TBT: How Walt Disney’s Wild Ride Helped Launch Mustang

Just as the Ford Mustang was hitting the market, Ford was making sure the now-iconic car – already the subject of a massive marketing campaign – would be front and center for tens of millions of attendees of the 1964-65 World’s Fair in New York City. And the man who helped present Mustang to the masses of fairgoers was none other than Walt Disney himself. 

Disney brought the same imagination to Ford’s pavilion and Magic Skyway ride that had made his Disneyland one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world in just eight years. Disneyland had serviced more than 400 million riders in its eight years of operation and Mustang, as well as other Ford-built vehicles, would carry millions of fairgoers through an elaborate display of past, present and future over the span of the fair’s two calendar years. 

Ford’s history of participating in World’s Fairs dates back to 1904, when the company was just one year old. Its seven-acre exhibit at Flushing Meadow Park was three years in the making. And while Disney created and designed all of the exhibits and entertainment features in Ford’s Wonder Rotunda, the Ford exhibit building was designed by Welton Becket, an internationally known architect. When completed, Ford’s pavilion was seven stories tall and extended nearly 300 yards wide. Land rental for the two-year period of the fair alone was said to cost nearly $2.5 million in 1963 dollars.

The exhibits included the Magic Skyway, spanning millions of years in just minutes, with passengers tuning into the radio to hear the trip’s narration. The 12-minute ride included approximately 150 new Ford-built convertibles such as Falcon, Thunderbird, Mercury Comet and Lincoln Continental convertibles along two near mile-long tracks. The engine-less propulsion system utilized 1,200 electric motors to carry the cars through glass tube-like tunnels offering a view of the fairgrounds. Also, the steering and braking of the cars was performed electronically.

The ride, which spanned from prehistoric to the futuristic, traveled at just 5 mph (though seatbelt use was encouraged), and like the Mustang itself, the Magic Skyway was immensely popular. Ridership improved by nearly one million riders in its second year to more than 7.5 million in 1965.

A special preview event was held days prior to Mustang’s big reveal on April 17, 1964, for some 1,500 members of the local and national media, hosted by Ford executives including Henry Ford II and Walt Disney, among others, to experience the Ford pavilion and the new ride. 

The Ford Pavilion, which featured a rotunda-shaped entrance reminiscent of the famed Ford landmark which had been destroyed by fire just two years earlier, also included authentic, 30-foot-wide miniature villages of 11 nations in what was called the International Gardens. The exhibition also recalled Ford’s early history with Disney’s Magic Mirror which reflected countless Model Ts, and a display of Henry Ford’s first vehicle from 1896, the Quadracycle. Also available for examination were the company’s winning race cars of that era and concept vehicles such as Allegro, Cougar II and Aurora. Guests were serenaded by an “Auto Parts Harmonic Orchestra.” 

The Ford Pavilion saw nearly 15 million visitors over the course of its two-year run, with some of the world’s most prominent celebrities, actors, politicians, and athletes visiting in 1964 including civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., actress and singer Barbara Streisand, actor Paul Newman, baseball great Roger Maris, singer Tony Bennett, and former U.S. Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower. 

More recently, one of the dozen Mustang convertibles used in the Magic Skyway made a splash at Disney’s biannual fan event, D23. The vehicle on display is owned by a Texas-based Ford dealer and its loan and transportation for the event was facilitated by Ford’s Archives team. Also, Ford Archives and Heritage Brand Manager Ted Ryan spoke about the Ford-Disney collaboration from the 1960s and Mustang’s 60-year history during a panel discussion. The Mustang display was part of a larger Disney archives exhibit of more than 30 vehicles which focused on cars in the company’s collection that had been used in films. The three-day event drew more than 75,000 visitors. 

The partnership between Ford and Disney in 1964 proved to be a winning formula, captivating millions and helping introduce Mustang to the world. While the Magic Skyway may have been a temporary spectacle, the spirit of collaboration and Mustang’s enduring appeal continue to resonate.

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