Category: Ford Mustang

The Pony Express Ford’s Mid-engine Mustang – The Real Back Story – Michael Lamm @TheAutoChannel

The Pony Express Ford’s Mid-engine Mustang – The Real Back Story – Michael Lamm @TheAutoChannel

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Author Michael Lamm recounts the development of Ford’s 196 Mustang the first mid-engine throust toward Total Performance.

People have tried for years to weave a connection between the Ford Mustang I-the knee-high 2-seater in which Dan Gurney lapped Watkins Glen in 1962-and the production Mustang that came out in May 1964.

Well, forget it. There ain’t no connection, or at best precious little. Other than the name, the horsey emblem, and the side scoops, the Mustang I didn’t contribute to the production car in any rational way. The little Mustang I did lead Ford into the GT40 program, though, and was emblematic of a performance and marketing bonanza that soon became known as Total Performance.

The Mustang I was created, it turns out, as an early component of Ford’s Total Performance buildup. According to retired Ford engineer Robert D. Negstad, who worked on the Mustang I and was later part of the team that developed the 7-liter Shelby Cobra, “The people who came out of (the Mustang I group) went on to win Le Mans…. They learned their craft and their skills in that Mustang I project. It was a labor of love….”

Horse of a Different Color

To begin at the beginning, around 1960 a Ford product planner named Don Frey became disturbed that the company was losing its performance image, especially among younger buyers. Hotrodders had given up the flathead Ford V8 in favor of smallblock Chevys and Chrysler Hemis. Sports-car enthusiasts were buying imports and Corvettes. Ford was becoming an old-maid car company.

So Frey expressed his concern to Robert S. McNamara, Ford’s car and truck VP, and to Henry Ford II, the company president. Frey also rallied a number of other Ford executives, key among them vice presidents Gene Bordinat (design) and Herb Misch (engineering). Frey’s message, in effect, was “Hey, fellas, we’ve got a marketing problem. Let’s do something to polish up Ford’s styling and performance

Designer Bordinat immediately got busy. Ford’s studios were turning out an armada of showcars-as many as one a week, most of them fiberglass rollers minus powertrains. Often these projects came in response to design competitions routinely held among Ford’s various studios. But for a competition in January 1962, Bordinat asked his styling chiefs to submit concepts for something new: a small, no-holds-barred sports car.

One of the designers was John Najjar, now retired after a career with Ford going back to the late ’30s. “We had a studio under Bob Maguire,” Najjar explains, “and in it were Jim Darden, Ray Smith, plus an artist, Phil Clark, several modelers, and me. We drew up a 2-seater sports car in competition with the other studios, and when they saw ours-saw the blackboard with a full-sized layout and sketches- they said, ‘That’s it! Let’s build it.’ So we made a clay model, designed the details, and then built a fiberglass prototype.” This car was simply a concept study rather than the final configuration, but it included a lot of the sporty, rakish flair the later showcar embodied.

With the performance kettle starting to simmer in Dearborn, VP of Design Bordinat decided to take this 2-seat concept further and build it into a showable prototype. To that end he invited his opposite number in engineering, Herb Misch, to come over and take a look.

Misch got excited as well, and he selected a special-projects wizard named Roy Lunn to head up the creation of a complete prototype. Lunn would act as liaison between the styling and engineering sides and oversee the building of the car.

By now it was early May of ’62, and the car had even earned a name: Mustang, suggested by John Najjar. Ford insiders actually referred to it as the Mustang Sports Car, and it wasn’t until the 4-place 1963 Mustang II concept car came out that people began calling the 2-seater Mustang I retroactively.

The Mustang I advanced quickly from concept sketches to package drawings conforming with the engineering specifications that were being laid down simultaneously. Najjar recalls that his studio’s full-sized drawings contained the suggestion of a tubular spaceframe, and Ray Smith, the studio engineer, added the popup headlights, retractable license plate, fixed seats, and adjustable-reach steering and pedals.

Fueled primarily on enthusiasm-the budget for the project being virtually nonexistent-in short order Ford had a fiberglass prototype of their 2-seat sports car. Initially no one knew whether the prototype would be developed into a runner or not, but by mid-summer Misch and Bordinat decided that in either case they wanted to display the car at the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen on 7 October 1962.

At that point the project still had no budget and only the fuzziest of goals: to show up at Watkins Glen on race day. But on that goal alone Roy Lunn quickly assembled a team and dedicated them to building a finished showcar in the remarkable time of just 100 working days.

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Prototype Mustang built for Henry Ford II: See what makes it so UNIQUE | Barn Find Hunter – Hagerty Media

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Tom Cotter has shifted gears for the latest episode of Barn Find Hunter, leaving dusty sheds and rusty sheetmetal in favor of a tour of Detroit landmarks and some noteworthy cars that were designed, engineered, and built in and around the Motor City. His first vehicular deep dive is a look into the history of a very special 1965 Mustang that was built for and owned by Henry Ford II.

The car in question has been owned by Art Cairo, a longtime Ford employee who bought the unique pony car 45 years ago for just $500. Cairo had the car restored and replaced any rotted sheetmetal with new-old stock that he went to great length and expense to track down, making sure that this piece of history is still all Ford.

Cairo shows Tom some of the unique details that set this coupe apart from the millions of other Mustangs built in the ’60s. Perhaps most apparent is the leather interior, which wasn’t offered on early Mustangs. The door jamb also reveals chrome door strikers and a nicely finished seam where the jamb meets the quarter panel rather than a clear overlap and spot welds.

There are also several less-obvious, telltale signs that this wasn’t a run-of-the-mill pony car. For example, the back of the instrument cluster has “Henry Ford’s car” hand-written in marker and there’s a scatter shield bolted to the transmission tunnel. Under the hood is a high-performance K-code 289-cubic-inch V-8 that was not available on early 1965 Mustangs.

This car is just the first of many that Tom will highlight on his special trip through Detroit, so make sure to subscribe to Hagerty’s YouTube channel so you don’t miss any of the hidden gems of Motor City history.

TOUR: Jeff Catlin’s MUSTANG Collection!! 

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Text from Timeless Muscle Magazine story here

We love watching clips of personal car collections, barn finds, project car rescues and those that show personalities buying and flipping cars. Some of those most famous for doing so are Richard Rawlings, Dennis Collins and their friend, Trans Am guru, Dave Hall of Restore a Muscle Car.

Today, we ran across this latest video from Dennis Collins, who is most known for his expertise in vintage and modern Jeep vehicles, but naturally, is pretty well-versed in just about everything from classic muscle cars and modern exotic sports cars. Usually, Dennis focuses more on buying and flipping cars, or gives us a tour of whatever he currently has in his shop at the moment. But every now and then, he takes us on a trip to visit someone’s private car collection, and that’s just what he’s done here

A personal friend of his, Jeff Catlin, has been buying, selling, restoring and modifying Mustangs from the first-generation, to the more modern SN95 cars of the ’90s. He talks us through some of the cars he’s currently working on, tells us a bit about his background and gives us a closer look at some of the jewels in his collection.

What we see, is a legit Salon Fox Body from 1987, a super clean 6-shooter first get, a pair of mild pro-touring first-gens and a former Arizona state trooper Fox Body notch. There’s also a black Fox coupe with some large-diameter rollers on it, and a aftermarket chassis sitting inside Jeff’s shop, with some impressive hardware attached to it.

We could tell you more, but we’ll let Dennis’ video fill in all of the details.

The Fox-body Ford Mustang is the best blank canvas pony car | Buyer’s Guide – @Hagerty

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Hagerty’s Editor-at-Large Sam Smith takes a look at the Fox-body Ford Mustang and offers a general overview of the highly affordable but highly variable third-generation pony car. With an easy-to-modify structure, Sam not only covers the pluses and minuses of the Mustang’s massive aftermarket, but also the nuances of owning, buying, and maintaining this iconic classic.

Episode chapters:

From street racing to 11-second timeslips: Dad’s Shelby G.T. 500 kept racing after he sold it – Matt Litwin @Hemmings

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Bride-to-be mom alongside dad’s 1968 Shelby G.T. 500 shortly after its purchase. Photo courtesy of Ray Litwin.

Twenty-four months. That’s essentially the duration my father shopped for, negotiated the purchase of, and owned his brand-new 1968 Shelby G.T. 500. On paper, the last 12 months of that timeframe doesn’t seem like one could accumulate enough enjoyment out of a dream car he financed for close to $5,000, yet he did. As discussed previously, once in his possession, the Shelby was enhanced with an aftermarket carburetor, was used as a daily commuter, burned through untold tanks of Sunoco 260 with alarming regularity, and, as I recently learned, was street raced to a perfect 3-0 record.

Dad drove his year-old Shelby G.T. 500 to Simon Ford, where it was traded in for a special-ordered 1969 Ford LTD loaded with every option, save for a 429-cu.in. engine. The G.T. 500 then appeared in this ad listing it for sale. In today’s money, that $4,195 asking price equates to $30,780.

It also was a hot ride—we’re talking engine heat—on top of already looking more and more like an impractical car for a young couple who were about to marry and buy their first house. It was enough to prompt Dad to trade the car in for something completely different: a 1969 Ford LTD Brougham. It was a car he and my mom owned for four years, which then started an endless buy/sell phase of car ownership that has been a part of the family legacy. Despite the variety of steeds, though, the one consistent question has always been, “Whatever happened to the Shelby?”

Almost immediately after the Shelby appeared in a local newspaper ad, Lilyan McGary—a resident of nearby Fitchville, Connecticut—arrived at Simon Ford to purchase the high-performance car for her son; according to lore, it was to be his first car. Over the course of the next several months, my dad remembered seeing the new owner(s) scooting along the area roads in the Shelby on several occasions before it slipped into the realm of former-car obscurity. How often it was driven, or the nature of its use when in the hands of the McGary family, is anyone’s guess to this day. Records make it clear, however, that on April 5, 1973, the G.T. 500 was purchased by nearby Canterbury resident Cliff Williams.

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A once-lost Boss 302 with a rare induction system resurfaces 30 years later – Hemmings

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We can assure you of several things relating to Mark Hovander’s 1970 Boss 302 Mustang. One, it has never been sold at an auction. Two, it isn’t the most pristine Boss 302 you’ve ever seen. Three, it has a Ford over-the-counter induction system you may not have seen, and four, it has a remarkable story far beyond its stature as a retail example of Ford’s SCCA Trans-Am-winning homologation effort. Let’s dig in.

When Mark was but a teenager in the late 1970s, he was captivated by Ford Mustangs. When he was 16, his first car was a nice 1965 coupe powered by a pedestrian 289. Mark soon connected with fellow sophomore classmate Pat Gillen, whose older brothers Mike and Ed already owned several high-performance Mustangs, including Boss 302s, a Boss 429, and a Shelby G.T. 500. Through the Gillen brothers, Mark was quickly enamored by these topflight steeds, and set his sights on upgrading from his ’65 as soon as possible. Pat was of the same mind, and the two soon landed summer jobs on an Alaska-bound fishing boat. As far as high school jobs went for kids living in Seattle, these were among the best-paying gigs imaginable—the cost of admission being endless hard work on a boat for three months straight. Says Mark about those days, “One financial benefit of working on a boat in Alaska was that there was no limit to the hours you might have to work per day, and no place to spend the money since we were almost always at sea.”

While looking much like a stock Cross Boss engine might have appeared, had the factory done such a thing, the V-8 beneath has been warmed up with a custom Steve Long camshaft and forged Diamond pistons. Inline Autolite carbs came in two configurations: 875 and 1,425 cfm. The 875-cfm carb was intended for road racing and the 1,425 for “unlimited racing classes such as Formula A and modified drag.” Mark’s carb is an 875, with custom fuel lines bent up by Wicked Fabrication. An initial dyno test indicated that at a conservative 5,500 rpm, Mark’s Cross Boss was up on the stock induction by 25 horsepower, but down on torque by 10 lb-ft.

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Buyer’s Guide: The plentiful, affordable, 5.0-powered 1987-93 Ford Mustang – Mike McNessor @Hemmings

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A new Mustang GT hit the ground galloping in 1982 and Ford shouted its return with the slogan: “The Boss is Back!” Hitching the Boss legend to this new pony made good marketing sense, but the Fox was no retro-themed throwback. It would go on to inspire a new generation of enthusiasts and launch dedicated magazines and websites, as well as become a darling of the aftermarket.

Old-school, American rear-drive performance mounted a comeback in the 1980s, ushered in by cars like the Buick Grand National, the Chevrolet Monte Carlos SS, and the Camaro IROC-Z. But, when new, these vehicles were priced out of reach of many young people on entry-level salaries. Also, the GM contingent offered manual transmissions only as exceptions rather than the rule.

Not so the 5.0. Ford priced the Mustang GT affordably and, beginning in 1983, offered a real-deal Borg-Warner T-5 fives-peed manual transmission. For ’86, Ford dumped the Holley carburetor and made multiport fuel injection plus a roller camshaft standard—exotic parts for a low-dollar production car back then.

While Chevrolet charged a premium for all the good stuff, Ford lowered the price by offering the el-cheapo LX with a 5.0 powertrain. Not only was it less expensive, but the notch-window body style, exclusive to the LX line, was lighter than the hatchback/convertible GT.

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Legend of the Green Hornet – BARRETT-JACKSON

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The restoration of a lifetime! The incredible story of how Barrett-Jackson CEO and Chairman Craig Jackson and an elite team of automotive restoration specialists set out to restore the rarest and most desirable Shelby Mustang of all time, the 1968 EXP 500 Green Hornet.

The Green Hornet’s provenance of being a double prototype puts it into a unique category and represents a rolling history of what was happening within Ford and Shelby American in the heyday of the American muscle car era. The performance DNA of all modern Mustangs and Shelbys leads back to this very car, making this 1968 Ford Mustang Notchback Coupe – as Carroll Shelby once said – “the one and only Green Hornet.”

More here at Barrett Jackson

The Hunt for Little Red – BARRETT-JACKSON

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It was assumed lost for over 50 years, another prototype destined for the crusher. Except this one wasn’t. Witness the incredible story of Barrett-Jackson CEO and Chairman Craig Jackson’s personal quest to find and restore the mythical father of the Mustang California Special, the 1967 Shelby GT500 Prototype (EXP 500) known as “Little Red.” Discovered sitting in a Texas field, Little Red was Carroll Shelby’s way of getting the better of Ferrari’s road cars and the first of many incredible innovations. Get ready for the journey – exploring the restoration for one of the rarest cars on Earth!

More here on Barrett Jackson