'Mustang By Design' Book On Gale Halderman A Ford Fan 'Must Read'

After the passing earlier this year of Gale Halderman, the principal designer of the original Mustang, fans have been wanting to know more about the man who had played such a key role in one of Ford Motor Company’s most iconic products. Lucky for enthusiasts that there’s the hardcover book, “Mustang By Design: Gale Halderman and the Creation of Ford’s Iconic Pony Car,” that offers an inside look at Halderman and the special car that he helped create.

Co-authors Jimmy Dinsmore and James Halderman (Gale’s cousin) had interviewed Gale extensively for the heart of this book, as well as logged countless discussions with many of us in the Mustang hobby who had come to know Gale so well over the past 10 years. For well-versed Mustang fans, Gale Halderman is best-known for his contribution to the design of the prototype that was eventually chosen as the production 1965 Mustang. Under the direction of his then-boss Joe Oros, Halderman went home after a long day at the Ford Design studio and sketched out the now-classic shape of the original Mustang on his kitchen table. That sketch was chosen as the design direction for the all-new Mustang sporty car dreamed up by product planner Hal Sperlich and pushed into production by his Ford Division chief, Lee Iacocca.

Halderman was then tasked to skillfully guide Mustang through the feasibility process, from a clay-model dream to a manufactured reality. After spearheading the 2+2 Fastback, he received the Industrial Design Society’s Design Award for his work on the 1965 Mustang, and served as styling chief for the Mustang for eight more years. Mustang design advances under his leadership are said to include the ’67 SportsRoof and the ’71 Notchback and full Fastback designs. The rest, as they say, is history – even as his contributions to Ford went well beyond Mustang.

Let’s face it – the Mustang is a legendary car, so it’s to be expected that people who had touched it along the way will take credit for things – even things that didn’t happen and things that they didn’t do. The problem is, sorting out Mustang fact from Mustang fiction can be difficult, as not everything you’ll see in books is supported by Ford people who have actually worked on the program. And that’s where this book differs from all the rest – Gale Halderman was there from the beginning. He not only played a major role in making the Mustang a success, he was on the inside when many of the critical decisions were made about the car. So this book is not only a story of Gale’s life – it’s a firsthand account of how the car came to be. And it came from someone who was actually there – so it’s right from the horse’s mouth, if you’ll pardon the pun.