Mustang Climbs to the Top of the Empire State Building, Again

Ford Motor Co. marked the 50th anniversary of its iconic Mustang sport coupe earlier this morning by putting a bright yellow Mustang convertible on the 86th floor observation deck of New York City's famed Empire State Building.

Ford did the same thing with the original Mustang in 1965, a year after the car debuted. In both cases, the company tapped Detroit-area prototype builder DST Industries Inc. to figure out how to cut up the car, use freight and passenger elevators to get the sections to the deck and reassemble everything.

At more than 1,000 feet above the streets of Manhattan, the open-air deck was too high to reach with a crane. And the building's spires made it too tricky for a helicopter delivery.

The custom Mustang (sans powertrain) sits on a special tubular frame built to support the sections. DST's six-member team had six hours from 2 a.m. when the deck closed to the public to 8 a.m. when it opened again to get the job done.