Ford and the National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum (NIHF) have unveiled a one-of-a-kind Mustang showcase that marries a 1965 model to a 2015 model in a unique side-by-side display. The split-personality Mustang is part of a new, permanent Intellectual Property Power exhibit at the NIHF on the United States Patent and Trademark Office Campus in Alexandria, Virginia.
The Mustang and other relevant exhibits celebrate the story of intellectual property and illuminates its significance to progress, innovation and culture in America, as well as how trademarks, patents, and other forms of intellectual property make modern amenities possible. The interactive display is designed to highlight the importance of patents and the tremendous march of automotive technology over the decades. It calls out various patents in the current model, as well as those in the original pony car.
The NIHF sought out Ford as its partner for the project because the company has played such an important role in the long history of American innovation, with the Mustang being such an icon for half a century. Ford and its employee volunteers have also been involved for the past 20 years with NIHF’s Camp Invention, one of the nation’s premier summer enrichment programmes that leverages hands-on activities to promote science, technology, engineering and math.
When the Mustang was launched, no specific styling patents were granted. Only after the car proved such a huge success, selling more than 1 million units in its first 18 months, were styling patents even considered and applied for over time.
Back in 1965, the Mustang utilised more than 100 of Ford’s existing functional patents. Those patents reflect some of the touches customers loved back then, including a rear-seat speaker and a power convertible top. Normal conveniences we now take for granted were also involved, like Patent 3,271,540 – the origin of Ford’s self-cancelling turn signal.
Today, the Mustang is a wellspring of creative design and engineering. The car introduced the first passenger knee airbag system packaged inside the glovebox lid, with 15 patents granted. It debuted electronic line-lock, along with standard launch control – designed to help bracket racers achieve more consistent performance at the drag strip. The Mustang also incorporates features specific to modern times, such as patented relief in the seat cushion to allow a wallet or phone in an occupant’s back pocket to protrude further into the seat for more comfort.
Many of these patents and more will be illustrated in the display, which combines about 60 percent of the driver’s compartment of the original Mustang and about 60 percent that of a new pony car – both including the console area and technology of their times.
The left side consists of a reproduction 1965 left-hand-drive Mustang licensed for modern production by Ford and built to the same specifications as the original car – in itself an example of the licensing benefits of intellectual property. The other side is a right-hand-drive 2015 Mustang that is sold in several of the 150 countries where the car is now available.
Visitors to the museum will be able to sit in either side of the car and directly compare features and styling details – from the AM radio, roll-up window, vent air window, and optional retractable colour-keyed seatbelts available in 1965, to the working touchscreen display in the 2015 model. Certain patents and other intellectual property will be displayed on accompanying monitors and over speakers. Visitors to the display will also be able to hear the idling sounds of the original 1965 Mustang V8 engine and the current 2015 Mustang V8 engine. 
Read our review of the 2015 Ford Mustang.
