One of the best car releases outside of the Brian Wilson, Gary Usher, Jan Berry, and Terry Melcher realm is the Zip-Codes' Mustang!. A studio project spear-headed by Gary Paxton, this album was created to take advantage of the buzz surrounding the new Ford Mustang. Musicians included; Buzz Cason, Ron Hicklin, Al Capp, Sonny Curtis, and Leon Russell. As with many of Paxton's other projects of the time, Mustang! doesn't always take itself too seriously and in addition to some excellent surf/hot rod moments, makes sure to leave room for some humor along the way. 

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'Fancy Little Filly from Detroit' is a strong opener with a thin falsetto. 'Wild Wild Mustang' is a rocking little car-themed tune complete with a hefty mouthful of auto jargon presumably taken from Ford promotional material. 'Super Fine 289' is another solid number that could've easily warranted a single release. The first of two instrumentals, 'Red Line', is an impeccably well-crafted surf tune. On the surface, 'Wild Wild Woodie' is innocent enough, but the maniacal 'Surfin-Bird'-like voice and some (ahem) obvious double-entendres sprinkled in make this non-Ford-related song kind of taints any charm the song might have. 'Dear Mr. Henry Ford' is a hokey spoken-word letter directed to the founder of the Ford Motor Company. It does boast some nice harmonies, though. The album's only single release (written by 'Hey Little Cobra' writer Carol Conners), 'Run Little Mustang', proves to be an enjoyable surf hot rod rocker underneath its' blatant Ford advertising. It appears that the songwriters may have begun to run low on Mustang-related material by the time they wrote oddly titled, yet well executed, 'Classy Lotus Chassis'. 'Speed Shift' is a mediocre number that details an auto race with a twist ending. Perhaps a loose Ford connection to the ubiquitous 'Three-Window Coupe' was what inspired this Jan & Dean song to be included despite it not having anything to do with Mustangs or Pony-Cars. 'Rally Pack' is the album's second instrumental and would've been a good track if it hadn't been for the terrible twin-kazoo solo. 'Mustang Rumble' is anything but a 'rumble' and features a spoken conversation between a high-society jock in a new Mustang and a low-brow hillbilly driving a Model A.

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Mustang! is an extremely enjoyable album - especially if you're looking for something outside of the usual sphere of influence.