The Pony Car is a classic automotive design these days, but upon its conception in the 1960s, it was a revolutionary concept. These were sports cars for the common man: affordable, fast, small, and above all, fun. In a world of massive full-sizes and expensive European racers, they eschewed pre-established notions of what it meant to make a sporty car, and they absolutely nailed it. We’ve discussed the Ford Mustang before, as well as the Camaro and the Plymouth Barracuda. In this article, we’re not necessarily going to focus on one model, but the concept itself. Where did it come from? How did it develop into the modern legend we know and love?

The concept originated in the early 1960s, when domestic manufacturers began noticing the increased market interest in small sports cars. Everyone knows about the Ford Mustang, but it wasn’t actually the first true Pony Car. While Lee Iacocca was busy getting the concept signed off by Ford management, he approached product manager Tom Case, then assigned to the Ford Falcon, requesting a four-seater based on the Thunderbird, which Case had also worked on. Case went to the Budd Company, who had produced T-Bird bodies. This gave Budd the intriguing idea of fitting a ’57 Thunderbird body to a Falcon chassis.  This became known as the XT-Bird concept. Budd approached Ford, but they declined to take them up on the idea, despite the perceived market appeal of such a car. The main sticking point was the XT-Bird’s two-seater design, according to Iacocca.

“We were talking about a sports car for the masses, and our research said it better have 2+2 or four-seat capability. We could have gotten the car quicker with the Budd idea, but it didn’t take long before we decided to go with a whole new car instead.”

Budd pushed on with the idea, approaching AMC, for whom they already supplied tooling, parts, and sub-assemblies. They built a new concept based on the 1962 AMC Rambler Ambassador, called the Budd XR-400. It had four seats, and was powered by an AMC 327 V8. AMC, in a move that probably didn’t aid their struggling business, also declined to take Budd up on their concept. The tragedy is that if they had, they would have beaten the Mustang to market by around six months.

Come 1964, it was time for the big hitters of the Pony Car movement to start rolling out onto the roads. Technically, the Plymouth Barracuda was the first Pony Car to hit the markets, launching 16 days before the Mustang, on April 1, 1964. It was however, barely divergent from its parent model, the Valiant. The Barracudas still had Valiant badging, had huge rear windshields, and a selection of engines ranging from a 170ci slant-six to a 273 LA V8. However, they were marginally more expensive than the Mustang (with an MSRP of $2512 to $2368) and also suffered from a terrible marketing strategy. The Barracuda was marketed as a car for all ages, which seems fine on principle. However, that’s not the appeal of the Pony Car. The Pony Car is a car that should have a youthful feel. Either it will be driven by a young kid with a love for speed, or it will make an older driver feel young again. Plymouth’s strategy was far too general. They also lacked the massive punching power of Ford, who had the World’s Fair on their side. As Iacocca would later say, there was a large element of luck in the Mustang’s runaway success.

“We were very fortunate in that we hit at exactly the right time. It was just dumb luck that we had the world’s biggest showroom – the New York World’s Fair – as a launching pad. It was the combination of the World’s Fair launch, the fact that we did have a rather unique and different car, a realization that the youth market was bulging, and most of all an economy that was really being heated up by the government’s cutting taxes and telling people to go out and spend some money. With those ingredients, it would have been hard not to succeed.”

It’s safe to say that Ford’s advertising acumen paid off. On the very first day of sale, April 17, 1964, Ford had nearly as many orders for Mustangs (22,000) as Barracudas sold in the entirety of 1964 (23,500). It was a storming victory for Ford.

Refusing Budd’s concept wasn’t the only time that AMC would shoot themselves in the foot, believing the Pony Car to be a flash in the pan. They also produced the Rambler Tarpon Concept, a 2+2 fastback concept. At the 1964 Chicago Auto Show, the design received enthusiastic responses from the audience, with over 60 percent saying they would like to own a model that looked like the Tarpon. But AMC management had other ideas. They wanted a V8 in their sports model, but their 290 V8 wasn’t released until 1965. Then they decided they wanted to target married couples, and make it a six-seater coupe. The result was the Marlin, built on the large Rambler Classic chassis. It was not a true Mustang competitor, and poor sales figures reflected that, with just over 10,000 being sold in 1965.

In 1967, the Mustang was getting its first major redesign. Now it could pack a big-block V8 (up to 428ci), and it boasted a host of new features both inside and out. Side scoops were fitted, the wing mirrors were squared, trim changes were made, and the taillights were turned concave. Inside, you had the option of picking a Deluxe Interior featuring brushed aluminum and stainless steel trimmed seat back shells, among other things. However, this wasn’t the only major development for the Pony Car in 1967. As nice as the Plymouth Barracuda was, it wasn’t a large scale competitor to the Mustang. In ’67, the first real challenger emerged in the form of the Chevrolet Camaro. The Camaro had been in development for a while now, going by the codename of Panther. It was to replace the unmitigated PR disaster that was the Corvair and combat the Mustang, with Chevy going so far as to describe a Camaro as a “small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs” when asked what the name meant. Unlike AMC, Chevrolet knew exactly what a Pony Car had to do. It needed to be cheap, with the ’67 Camaro’s base MSRP set at $2466, and it had to be fast. The base engine may only have been a 230 straight-six, but if you wanted power, you could get it, with the Z/28 package featuring a 302 small-block V8, front disc brakes, upgraded crankshaft, and 360 horsepower. While only 602 Z/28s sold in 1967, the model as a whole was a massive success, selling 220,906. The Mustang sold 472,000 that year. It was still dominant, but a true competitor had emerged.

These two Pony Cars would battle it out in one of the most intense motoring rivalries in the history of cars. While others would come and go, including the superb AMC Javelin and Dodge Challenger, this rivalry was the centerpoint of the industry. While Ford had the GT350, the Camaro released with its own 350 and also had another trick up its sleeve. Through the magic of the Central Office Production Order, dealers were able to essentially offer custom Camaros. Take Don Yenko, a Chevy dealer in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, who offered an L72 427 V8 in his Camaros, creating the legendary Yenko Camaros. However, Ford were keen to one-up Chevrolet, and offered a 429 NASCAR-spec Boss V8 in 1969. While the Mustang consistently sold more, the Camaro was a strong rival, worthy of respect.

Ultimately, the Pony Car’s days were somewhat numbered. While they have been revived with full power today, tightening emissions regulations and the oil crisis of the 1970s led to increasingly neutered engine setups and less power, craziness, and frankly, fun. The golden era had been and gone, and regardless of your views of modern Mustangs and Camaros, they’re lacking something. The originals had glamor, speed, beautiful looks and affordability, all rolled up into one neat package. They were a pure expression of American motoring, and they were wonderful.