My thoughts are that the shield logos look too much like something from a European exotic.  The quintessential Mustang emblem has always been the galloping horse.  Probably going to be hard to improve on that.  If the goal ois an updated logo them possibly try this:

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/open-road-brands-ford-mustang-round-embossed-tin-sign?cid=Shopping-Google-Product-1324821&gclid=Cj0KCQjww4-hBhCtARIsAC9gR3bXJB6CKo-FbhkQVcW9j3sA0Tl7UCpeAUO9PgiG5yv6kncsHgFvUxwaAsWTEALw_wcB

Replace the words "Ford Mustang" with "Mustang Steve". 
 

orginal logo 

MustangSteve, as written in your original post, has been the name of the company since day one.  That is capital M and S with the rest lower case. No space ever between Mustang and Steve. That is a symbolic statement.  I.e.; nothing comes between Steve and Mustang.  It should be maintained, but I guess if the intent is to put space between Mustang and Steve, those new logos will accomplish it.

When I sold the company, I changed my handle on this forum from MustangSteve to MS to honor the fact that I was no longer representative of the company.  In my opinion, the phony Mustang horse logo that was implemented after the sale is not very impressive. In my opinion, your quest to come up with a new logo needs a lot of work and it would be appreciated if the MS name was not used.  I know I have no say in this matter, but you did ask for opinions.

Fully realizing that you cannot use the Ford version of the running Mustang due to the fact Ford would sue you, there has to be some way to use a horse in a running position without it copying the original or looking wimpy like the one that has been used recently.  None of the current logo examples are original. Orginal logo was just “MustangSteve” as one word.

Change is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to lack taste.

original logo, or as TKO suggested.

Brian, I can see the dark horse one pictured below the M/T tire picture you last posted. Maybe just add the curved Mustang at the top by the ears and the curved Steve down by the nose. (Just my 2 cents.)

Or something like this.

wsinsle wrote:

Big company's put a lot of effort into maintaining a company name and logo. Name recognition is a big selling point. Usually a name change comes with bad publicity.. Kentucky Fried Chicken changed to KFC so fried was not in the name, due to bad publicity of fried foods. I agree with what was said earlier, if it ain't broke don't fix it. 

 
I completely agree.