NEW HOME FOR THE RANGE

With the 2005 model year, Mustang has moved to a new plant from its long-time home at the Dearborn Assembly Plant at the Ford Rouge Complex. All Mustangs are now made at the AutoAlliance International assembly plant in Flat Rock, Mich. The 2005 Mustang convertible will go on sale in the spring.




CHASSIS


For the 2005 Mustang convertible, Ford engineers designed the underbody from the beginning as a convertible - giving it more than twice the torsional stiffness of its predecessor and making it the quietest and most solid Mustang convertible ever built.

DONE LIGHT, DONE RIGHT

The typical convertible can weigh as much as 300 pounds more than its hardtop counterpart - but not all of that additional weight is due to the power top motor and mechanism. Much of it, in fact, is the result of structural bracing added to maintain body integrity lost through the removal of the fixed roof.


That added weight affects handling - and usually forces chassis engineers to retune the front and rear suspensions by changing spring rates to make up for the increased mass of the vehicle. But when the Mustang engineering team sat down to design the new coupe and convertible simultaneously, it considered where a convertible would require the most strength and how commonality with the coupe could be integrated into the car's basic structure.


The engineers were able to design body joints and a rocker panel that helped the convertible attain stiffness goals without tacking on extra braces that would have added weight and cost. A quieter and smoother ride was part of the payoff as well. The result is that the 2005 Mustang convertible V-6 and V-8 are only 175 pounds heavier than the coupe requiring only subtle changes to suspension tuning or geometry. That means the convertible driving experience will be far closer to that of the coupe's than ever before.




LOFTY BENCHMARKS FOR SUSPENSION PRECISION

Engineers carefully examined Ford's global suspension design philosophy before they laid out the Mustang's suspension. They used lessons learned from the award-winning Lincoln LS to create the new Mustang's chassis design.


They decided to use a coil-over MacPherson strut front suspension with reverse "L" lower control arms made of lightweight I-section steel. The L-shaped lower control arms offer advantages over A-arms or wishbone-shaped suspension components, combining surefooted handling with ride comfort.
 

A firm bushing was positioned where the shorter leg of the L-arm connects with the chassis to control side-to-side motion and quicken steering response. The fore-and-aft movements are directed through a softer, compliant bushing at the longer, rear L-arm leg, which dampens road shocks. This isolation is a direct benefit of the reverse L-configuration of the control arms.


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"Mustang is all about driving - that's really where the rubber meets the road. This all-new chassis does everything better - accelerate, turn, stop - while making the most of the powerful new 300-horsepower engine. It's a driving experience that is best summed up in one word: Mustang."

- Phil Martens, Group Vice President, Product Creation

The 2005 Mustang convertible refines both the MacPherson strut front and solid rear axle designs to their ultimate executions. The result is great driving dynamics with signature, straight-line Mustang performance.