Did you know that during the long career of the Ford Mustang about 21 percent of all the cars built were painted red? Maybe not, but while red remained constantly among buyers’ favorite colors, there were times when it wasn’t the top-selling color.
The favored color choices of Ford Mustang owners have shifted dramatically in the past 50 years. As television went from black-and-white to color, Mustang reflected the incoming fashion trends with a palette of vibrant colors.
Currently, black is the best-selling Mustang exterior paint color, up 10 percent over the last decade to account for 28 percent of all 2013 Mustangs sold. Yet, between 1967 and 1973 only about 1.5 percent of customers ordered their Mustang black.
Mustang buyers don’t always seem to care for trends. While white is the best-selling vehicle color in the U.S. today, only 10 percent of Mustangs sold now are painted in this color.
In the early years, though, blue was the most popular shade, reaching a peak of 30 percent of all cars in 1968 when six different finishes were offered for the exterior. In recent years, the availability of shades like Grabber Blue and Kona Blue have helped that primary color capture as much as 23 percent of sales in recent years.
Other early favorites like green, yellow and brown didn’t have the same fate. Green and yellow have mostly been found on limited edition Mustangs like the Bullitt and Boss 302 while the last brown Mustangs were built in 1989.
In addition to typical colors, Mustang has been offered in various specialty shades ranging from Playboy Pink in 1967 and the color-shifting Mystichrome on the 2004 SVT Cobra to today’s 'Gotta Have It Green'.
By Dan Mihalascu
