THE MUSTANG AND ITS MIGHTY MILLS

MUSTANGS HAVE ALWAYS RUN the gamut from stylish commuter to performance car, with various levels of seriousness depending on the public’s appetite for such things. When it first arrived in April 1964, its Falcon basis was evident based on the equipment installed. The 260-cu.in., two-barrel V-8 from the Falcon Sprint was the base V-8, but to amp up its credentials, Ford turned to another engine with identical external dimensions, taken from the Fairlane series.

1964¹/2 - ’66

271-HP HIPO 289-CU.IN. SMALL-BLOCK

The K-code (aka “HiPo”), 289-cu.in. small-block V-8 had started life as a late-year option in the 1963 Fairlane, where it has since been largely overshadowed by the FE-series big-block conversions in the 1964 Thunderbolts. The K-code was no mere carb-and-cam swap, though, as it was extensively beefed up inside and out to ensure its durability in high-rpm situations.

It was the K-code 289 to which Carroll Shelby turned when he was creating the first G.T. 350s. He was no stranger to the small-block Ford — thanks to the Cobra