Throwback Thursday: Good Ol' Wiring Diagrams

Throwback Thursday: Good Old Wiring Diagrams

Last week we did a poll to discover what you think about the Ford Mustang. The six generations of the Mustang cover a lot of history, starting in 1964 when the first one was introduced, and continuing through 2015 — the 50th anniversary of the Mustang!

While I was poking around for Mustang lore for the poll, I turned to the Vintage module inside ProDemand and found some wiring diagrams for the 1964 Mustang 6 and V8 engines (see below and click images to enlarge). These two diagrams covered the entire vehicle and were all you needed to work on the Mustang. No kidding.

Yes, times were simpler in 1964. Back then, Mitchell 1 was a very busy and successful book publishing company, printing its best-selling Mitchell Repair Manuals. That year, Sony introduced the first VCR home video recorder, Hasbro launched the G.I. Joe action figure, and the Sharpie marker made its debut. The average yearly income was $5,880, a gallon of gas cost 30-cents and a 1st class postage stamp was 5-cents. And does anyone remember BASIC (Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code)? Yup, it was introduced in 1964.

Now, to put the 1964 Mustang wiring diagrams in perspective, compare the two diagrams above to the diagram below for the power seat in a 2013 Mustang — something that didn’t even exist in the 1964 model. And this power seat diagram is just one of approximately 60 pages of diagrams for this one model alone!

All these Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) color wiring diagrams can now be found with a quick search in ProDemand. And you can zoom in on the most intricate diagrams with no loss in clarity and  select individual circuits to highlight, isolate, and then print in full color. And the diagrams are consistent in style across all OEMs, so it’s easy to read any diagram for any vehicle in the database without having to know how different OEMS display their diagrams.

The simplicity of the 60’s may be gone, but at least finding the wiring diagram in your favorite Mustang is still simple.

Click to take our poll: What’s your favorite Ford Mustang?

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About the Author

Gary Hixson

Gary Hixson is a Sr. Market Manager at Mitchell 1, and is responsible for product and market management of the Repair Information product line. Most recently he managed the release of ProDemand™, the industry-leading repair, diagnostic and maintenance information system.