Half & Half
A new museum display celebrates 50 years of Mustang innovation
By Steve Turner
Photos courtesy of Ford Motor Company
It’s hard to imagine, but many of the original Mustang features were not patented until well after the car was in production. These days the modern Mustang is a rolling piece of intellectual property and that sort of innovation is what’s being celebrated at the National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum by a unique fusion of a classic 1965 Mustang and a modern 2015 Mustang.
This unique, conjoined Mustang—built by the clever craftsmen at Classic Design Concepts—is now on permanent display as part of the Intellectual Property Power Exhibit within the National Inventors Hall of Fame museum. This museum is located on the United States Patent and Trademark Office campus in Alexandria, Virginia.
“Everything moved so fast in the design and run-up to production of the original Mustang that there were no styling patents issued back then,” Chris Danowski, Ford director of technology commercialization and intellectual property licensing, said.
By 1965 the Mustang used more than 100 of Ford’s functional patents, including self-cancelling turn signals. These days, the Mustang is a rolling library of protected ideas, packed with unique features like a glove-box airbag, a line lock and more. Many of these features are in the display and functional, while still more examples of patents and intellectual property will be give an audio/visual treatment via monitors near the display.
“Now look at the current car; 2015 Mustang Convertible alone was granted 36 styling patents, which ensure the unique look stays with the car,” Chris added. “It also has many unique functional patents for things like the airbag structures, 911 Assist and so many other technologies baked right in.”
Today the National Inventors Hall of Fame will unveil the display and highlight the work of Ford founder Henry Ford. You can learn more about the museum right here.
Classic Design Concepts (notice the tag) built this unique display for Ford and the National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum, which fuses 60 percent of a left-hand-drive, reproduction 1965 Mustang with 60 percent of a right-hand-drive 2015 Mustang.
If you visit the museum, you’ll be able to sit on either side of the 60/60 display and compare the modest features of the classic Mustang with the technical tour de force that is the 2015 Mustang.