Back in 1913, when Michigan car-maker Henry Ford, who founded Ford Motors – which now has 10,717 dealerships all over the country – started manufacturing his revolutionary Model T on an assembly line, he famously said that customers could have their new car in any colour they wanted – as long as it was black. Fast forward just over a century, and I’m staring at the sensuous contours of a 2015 model Ford Mustang GT in a strident shade of neon yellow.

To say it’s a head-turner would be an understatement. Sitting in the parking lot next to Ford HQ in the small suburb of Dearborn, 20 minutes from Detroit, it sticks out like an exotic bird in a field of pigeons, attracting a flock of passing visitors, eager to take pictures on their phones. It’s low slung, sleek and sexy, “like a cat waiting to pounce,” says Mustang’s chief designer Doyle Letson.

Since 1964, this beautiful piece of automotive engineering has etched its way into popular culture, from its very first big screen appearance as the car driven by Tilly Masterson, sister of Jill – who met a nasty, gold-sprayed end – in Goldfinger (1964), to Will Smith’s lone companion in I am Legend (2007). But the incarnation most people remember, and revere, is the 1968 Mustang Fastback GT 390 which actor Steve McQueen handled so effortlessly as detective Frank Bullitt in classic crime movie Bullitt (1968), showcasing its curves – and its stamina – in a thrilling ten-minute chase scene around the steep hills of San Francisco.

“Seeing that car flying through the streets, McQueen at the wheel – it captured the essence of being a rebel,” Letson tells me.

Of the car’s enduring popularity, he says, “I guess some people want to feel part of them still is rebellious, even if they wear a suit from Monday to Friday.” Letson, like many Americans, fell in love with the Mustang thanks to a member of his family.

“The first one I ever saw belonged to my uncle,” he reminisces. “He had a beautiful, bright red 1967 model. I was 17 at the time and I loved its design. He’d say to me, ‘Save your money, kid.’ And I did – I bought my first one, second-hand, when I was 23.” Now Letson is doing his dream job, designing the Mustang’s modern incarnations, still aiming to convey the sense of power and style of the original.

That very first Mustang was the brainchild of Lee Iacocca, then the Ford Motor Company’s vice-president. Henry Ford had died in 1947, leaving his grandson, Henry Ford II, in charge of the company. Iacocca presented him with his vision for a ‘youth’ car. “He wanted to build something for the baby boomers who’d been born in the 1940s,” explains Matt Anderson, curator of transportation at the Henry Ford museum, also in Dearborn. “He wanted something that looked sporty, but was still practical.” The origin of the name is steeped in legend, with some sources suggesting it was so-called after the American WWI fighter plane, and others that it was after a horse – the racing pony symbol suggests the latter, of course.

The original had four seats and a decent sized boot, like so many of the family cars on the market, but with the look of a faster and sportier car. “The pony badge was adopted from the Maserati, which had a trident on the front,” says Anderson, “and it had a hexagonal, egg-crate grille, lifted from the Ferrari GT. Chrome scoops on the back looked like the cooling vents on a race car, and you could choose your accessories – from the colour of the interior, to whether you wanted it as a convertible or coupé.”

It was the first car to be an extension of the customer’s lifestyle and, in turn, it sold like those proverbial hotcakes. “Ford expected to sell 85,000 of them that first year; they sold 600,000,” says Anderson (to date, more than nine million have been sold worldwide). And so America became a country where people started to drive for pleasure and thrills, rather than just to get from A to B.

It was the first car to be an extension of the customer’s lifestyle and it sold like those proverbial hotcakes

The 2015 model is arguably the best looking to come from the marque since the early 1970s. Its exterior has many of the features sported by the original, which first rolled off the production line in March 1964 (although 1965 is officially its ‘model year’): the tri-bar tail lamps, hexagonal front grille, forward-leaning ‘shark-bite’ nose. Inside, the cockpit is aviation-inspired, with two large analogue gauges and the galloping pony badge at the centre of the steering wheel.

Its top speed is predictably limited to 155mph, while the five-litre V8 engine produces a not insubstantial 435bhp. As I press its ignition button, the engine roars into life. I have a feeling it’s not going to thank me for keeping to the 40mph speed limit imposed on the streets around Ford HQ, and every time I change up a gear, I can feel it straining to go faster. When I head up a short stretch of dual carriageway, it starts to purr with satisfaction, despite the fact I’m only taking it to a slightly pitiful 55mph.

It was time to take it on the open road. First stop: central Detroit, the city that thrives – or barely survives – depending on the fortunes of the automotive industry. By the 1970s, when Japanese exports were giving the US makes like Chrysler, Buick and Dodge – all Detroit-based brands – a pounding, the city’s population shrank from nearly two million to around 750,000. It even declared itself bankrupt last year; but there are signs that the original Motor City is coming back to life.

For starters, the hipsters are moving in, thanks to low commercial and residential rents, bringing chic boutiques (like shiny lifestyle brand Shinola, which has just launched in London) and cool bars to up-and-coming neighbourhoods like Shoreditch-esque Corktown and buzzy Greektown. You can even pick up an abandoned, multi-bedroomed mansion via auction for around $1,000, as the city is trying to attract new families, and clean up abandoned sites. But there is lots of culture to see, both old and not so old – from the soulful Motown Museum, to the expansive Detroit Institute of the Arts, whose collection features everything from Van Gogh to Warhol. Newly-built casinos are also trying to attract visitors, such as the luxury MGM Grand, which opened in 2007.

But getting out onto the open road is – as several generations of Americans know – the main point of having a car, and after three fun nights in Detroit, I get my motor running, and head a few hours’ north to the pretty coastal towns by the Great Lakes, known as The Hamptons of Michigan.

The Mustang is a GT in the truest sense – it’s a big car for a big drive. There are more hardcore versions to come, but the initial V8 offering is a surprisingly refined affair, with a silky smooth transmission. Yes, you can get a proper manual if you’re, well, manly enough. But I’m more than happy to sit back and let my little pony do all the hard work.

The 2015 model makes history: it’s the first Mustang to be offered as a right-hand drive

Although I’m in the US, so it’s irrelevant right now, the 2015 model is the first Mustang ever to be offered as a right-hand drive. The UK versions will come with a choice of either the V8 engine or an EcoBoost engine for lower emissions. The Price starts at £28,995 for the EcoBoost, or around £32,995 for the V8.

Or, if you can cope with a lefty, then try and get hold of one of the 1,964 limited edition 50th anniversary models. These come with luxury features like cashmere and leather seats, seatback logos, chrome trim and a numbered plaque, and in either Wimbledon White – the same colour as the very first version – or Kona Blue. Most are already pre-sold, but if you have the patience to search through various US car dealerships, you might find one.

Back in Michigam, I arrive in the Great Lakes’ unofficial capital, Traverse City, a quaint little town comprising traditional, elegant, clapboard houses, perched on the Grand Traverse Bay, which fringes Lake Michigan.

As it’s next to a peninsula, the surrounding countryside boasts a mix of beautiful beaches, forests, sand dunes and award-winning vineyards, which looks particularly impressive during autumn, when the leaves are a fiery mix of orange, red and yellow. It’s a paradise for walkers, as there are dozens of hiking trails, as well as for beer drinkers – craft beers are made locally (try the Jolly Pumpkin pub, 13513 Peninsula Drive, which has its own brewery).

Even all the way up here, Henry Ford’s influence still lingers; he once owned the 200-acre Power Island, in the middle of the Bay, where you can hike, swim or kayak. It’s thrilling to know that on this epic trip I have been following in the great man’s footsteps – or, more realistically, his tire-treads.

For more info on the Ford Mustang, visit ford.com