09-25-07: ret-ro ; Involving, relating to, or reminiscent of things past; of or designating the style of an earlier time.

Niche car styling has been on a retro kick for some time now. It arguably started with the VW New Beetle in 1999 and was followed up by the Chrysler PT Cruiser a couple of years later. It was at the time considered a trend, taking parts of yesterdays legends, images, and perhaps memories and capitalizing on them for sales in the present. There have been others since like the Plymouth Prowler, Chevy HHR. Some popular others dismal failures. The Chevy SSR comes to mind. But there is more to come from Chevy, Dodge, and Ford.

Modern Mustang retro themes came into play as early as 1994 with the dual cowl interior design and the trademark side scoops. It was really just little touches blended into a new design however. They were just enough to add the flavor the otherwise all new shape needed to reintroduce the classic Mustang’s styling “DNA” back into the equation. In 1999 a “New Edge” redesign of the Mustang introduced some evolutionary touches to the Mustang that blended even more retro with an updated look.

During those years Ford endeavored to apply retro marketing schemes to the cars with the Bullitt and Mach 1 special editions. Instead of forward looking modernist versions like the SVO in the 1980s and the progressively executed 1993 to 2004 SVT Cobras, Ford had taken the arguably easy way out to marketing success by dialing up some hits from the golden era.

This wasn't a bad thing, the 2001 Bullitt, 2003-2004 Mach 1 Mustangs were immensely popular and have birthed new national clubs around them. The owners of these cars are fiercely loyal and proud of them and they should be.

As we moved to the 2005 Mustang, Ford went all the way with the retro theme. The current Mustang blends the best of the 1967-1968 Mustang fastback design with modern day packaging. It's a good looking car. The first all new Mustang in over a decade was all new, but strikingly old. It didn't stay fresh for long however. Sales have been dropping like a rock since 2005.

Another issue is that with a design so dedicated to the olden days, it is hard to modernize it, freshen it, or update it without abandoning it all together. those who customize had no choice but to turn back the clock as well.

When it arrived at SEMA in the fall of 2004, the tuners and aftermarket parts mavens had already dolled it up with all the good old themes of the 1960’s. There were Boss hood scoops, deck-lid spoilers, black plastic air dams, quarter window vents and of course the obligatory flat black stripes that fulfilled all the various looks from the golden days.

In the two years since, the aftermarket has created a raging river of retro add-ons for the Mustang for all those wanting to build modern day versions of whatever wet dream they had back when.

Tuners have even taken to relying on the old days such as Roush with their 427, 428 and 429R cars, LeMans striped Mustangs, and even Saleen could not resist building retro Boss 302 look-a-likes. The king of them all is the re-entry of Carroll Shelby into the picture. We all know about the dozen or so - it seems, Shelby special edition Mustangs that have been thrown at us in the past three years. Don’t get me wrong, these are all nice cars and of course far better than anything that was ever built in the 1960’s.

But, is this not getting old yet? I read about the new 2008 Bullitt Mustang special edition, more Shelbys and of course rumors that Ford may be bringing back the Boss or Mach 1 soon. I cant help but to wonder if anyone at Ford has given thought that all this retro stuff might be running its course.

I float about on many Mustang forums to keep pulse with the Mustang realm. While it’s not a complete read on the big picture, I am seeing more and more disillusionment on the part of both younger and rank-in-file enthusiasts about Ford’s love affair with yesterday.

The Shelby thing is clearly getting old for some long time Mustang owners and enthusiasts who want high performance special editions but are shut out by the fact that dealers are tacking $10,000 on top of anything with the Shelby name purely because of the marketing gravitas. Ford made a good move by bringing Shelby into the Mustang realm again, but has also closed the door on much of its modest income customer base seeking the better hardware.

But the Shelby phenomenon aside, there is a larger movement at hand. Are we going to continue getting contrived stripe kits, spoilers, vents and appearance packages that are nothing but markers of another time that fewer and fewer of today’s buyers can relate to? Is the Mustang going to continue to be nothing more than a shadow of its former self?

I hope that the marketing gurus at the glass house have plans for the Mustang that go beyond regurgitating the muscle-car themes of yesterday. I hope that there are people thinking of something new and fresh instead of resting upon the laurels of a bygone era.

But on the other hand why would they do that? I mean in the next year the retro wars will take on new meaning with introduction of the new-old Camaro and the new-old Challenger. These two babies are going to follow the new-new-old Mustang or lead it. One or the other. The new restyle of the current S-197 Mustang is afoot and is said to modernize and muscle up the picture a little bit. But those who have seen the real deal tell me that it’s retro as ever despite the evolutionary morphing.

I guess my point here is that at some point the retro love affair will have run its course. There will be a time when people get tired of the olden days themes. When that day comes, these cars will be spoiled milk on the shelves. Has that day come yet? Who knows about you or the rest of the world. I may be ready to see Mustang grow beyond and explore some new territory.

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