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Not many automotive models survive from one generation to the next, though some have lasted for many generations before finally being killed off.

Chrysler New Yorker. Chevrolet Caprice. Buick Regal. Cadillac DeVille. The list goes on.

One model that has been around for many years now is the Ford Mustang, the original pony car which defined this segment when it was released in 1964. That very first model spawned a host of competitors including the Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger, recently resurrected models which hit the market over the past few years.

But the Ford Mustang remains the historic favorite, a car that was updated in 2009 and will be updated again in 2014 just in time for its 50th anniversary.

What do you know about the Ford Mustang? Plenty, if you are a diehard enthusiast especially someone well versed in Mustang cars lore. But there are some facts not commonly known to everyone, details worth digging into if you have the time.

To that end, we offer to you our list of Ford Mustang cars fun facts:

* From idea to production, the original Ford Mustang took just eighteen months to build. Most cars take three to four years to go from drawing board to production line. That first car was introduced at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

* The first Mustang cars were built on the platform underpinning the Ford Falcon, which partially explains how Ford was able to get this model out so quickly.

* Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as a 1964 ½ Ford Mustang. The first models built in March 1964 were titled as 1965 Mustang cars.

* The first of two gas crises in the 1970s nearly did in the Ford Mustang. By the early 1970s, Mustang cars were bigger and heavier, but Ford decided to save the car and place it on the Pinto platform, renaming it Mustang II for a time. Though derided by many, more than 400,000 of these smaller pony cars were sold in some years.

* The Ford Mustang II was sold from 1974-1978, before being replaced by an all new model that rode on the same Fox platform that powered the Ford Fairmount. That model soldiered on for fifteen years receiving minor tweaks over time. Since then Mustangs have a ten year life cycle which includes a major midlife-cycle update.

* Mustang cars have always been powered by their rear wheels, but the car nearly switched to front wheel drive in the 1980s. Instead, Ford came out with the Mazda built Probe and sold that car alongside the Mustang for a time.

* Cars are often mentioned in songs, a trait that continues even today. But the Ford Mustang has had several songs dedicated to it including Rolling In My 5.0 by Vanilla Ice, Mustang Ford by T-Rex, and of course the most famous song of all which is Wilson Pickett’s Mustang Sally.

* Sales of Mustang cars today pale in comparison to years past, but the Ford Mustang still attracts a faithful following with 66,000 units sold in 2009, some 3,000 cars more than the Chevy Camaro.

Last but not least, more than nine million Mustang cars have been sold, a testimony to an enduring model whose appeal, though recently diminished, continues to burn in the hearts of Ford Mustang faithful everywhere.