Original Ford Mustang atop the Empire State Building in 1964
Visitors reaching the 86th floor of New. York's Empire State Building may not get the view they expect, come April 16-17. Sure, you'll still be able to look out across the Big Apple as normal, across the myriad skyscrapers and the large green block of Central Park, but you'll also see an example of the new 2015 Ford Mustang.
It's not the work of a fellow patron feeling particularly lazy, nor the world's biggest parking fail. Instead, it's Ford's recreation of a stunt it pulled during the 1964 World's Fair, when it positioned an original Mustang convertible in the same location.
You'd be right in thinking that parking a Mustang 86 floors up isn't the easiest of tasks. No portable crane is tall enough to reach the building's observatory, and the famous spire means a helicopter delivery isn't possible. There's always the elevators, but squeezing a Mustang into one of those is no simple task, even with a V-8 to propel it. Unless you cut it into handy chunks and reassemble it at the top, that is--just as Ford's engineers are doing.
Using computer engineering data, those preparing the display car. have figured out the best places to make cuts, so the entire car can be disassembled, loaded onto wheeled racks, and transported up to the top in the building's elevators. Once the various sections have made their upward journey, technicians have just six hours to rebuild the car before it goes on display to the general public.
Removal is the reverse of installation, as they might say in a vehicle workshop manual. And less destructive than a gravity-assisted return to street level.
"New York is one of the greatest cities in the world, and it’s the place where the Ford Mustang story began 50 years ago," said Mark Fields, Ford chief operating officer of the World's Fair stunt. "We’re thrilled to be visiting the architectural landmark that has been the heart of the Manhattan skyline for 83 years with the newest generation."
2015 Ford Mustang GT Convertible
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