Mustang Concepts

In 1962, Ford Division General Manager and Vice President Lee Iacocca staged a design competition among the three Ford corporate studios for the Sporty Ford Car Project. This was the winning entry—Ford Cougar from the Oros/Ash/Halderman Ford studio. Ford Cougar was hands down the winning subject that ultimately won the hearts of millions.

Here’s the Allegro fastback, which bears a striking resemblance to the Valiant-based Plymouth Barracuda, which arrived around the same time as Mustang early in 1964. Allegro never got the nod from Ford brass in any form.

By April 23, 1964, Mustang had already taken the world by storm. However, Ford product planners and stylists were already looking ahead to how the Mustang could be more varied to meet the needs and wants of more buyers. Enter this Mustang two-seat concept clay, which was a sexy slider with its slippery roofline and shorter wheelbase. Ford would learn, much as it did in the ’50s with the Thunderbird, that the two-seat market was very limited and dominated by Chevy’s Corvette and European entries, like the Jaguar, MG, Austin, and a host of others.

Ford Avventura was yet another sporty short-deck/long-nose entry that eventually became known as Allegro. Although Avventura was a sporty car that could have been easily mass produced, it was not a practical car for a volume market. The Avventura/Allegro was basically a two-seater for all intents and purposes with room for perhaps one person in back with an aft-facing seat. Iacocca was seeking a volume car with room for four.

The Ford Allegro concept kept evolving throughout the ’60s. This is the ’67 Allegro II—Ford’s continuing effort to get into to the Corvette/European-dominated two-seat sports car market. Like every other Ford two-seat concept car project, Allegro quietly faded away.

Ford’s Shelby-inspired Cougar II two-seat concept was another whack at the sports car market with a powerful V-8 and lightweight body. Ford management said no.

Two-seater Mustangs, station wagons, and yes four-doors early in 1963. We’re glad this one never made it.

Mach 1 debuted at the Detroit Auto Show late in 1966 before the press and excited onlookers. This car went through a number of minor changes before and after going public. It is unknown whatever happened to this car, but we suspect it was destroyed.

Here’s an early fastback clay with the words “Cougar Torino” in script. Chief Ford stylists Joe Oros and Dave Ash wanted the Cougar name badly, affixing it to every styling clay they could and even driveable prototypes. In the end “Mustang” won the toss.

Here’s a well-dressed “Torino” fastback clay with quad exhausts, full width taillights, a fuel filler door, and really snazzy full wheel covers. None of these cool mods made it.

This seating buck demonstrates what might have been, like the large-speedometer five-dial instrument cluster, stainless dash pad molding, and those flat pedals trimmed out in stainless. Not wild about the plastic-chromed brake handle.

The slippery swoopy Mustang Milano bears some resemblance to Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Barracuda for 1970-1974. Note the Shelby-esque elongated front end. Inside, it’s the ’69-’70 Mustang with wild colors we wish had made it.

Here are the three-element ’66 taillights and pop-open gas cap up close. A longtime friend of ours in Detroit, Chris Richardson, found a set of these prototype taillights at a Dearborn garage sale—one of them with styling clay still on them.

We’ve spent a lot of time here at Mustang Monthly trying to figure out what this is and you know we still don’t know? It is a ’65 Mustang fastback with a high roofline and a bizarre winged component apparently designed for great TV reception. Check out the body plug in the fender where the radio antenna would normally go. We’re glad this one didn’t make it.

An array of fireplace mantle art for the family room—shifter handles—most of which didn’t make it—thank goodness.

This is the Bertone Mustang concept car commissioned by Automobile Quarterly in 1964. Another styling exercise where they thought they could improve on Mustang. This was a Dearborn Assembly Plant produced 289 High-Performance “K” car bucked late in 1964 and shipped across the Atlantic to Bertone in Italy for this styling exercise. It came to New York for the auto show in 1965 and was shipped back to Italy and hasn’t been seen since.

If you believe independent rear suspension arrived in the SVT Mustang Cobra, you’re off by approximately 35 years. Ford built three IRS engineering mules in 1964, which were consecutively numbered and built for Ford’s use. IRS was deemed too expensive and the three cars were destroyed. However, Shelby American built at least one IRS car as a development mule. IRS was considered an expensive option at $200 and Shelby dropped the project. Last we heard from the owner in 1986, the car was in Portland, Oregon. (That looks EXACTLY like a Corvette C2 Independent suspension to me—Gary)

Here’s one of many ’67 Mustang concept clays considered early in 1965. Those seemingly functional side scoops would have been nice. And then there’s that pesky issue called cost. These cool styling nuances never made it.

A buddy of ours who is retired from Ford, Jim Gillespie, has a set of ’67 full wheel covers with spinners, which never went into production due to changes in federal vehicle safety laws. At least one set survives.

Check this out—the ’74 Mustang II Sportina for those who wanted to live life on the wild side. It was another two-seat Mustang endeavor that never saw production.

As you may have guessed this is a ’71 Mustang styling concept that never made it. As we understand it from Ford insiders who were there at the time, this is basically the Mustang styling clay Ford President Semon E. “Bunkie” Knudsen approved for 1971, though this has never been confirmed officially.

As frustrated Mustang enthusiasts who wish we had our hands on the throttle at Ford, it is our wish Ford had done one of these—a Mustang station wagon. Fifty years later, we still want one. You get a hint of what was coming for 1969 with the small pseudo brake-cooling scoop in the high-shoulder quarter-panel. In our simple minds a Mustang wagon was a no brainer. Just do it, Ford.

As Mustang enthusiasts, we’re always enthralled with intriguing ideas and concepts that never made production, but fuel the imagination. Unfortunately, a good many of these ideas are canned by financial and management types who perceive they’re something no one wants. In the end, it boils down to the decision makers with very little of it rooted in what car enthusiasts want. And in the end, it has to be something that automakers believe will sell, which often brings down the curtain on what excites our senses. And yet just imagine: what if Henry Ford II had said no to Mustang—which was in itself a styling and marketing experiment?

This is the 1966 Mustang Skyliner 2+2 retractable that didn’t happen. Former Ford stylist Ben Smith conceived this idea for a Mustang retractable with a manual roof that folded into the trunk. Seemed like a great idea for those who wanted the benefits of a convertible and a hardtop in one. He presented the idea to Lee Iacocca who didn’t care for the idea. Ben went on vacation after Iacocca viewed this concept. When he returned, the car was gone without a trace. Later on in the ’90s, Smith conceived a classic Mustang retractable kit, which is available from Mustangs Plus in Stockton, California.