Editing Ford Mustang (section)

=== Sales fluctuation ===
Developed under the watch of [[Semon Knudsen|S. "Bunkie" Knudsen]], Mustang evolved "from speed and power" to the growing consumer demand for bigger and heavier "luxury" type designs.<ref name="taylor17">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=O4cgtFh_asEC&pg=PA17 |title=Mustang Restoration Handbook |first1=Don |last1=Taylor |first2=Tom |last2=Wilson |page=17 |publisher=Penguin Group |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-89586-402-4 |access-date=September 11, 2015 |archive-date=January 13, 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220113131644/https://books.google.com/books?id=O4cgtFh_asEC&pg=PA17 |url-status=live }}</ref> "The result was the styling misadventures of 1971–73 ...the Mustang grew fat and lazy,"<ref name="taylor17"/> "Ford was out of the go-fast business almost entirely by 1971."<ref>[[#Mueller|Mueller]], p. 61.</ref> "This was the last major restyling of the first-generation Mustang."<ref name="sessler72">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=l_1ngoGACCUC&pg=PA72 |title=Ford Mustang Buyer's and Restoration Guide |first1=Peter C. |last1=Sessler |first2=Nilda |last2=Sessler |page=72 |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7906-1326-0 |publisher=Sams Technical Publishing |access-date=September 11, 2015 |archive-date=August 1, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200801155755/https://books.google.com/books?id=l_1ngoGACCUC&pg=PA72 |url-status=live }}</ref> "The cars grew in every dimension except height, and they gained about {{convert|800|lb|kg}}."<ref name="sessler72"/> "The restyling also sought to create the illusion that the cars were even larger."<ref name="sessler72"/> The 1971 Mustang was nearly {{convert|3|in|round=5}} wider than the 1970, its front and rear track was also widened by {{convert|3|in||round=5}}, and its size was most evident in the SportsRoof models with its nearly flat rear roofline<ref>[[#Mueller|Mueller]], p. 62</ref> and cramped interior with poor visibility for the driver.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1971-1972-1973-ford-mustang8.htm |title=Criticism of the 1971 Ford Mustang |date=February 11, 2007 |website=How Stuff Works |access-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-date=April 15, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120415063720/http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1971-1972-1973-ford-mustang8.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Performance decreased with sales continuing to decrease<ref>{{cite web |url= http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1971-1972-1973-ford-mustang10.htm |title=The 1972 Ford Mustang |date=February 11, 2007 |website=How Stuff Works |access-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-date=April 21, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120421141156/http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1971-1972-1973-ford-mustang10.htm }}</ref> as consumers switched to the smaller [[Ford Pinto|Pintos]] and [[Ford Maverick (Americas)|Mavericks]]. A displeased Iacocca summed up later: "The Mustang market never left us, we left it."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1971-1972-1973-ford-mustang12.htm |title=The 1973 Ford Mustang |date=February 11, 2007 |website=How Stuff Works |access-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-date=April 20, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120420072025/http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1971-1972-1973-ford-mustang12.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

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