Tag: Mach1

Will it run? Starting up a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 for the first time in 30 years @Hagerty

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Last week you saw us pull this 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 out of a pole barn it had been sitting in for nearly 30 years. Unfortunately, she didn’t start up on the first attempt, but that didn’t deter Davin as he set to work gathering a few parts to get her back up and running. So, join us as we get a little greasy and hopefully hear this classic roar again. Be sure to check out part 1 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB4zE…

Ford’s Mach 1 concept envisioned a competition-prepped persona with a few forward-thinking features – Thomas A. DeMauro @Hemmings

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The fertile imaginations of automotive designers have produced awe-inspiring renderings of idea cars with thought-provoking innovations. The freedom to explore new horizons, without having to be overly concerned about current production viability which could stymie creativity, has fostered positive results like those shown here.

Ford designer Charlie McHose, who’s also known for conceiving the body enhancements for the legendary 1967 Shelby G.T. 500, made these Mustang concept drawings of what would become the Mach 1 experimental car, as FoMoCo referred to it at the time.

First shown with the frontend design above, the Mach 1’s extensive restyling for 1968 is obvious in the color photo

Because the renderings likely pushed the limits of what was feasible, even for a concept car, the actual Mach 1 built for show duty in late 1966 didn’t incorporate a number of the ideas depicted.

Nevertheless, it was still quite the attention grabber with some GT40 traits incorporated, a dramatically lowered roofline, two-seat layout, and flip-out toll windows. Mirrors were added to the fixed side windows and large quick-release gas caps were installed. The front and rear treatments were revised, but they differed somewhat from the renderings.

Additionally, the Shelby-like lamps in the grille, the power dome hood, and the lower scoop shown in the lead drawing in this article weren’t used on the Mach 1. More intriguing elements presented in the renderings are discussed in the captions below.

The professional legacy of Charlie McHose endures in the remarkable designs he created at Ford. Fortunately, we can still appreciate these works of art and what their creator had envisioned in them. Just imagine blasting out of your local Ford dealer’s lot in a Mustang with the styling and equipment depicted here.

Read on

A 1,000-hp restomod Mustang Mach I that came together through luck and coincidence – Barry Kluczyk @Hemmings

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Tom Brown’s 1,000-hp restomod Mach I is supercharged serendipity

Early in Mad Max, when the titular anti-hero is introduced to the supercharged Interceptor, he asks, “How the hell did you get all this together?” “It just happened… A piece from here and piece from there,” was the reply from the mad-scientist mechanic Barry; and the wasteland road trash would soon be sorry he put all those pieces together. Very sorry. “It just happened,” is also how Tom Brown describes the build of his own bad, black and blown Ford—a ’69 Mustang Mach 1 that he calls Instigator, which sort of sounds like Interceptor. “The car and parts just came together.”
“We were sitting at the Woodward Dream Cruise a couple of years ago and I had my ’61 Cadillac convertible,” Tom told us. “My friend Brian Thomson said he had an NOS Northstar supercharged engine sitting in the crate, suggesting it would be a good swap into the Cadillac. I agreed and made a deal with him for it. Then Brian said, ‘Great, now all I have to do is get rid of that Mustang.’ I asked what Mustang he was talking about, and after that, it all came together.”
The next day, Brian pushed the Mach 1 onto the lift in his shop for Tom’s inspection. Brian had purchased it in 1979 and restored it in the years after, where it ultimately hit the ISCA circuit and won its class at the Detroit Autorama. The engine and transmission were removed in 1993, and, as one thing led to another, it became the ultimate man-cave accessory in his walk-out basement, where it sat for almost 20 years