car ever to do so.
Mustang isn’t a separate company. It’s a model line of Ford, but one with a badge of its own. Because it arrived halfway through the year, Ford dubbed the first car the 1964½.
Plane or horse? The name nobody quite settled
Ford’s own media centre asks the question openly: does the name honour the P-51 fighter plane of the Second World War, or the wild horse of the American West? The honest answer is a bit of both.
Ford designer John Najjar later recalled that he had been reading about the P-51 Mustang and suggested the name in its memory. When he proposed it a second time, he said, it came with a horse association instead, because that seemed more romantic. Plenty of other names were tried on the design proposals, from Cougar and Torino to Allegro, Avventura and Thunderbird II. Ford says the name first appeared in public on a 1962 concept car, and the final decision for the production car came in late 1963.
Frank Thomas, an account executive at Ford’s advertising agency J. Walter Thompson, summed up why it won: it had the excitement of the wide open spaces and was, in his words, American as all hell.
You may also hear that the car was named after the SMU Mustangs football team. Ford’s own write-up calls this the less plausible story. Lee Iacocca denied it, and Ford archives manager Dean Weber found design photos of a Mustang-badged mockup dated the day before the game the legend hangs on.
The horse that runs the other way
The running pony began on a sketch pad. Designer Phil Clark, who consulted on Ford’s experimental 1962 Mustang I, had been drawing a galloping horse for years before the car had a name. According to The Henry Ford museum, sculptor Charles Keresztes then turned Clark’s flat sketch of a wild, running horse into a three-dimensional badge. The museum holds a resin cast of that badge from around 1963, which it says Keresztes most likely made.
Clark wasn’t the only hand on it. Hagerty describes the emblem as styled by Ford’s Waino Kangas, and J.D. Power says Kangas and Keresztes modelled and carved the design. Ford’s own 2008 history keeps it simpler: the original logo was drawn by Phil Clark for the Mustang I. According to Hagerty, the public got its first look at a running Mustang emblem when that concept was shown in October 1962.
Why does it run left? Ford’s answer is short. Clark had almost exclusively drawn the horse facing left, and a horse at full gallop in that direction captured the independent spirit Ford wanted. Everything else is theory. A popular one says the horse is wild, not a racehorse, so it doesn’t run the way horses on a track do. Others say it runs west, or that the artist was right-handed, or that the direction flipped by accident when the drawing was transferred. None of these appears in Ford’s own explanation.
The first badges paired the pony with a red, white and blue tri-bar, the colours of the American flag. On the grille the horse sat inside a ring that came to be known as the corral.
Off the grille and back again
The pony hasn’t always been there. Ford says it stayed on the front grille through 1978, after which the grille carried FORD in block letters through 1982. It returned in 1994 with some refinements and was updated again in 2005.
For the 2010 car, Ford redrew it as a stronger badge with defined edges and crisper forms. Chief designer Douglas Gaffka said the team lifted the head to make the pony more proud and that it looked more like a wild horse. Design manager George Saridakis put it more plainly: just a faster-looking steed. The same car brought the first black chrome version of the pony.
For the 60th anniversary in 2024, Ford looked back rather than forward. Its anniversary badge was inspired by the badging and wheel centre caps of the car shown at the 1964 World’s Fair.
Ponies through the decades
Most Mustangs have worn some version of the same idea: a horse that wouldn’t be tamed. Here are the cars that marked the badge’s journey.
Landmark Mustangs, decade by decade
- 1962: Mustang I. The experimental concept that first carried both the Mustang name and Phil Clark’s running horse in public.
- 1964: Mustang. Introduced at the New York World’s Fair on 17 April 1964 and dubbed the 1964½ because it arrived mid-year.
- 1974: Mustang II. According to Ford, the pony logo was refined for this car by Charles Keresztes.
- 1994: Mustang. Brought the pony emblem back to the grille after years without it.
- 2010: Mustang. Introduced a sharper, more chiselled pony and the first black chrome version of the badge.
- 2019: Mustang Mach-E. Unveiled in Los Angeles on 17 November 2019, an all-electric SUV and the first time the Mustang name went on anything other than the two-door car.
The pony has always lived under the Ford roof, and it has carried some famous riders. Among them is the 1965 Shelby GT350. For more on how emblems like this are shaped, see how car logos are designed, or browse more classic car logos.
Frequently asked questions
Who designed the Mustang logo?
Ford and The Henry Ford museum credit designer Phil Clark with the original galloping horse, drawn for the 1962 Mustang I concept. Sculptor Charles Keresztes turned it into a three-dimensional badge, and Waino Kangas is also credited with styling the emblem.
Why does the Mustang horse run left?
According to Ford, Phil Clark had almost always drawn the horse facing left, and a horse galloping that way captured the car’s independent spirit. Stories about wild horses, racetracks or a flipped drawing are popular but not part of Ford’s explanation.
Was the Mustang named after the P-51 fighter plane?
Partly, it seems. Ford designer John Najjar said he first suggested the name in memory of the P-51 Mustang, then pitched it again with a horse association because it felt more romantic. Ford itself presents the plane and the horse as open questions.
When was the Ford Mustang launched?
Ford introduced the Mustang to the public on 17 April 1964 at the New York World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens.
Does the Mustang Mach-E wear the pony badge?
Yes. The all-electric Mach-E, unveiled in November 2019, carries the Mustang name and keeps the running pony badge.
Flushing Meadows to the Mach-E: the stud book
- Founded
- 1964
- Country
- United States
- Headquarters
- Dearborn, USA
- Parent company
- Ford Motor Company
- Current emblem
- A galloping horse running to the left, redrawn for the 2010 model year
- Known for
- The original pony car
- Website
- Official website ↗
