On July 9, 1973, the last Mustang convertible rolled off the Ford assembly line at the Rouge River plant in Dearborn, Michigan. With the debut of the ’74 Mustang II, Mustangs would be available only as a notchback or hatchback.

In 1976, Cadillac discontinued the only convertible still being sold in the United States. Of course, various coachbuilders were producing one-off conversions, but no U.S. car manufacturer would offer a drop-top for the rest of the decade. Second-generation Mustangs were never made available for sale by Ford as convertibles.

Early in the ’80s, car companies took notice of the pent-up demand of the American public for convertibles. Although T-tops and sunroofs/moonroofs were good sellers, they were no match for the wide-open feel of a convertible. Mustang jumped back in after a 10-year dearth, and sales exploded. More than 23,000 ’83 Mustangs were ordered in the convertible body style. One out of every five Mustangs sold that year was a convertible. Ford had never seen such a high percentage of Mustang sales be attributable to the convertible. First-generation Mustangs typically hovered around 10 percent of total sales. That year, Fox Mustangs sold at double that rate.

Even more remarkable were the economics involved. When the Mustang debuted in 1964, a hardtop cost $2,345. The convertible stickered at $2,587, a mere 10 percent more than the hardtop. When the ’83 Mustang was sold, the GLX sedan model, from which the convertible was based, cost $7,398. The GLX convertible invoiced for $12,467 — a huge 68 percent increase. That’s a testament to how strong the buying public’s desire was to own a convertible.

Ford didn’t stop there, though. The year 1982 had seen the reintroduction of the Mustang GT. On May 11, 1983, a Mustang GT convertible rolled off the Dearborn assembly line. It was ordered by McCafferty Ford in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. But it would not be the first one sold. That distinction took place on May 27, 1983, at Bill Brown Ford in Livonia, Michigan. It was a beautiful black steed that no doubt turned heads turned as it roared by.

Usually, the color red and the phrase “Mustang convertible” go hand in hand. Going to a car show or looking at the Mustang convertibles for sale on eBay, one would almost believe every Mustang was red. To most people’s surprise, red was not the most popular color of first-generation Mustangs. But for convertibles, year after year, it was. Typically accounting for 12-15 percent, Candyapple Red and Bright Red were favorites.

When convertible production resumed in 1983, people said, “Color me red,” too. But the tale was more so true than before. Now, 25 percent of Mustang convertibles were wearing red. Red was still ahead, but white was right behind, another significant change from the past where it typically hovered in fourth or fifth place.

Of course, it could be argued that it was to be expected that a large percent of the Mustangs ordered would be able to go topless. After all, 10 years without a convertible model meant there were few to choose from if you wanted the open-air feeling. And most of them had rolled over the odometer already. Yet, after the ’84 model year was closed, convertible production was still strong and around the 10-percent mark, besting the first-generation Mustangs. This trend continued through 1985 and 1986.

A little scorekeeping is in order. By 1986, Fox Mustang convertible production had reached 78,000 units. Those four years saw more convertible sales than the six years of Mustang convertible sales for model years 1968-1973. The Corvette hadn’t been available as a convertible since 1975. Chevrolet brought back the convertible for 1986. They produced 7,315 of them. The Chrysler Corporation made good inroads with convertible versions of their Chrysler LeBaron and the Dodge 600. But the ’86 LeBaron couldn’t crack the 20,000-unit ceiling, and the Dodge 600 (so named to invoke a Mercedes-like sense) barely reached 16,000. The Ford Mustang sales stampeded the competition in this market segment year after year. In 1986, Ford produced 22,945 convertibles, nearly equaling their Fox Mustang debut year. GT sales accounted for almost 10,000 of these.

Ford did have competition coming from its sister company, Mercury, during this period. From 1984 to 1986, Mercury Capris were available at your local Lincoln-Mercury dealer. These Capri convertibles were really roadsters as there was no back seat. Built by ASC/McLaren, they were never serious competitors to their Mustang cousins. A handful over 500 of these Capris were converted over the three years, with 1986 being the last year the Fox-body Capri was available. With the end of the Capri line came the end of the ASC/McLaren Capris, but they would soon be replaced by ’87 McLaren Mustang convertibles.

We’ll stop our analysis with the ’86 Mustang convertible production. A future visit to the Aero Fox convertible will be in order, with its own special story.