The Ford T5 Was Mustang’s ‘Royale With Cheese’ Moment
Another brand had the right to the Mustang name in Germany so Ford called its pony car the T5
by Chris Chilton
2 hours ago
by Chris Chilton
“You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?”
In Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 movie Pulp Fiction, John Travolta is schooling Samuel L Jackson in the difference between Europe and America when the talk turns to burgers. Travolta’s Vincent explains that the metric-loving French wouldn’t know what a quarter pounder was, so McDonalds calls it the ‘Royale with Cheese.’
But it wasn’t the imperial-metric divide that caused problems for Ford when it wanted to sell its original Mustang in Germany in the mid 1960s. It was that age-old problem of another company owning the rights to the name. Ford couldn’t legally call its pony car ‘Mustang’ there because the name was trademarked by Krupp, who was using it on big trucks.
According to Mustang Maniac Krupp offered Ford the chance to use the name for $10,000, but the Blue Oval suits refused. Instead, they decided to sell the…
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