The Mustang II gets unfair treatment in this hobby. Yes, it was smaller than its predecessor. Yes, the Cobra II and King Cobra with their graphics packages were more show than go. Yes, the available engines were strangled by emissions requirements.

But the Mustang II was exactly the right car for 1974. The fuel crisis had just happened. The market had shifted dramatically. Ford needed to sell Mustangs and the people buying cars in 1974 weren't buying 428 Cobra Jets — they were buying fuel-efficient, practical transportation.

The Mustang II survived the worst era in American automotive history and kept the nameplate alive for the Fox body cars that followed. It deserves credit for that, not mockery.