This is not a story about apple pie.

It’s not a story about Bruce Springsteen songs, which are sometimes about drive-in movies and girls named Wendy.

It’s not a story about Freedom Fries either.

It’s a story about the Ford Mustang, which like the aforementioned Americana has grown on me in the last four years.

See, the Ford Mustang and I have an interesting relationship.

If it weren’t for the Ford Mustang, I would probably be more welcome around folks at the Blue Oval’s headquarters in Dearborn, Mich. However, if it weren’t for the Ford Mustang, I wouldn’t have a racing license.

If it weren’t for the Ford Mustang, I don’t think I’d have a job writing about cars. But because of the 2013 Ford Mustang, I do.

But let’s back away from all that for a moment, and talk about perspective. Context, I feel, is crucial when you’re talking about a car that’s nearly five decades old.

Being born in 1982 doesn’t give me a whole lot of teary-eyed memories about the Ford Mustang’s heritage. In fact, I’d largely like to forget about the Mustangs of my formative years.

The 1980s Mustangs were despondent boxy beasts, in my opinion, with the only salvation being a “five-o” motor that made noises like Rachel Hunter in heat.

In fact, the Mustangs of the Reagan administration were so lost that they very nearly moved the ’Stang to front-wheel drive at one point, which would be akin now to Lady GaGa making a Christian album or Mike Tyson having a show on Broadway. (Wait, that’s actually happening?!)

The point is, the Mustang was nearly dead as disco after revolutionizing a car industry nearly 20 years prior.

Then, in the 1990s, around the time I started murdering road cones on my first driver’s test, Ford introduced the fourth generation Mustang, a pretty curvy pony car that didn’t make me drool — but did make me dribble.

Engine in the front, power in the back doesn’t a great car make, but does for a good start. The Mustang GTs of the 1990s carried over the 5.0-liter V8 — along with its signature “gurble-gurble” — and I still fawn for the car when I see one on the street.

But along with the new body and the super engine, came the problems of a car that was still a remnant of the 1960s, which made it oh-so interesting.

Mustangs have always had a live rear-axle, which, borrowing from a popular car TV show, is like walking around with your shoes tied together. They’ve also never strayed from having a long hood, which makes visibility a challenge, and they’ve never attempted to make the Mustang any more than a muscle car.

It was with that opinion that I drove and cast the 2009 Mustang GT Convertible as anything but likeable.

This is also a story about how wrong I was.

While I’ll stop short of saying that the 2013 Ford Mustang is a perfect car, I feel comfortable saying that the 2013 Mustang is as perfect as a Mustang can be.

Available this year in any number of combinations — think hundreds, not dozens — the bread and butter model remains the most affordable.

Fitted with a 3.7-liter V6, the Mustang Coupe offers over 300 horsepower at around $23,000 and 23 mpg; the latter number being the most important for the Mustang’s viability in the future.

Considering the competition, Camaro and Challenger, the Mustang offers the most bang for the least amount of bucks, while delivering comparable fuel economy to a mid-size sedan.

Our test model, a Mustang Coupe Premium, delivered 23 mpg in hammer-down driving, which the other models struggle to deliver.

Let’s put that figure into further perspective. The 1990s Cobra coupes — the optioned up, testosterone fueled V8s that I lusted after — carried the same amount of horsepower, in a heavier car with far fewer miles per gallon. Going even further back, the 2013 base Mustang has almost twice the ponies of the 1980s “five-o” models and looks like Rachel Hunter instead of just sounding like her.

I think I’m starting to get it.

Compared with its contemporary models of only a few short years ago — including the one that nearly got me black balled from Ford — the suspension is light years ahead as well.

Although Ford kept the live axle in the back, the suspension isn’t nearly as hard as it once was. Mitigated by coil springs and kept in place by a Panhard rod forged by magic, the Mustang is forgiving on the road and composed in the twisty stuff.

Sitting in the Mustang isn’t an exercise in futility either.

Although the Mustang I drove in driving school — a hollowed-out Mustang FR500S with roll cage and no sound-deadening material — was my first foray in real racing cars, I could swear it was comparable to the spartan Mustangs I was used to from the factory.

Our test model came with leather-trimmed sport seats, a 6-way power driver’s seat and air conditioning that could cool down a meat locker.

I’d say things have changed.

Mash on the throttle and the V6 Mustang will charge up to 60 mph in under 6 seconds. Back off to let the 6-speed automatic catch up and drivers will be rewarded with a splash of fun with modest fuel economy as a chaser.

Is it flawless?

No. But the 2013 Mustang is now showing the sensibility that a car nearly 50 years in the making should have.

Reach editor Aaron Cole at 303-750-7555 or at acole@aurorasentinel.com