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Mustang Genesis - the Mustang history book we've been waiting for, is finally here. Retired United Airlines Captain Bob Fria, affectionately known to me as Captain Bob, has finally penned out his long awaited Mustang Genesis book, now available from McFarland & Company Publishers. To fully understand Mustang Genesis, you really have to sit down and read it thoroughly. It is an excellent book worth the investment because it gets not only into the Mustang's development history, but Ford Motor Company's rich background leading up to Mustang in the 1960s. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading Fria's book and plan to go back and read it again. It is loaded with new information not to mention images a lot of us have never seen before.   Mustang Genesis begins with Bob's own background as a military and commercial pilot and how it runs parallel with the Mustang's history. When Captain Fria was cutting his teeth as a junior pilot along the front range of the Rocky Mountains in his native Colorado, Ford was teasing the public with Mustang. Mustang left a deep impression on Bob from the beginning, leading up to ownership later on in his career, ultimately leading to the stewardship of 5F07U100002, the first production Mustang hardtop, which sits in his garage.  It was Bob's love of these extraordinary mass production sporty cars for the masses that inspired him to learn everything he could about them. His research is unequaled. Fria has spoken with and/or researched everyone involved with the Mustang's development - Lee Iacocca, Robert McNamera, Hal Sperlich, Gale Halderman, Frank Zimmerman, Don Frey, Walter Murphy, Sidney Olson, Robert Eggert, Chase Morsey, Jacque Passino, Gene Bordinat, Herb Misch, John Bowers, Joe Oros, Roy Lunn, John Najjar, Dave Ash, Robert Negstad, George Walker, and Phil Clark. These gentlemen contributed to the Mustang's great success one way or another. Of the many distinguished people just mentioned, Fria has cultivated a friendship with Lee Iacocca, who was the rocket fuel behind the Mustang's great success.  Without Iacocca's persistence, Mustang would never have happened because not many people were willing to keep taking this idea back to Henry Ford II. Iacocca did, placing his career and reputation on the line to get this world-changing concept into production. Imagine - in an era of stodgy sedans and mundane economy cars, Iacocca spearheaded a fresh concept - an affordable sporty four-place automobile no one could compete with at the time. The rest is surely history, and this is what Mustang Genesis is about. It details how Mustang went to market in great detail like no other book ever has.
Fria wrote this book with the same zest he put into his 100002 car - an extensive restoration project that took years to accomplish. In fact, Fria's base sticker price hardtop is what inspired him to write Mustang Genesis because there were so many questions he had about his car he couldn't answer. As Bob waded into the dark, murky waters of a deep and distant past nearly 50 years gone involving a great American icon, he managed to find answers a lot of us historians never had any success finding. Bob went right to the source - people who were there to see it all unfold first hand. He also spent untold time digging until he found valuable information he could use. The result is this incredible book we're confident you will enjoy reading and rereading.
For more information on how to get your copy of Mustang Genesis by Robert A. Fria, contact McFarland & Company Publishers at www.mcfarlandpub.com or write to them at P.O. Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640.
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