| − | It didn't take Ford long to get back on track with the third gen. In 1979 just five years after the introduction of the Mustang II Ford introduced the third gen which was based on the Ford Fox platform, a multi model design used on the Fairlane and others. Even though this new model was back to the standards of the original albeit still hampered by government regulation, sales were slow. In response the bean counters at Ford considered the unthinkable and planned a Mustang replacement based on the Japanese Mazda MX-6. This new model would be front wheel drive and wouldn't have a V8. When people got wind of this plan, they wrote thousands of letters to Ford demanding that they keep the true Mustang alive. The result: Ford updated the the Fox based third gen and sold the "Mustang replacement" as the [[Ford Probe]]. The third gen had a wide range of engine and tranny options ranging from 4cyl (including a turbo) to V8s. | + | It didn't take Ford long to get back on track with the third generation Mustang. In 1979, just five years after the introduction of the Mustang II, Ford introduced a third generation which was based on the Ford Fox platform, a multi-model design used on the Fairlane and other products. Even though this new model was back to the standards of the original albeit still hampered by government regulation, sales were slow. In response Ford considered the unthinkable and planned a Mustang replacement based on the Japanese Mazda MX-6. This new model would have been a front-wheel drive car with no option for a V8 engine. When people got wind of this plan, they wrote thousands of letters to Ford demanding that they keep the true Mustang alive. As a result, Ford updated the the Fox-based third generation and sold the "Mustang replacement" as the [[Ford Probe]]. The third generation Mustang had a wide range of engine and transmission options ranging from a 4 cylinder turbo to V8s. |