source: A Faster Horse

Moviecut—A Faster Horse

Ford Mustangs have always been "blue-collar" sports/muscle cars, that unique American blend of high performance at a price most new-car buyers can afford. "A Faster Horse" documents the people and history of this amazing American icon, especially those who worked since 2009 on developing the 2015 Mustang, the generation 6 model that sold like hotcakes around the world and took on expensive European sports cars without embarrassment but at a fraction of their cost. The film concentrates on the people who made the the 2015 Mustang possible, and, as such, it is full of human interest and considerable drama in the workplace and on the track. The film's human portraits result in much more than an extended promo for a wonderful 2015 automobile that achieves a perfect balance of speed, acceleration, handling, suspension, comfort, and affordability, thanks to the bright ideas and hard work of a large team of dedicated people who battled their way to this American balance of forces and costs.

A well done documentary. I wonder if most viewers will see beneath the lines and realize how far behind the American car industry really is -- it's obvious, if you pay close attention.

I watched this documentary on Streaming Netflix. In 1967, when I was 21 and had no particular focus on American cars, and was driving an old Volkswagen Beetle, I happened upon a nice, used, 1965 Mustang. It was quite a car, bright red with two wide black racing stripes running on either side of center, all the way from stem to stern, a 289 cubic inch V-8 with 4-barrel carbs and a floor shift. My mom bought it for me because I was about to go off 1000 miles away to graduate school. I liked that 1965 Mustang, but a few years later and with our first child onboard traded it for a larger car, a new 1969 Ford LTD for $3450. I had on occasion revisited my memories of that Mustang but only yesterday came across this documentary. At first I wondered how you could devote almost 90 minutes to the introduction of one new car, the 2015 Mustang. But seeing it is worth every minute. The film interweaves current 2010 to 2015 material, during the design and testing phase, with material from the 1960s for the development and introduction of the original Mustang. It also has content from even earlier years, including a bit from the earliest Henry Ford days. As they say in the film, everyone owned at least one horse and if asked what they really wanted, the answer may well have been "A Faster Horse." This film is of course focused on the 2015 Mustang but it should be of interest to any automobile fan because it shows how long it takes, and how much effort from many people and suppliers, to get a new car from concept through design and testing then out to the showrooms. A really fine documentary.

A Faster Horse