History of the Ford Mustang Logo

We've take our most commonly received Ford questions and provided you what you need to know. Today we answer, "Why doesn't a Mustang have a Ford badge?" Contact J.C. Lewis Ford to see each model and have a personal Ford expert assigned to answer all of your Ford lineup questions - 912.210.5676.

Why doesn't a Mustang have a Ford badge?

Some Mustangs, such as the 1983 models, do have a Ford logo, but many have only the galloping horse or Cobra badges. A brief history of Mustang explains why.

In 1964, the year of the first Mustang, Ford cars did not have the iconic blue oval badge. The extremely popular Ford Mustang was introduced with a horse logo, creating a new class of cars called “Pony cars”, characterized by long hoods, powerful V8 engines and long rears. Chevrolet and Dodge soon followed Ford’s lead with their own models.

Fun fact: the galloping horse logo is always facing left to distinguish it as a wild horse, not a domesticated racing horse, which faces right. The original logo has red, white and blue stripes behind it, representing the American flag.

Later, the Cobra logo came from Carroll Shelby, who used the name Cobra for his cars. When he teamed up with Ford for the Le Mans race in 1966, he signed a contract with Ford to tune their Mustangs. Later, when Ford gave him the task of constructing the GT350, many of the parts he used had the Cobra logo on them.

The Mustang has been admired all over the world since it was first introduced over 50 years ago, so the Ford logo really isn’t necessary for people to know its brand.