April 17, 1964

by **jtstang** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 1:26 pm

ponyte wrote:
jtstang wrote:
Arkpony wrote:Obviously you doubters (who else?) have never heard Hayden Fry's recording where he recounts in detail how it all happened in the SMU locker room..that Ford DID name it's car after SMU and Fry got the first one off the line for the sum of $1.00. Unless of course, Fry would lie about all that (which some of the doubters on here will obviously believe).

Admissible evidence only please judge.

Ugh! This isn't a court of law, this is Fantasy Cyberisland.

Allow us our delusions, please.

Of course. I am just being silly.

Let's start a rumor that the wild horses that live in the Western US were named after our football team.

by **RunningStang** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 1:45 pm

http://mustangs.about.com/od/faq/f/faq_name.htm

by **PoconoPony** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 6:19 pm

Wonderful sight in 1964, 1965, 1966 to see 8 new red over blue Ford Mustangs parked side by side in the Moody parking lot belonging to Hayden Frye and his coaching staff. Yep, Mustangs named by Ford in honor of SMU. In the Cotton Bowl game in 1966 the local Ford dealer provided 8 SMU students ( I was one) with new cherry red convertable Mustangs for the week for the purpose of driving the Kodak nominated beauty queens around town and the Cotton Bowl at half time. Great memories.

by **jtstang** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:45 pm

Did anybody other than d-pony, who has gone back into hibernation, actually hear Mr. Iococca utter the words attributed to him? I'd like to know why he was addressing our team after a loss. I still say urban legend.

by **George S. Patton** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:10 pm

jtstang wrote:Did anybody other than d-pony, who has gone back into hibernation, actually hear Mr. Iococca utter the words attributed to him? I'd like to know why he was addressing our team after a loss. I still say urban legend.

You enjoy sticking the cattle prod in the butt don't you? :wink:

by **jtstang** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:04 pm

People around here can get worked up over the goofiest things.

by **PoconoPony** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:33 pm

jtstang wrote:Did anybody other than d-pony, who has gone back into hibernation, actually hear Mr. Iococca utter the words attributed to him? I'd like to know why he was addressing our team after a loss. I still say urban legend.

I cannot speak personally to the Lee Iococca story; however, the attribution on campus at the time was that there were several SMU students whose fathers were high ranking Ford executives. These students reportedly proposed the name to their fathers when they learned the Mustang was to be Ford's revolutionary entry into a huge market directed for the first time ever at young people. A sporty, high performance and reasonably priced post WWII vehicle that would capture the imagination of today's baby boomer generation. The SMU student body was generally aware that Ford had named a vehicle the Mustang after SMU's mascot. This awareness was some months in advance of its public unveilling. At the initation of Ford's national mass marketing campaign there were numerous media accounts in Dallas attributed to Ford acknowledging that the Mustang was named in honor of SMU. Ford believed that a small, stout, tough, powerful, unbridled and wild horse epitomized their vision of the vehicle and the marketing image they sought for a young emerging and increasingly affluent market group. It would make sense that Iacocca and his flamboyant style would make the announcement to the football team. For this reason and as part of the publicity campaign, Hayden Frye and his staff were all provided new red over blue Mustangs annually for a number of years thereafter.

by **Mustangsabu** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 1:13 am

Can I be the only one who picked up on the fact that this claimed dedication by Ford to SMU was based on, among other things, the lightness of our team. Good to see we have been keeping that tradition up :lol:

by **jtstang** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 7:22 am

Pocono's story sounds like it was well known to SMU, the athletic department and Dallas in general, as per the reference to "numerous media accounts." If he is accurate, can anybody explain why SMU's official stance on the Ford/SMU Mustang story today begins "legend has it..."? Did everybody in the know die without clipping any of those articles?

by **Arkpony** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:15 am

AM I the ONLY one who has heard the Hayden Fry interview in which he recounted the story of Iococa coming into the SMU dressing room and addressing the coaches and team after the loss to Michigan???!! In that speech Iococca announced the new car Ford was building and he would call it the Mustang in honor of SMU and that Fry would get the first off the line. Fry laughed and said Iococca had to charge him $1 to make it legal.

I suppose some on here believe Fry would make up that detailed account of how it happened, but then, those people have never met nor knew Hayden Fry. I have, and did.

by **George S. Patton** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:14 am

Good thing we weren't named the Pintos.

by **jtstang** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:32 am

George S. Patton wrote:Good thing we weren't named the Pintos.

by **SmooPower** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:26 am

This is from Fry's book:

http://www.amazon.com/Hayden-Fry-High-P ... 194&sr=8-1

by **George S. Patton** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:37 am

Ok, Jaws. Your turn. I've rather enjoyed this jousting.

by **jtstang** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 1:09 pm

That is the best evidence yet, and impossible to dispute. I'd still like to hear from somebody who was there, just for grins. Surely that person is out there somewhere. I thought d_pony was going to give us an eyewitness account, but he disappeared.

SmooPower, you've outdone yourself with this research. Did you download that from your kindle?

April 17, 1964

From Hayden Fry's lips

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