Ford Mustang Mach 2 Was A Mid-Engine Pony Car

Ford Mustang Mach 2 Was A Mid-Engine Pony Car

On April Fool鈥檚 day, Ford Authority joked that Ford was going to make a mid-engine Mustang SUV. Fans of the Mustang might not know that the Pony car almost went mid-engine back in the 鈥?0s. In 1967 Ford built a mid-engine concept car called the Ford Mustang Mach 2 and took the concept to the Chicago Auto Show that year where it wowed the crowds. The Ford Mustang Mach 2 was designed by Ford鈥檚 then chief designer Eugene Bordinat using the original Mustang design language translated into a mid-engine GT model. Bordinat went through several sketches, and a clay model before the work to build the running show car was farmed out to Kar-Kraft. The base for the Mustang Mach 2 show car was a convertible Mustang. The ragtop was chosen because it had reinforcements in the chassis in crucial areas that were helpful to the mid-engine concept car. Power for the Mustang Mach 2 was from the standard Mustang鈥檚 289 cubic inch V8 crammed where the back seats usually lived.

The show car saved money by using the standard Mustang front suspension. At the 1967 Chicago Auto Show, the car was met with enthusiasm and hailed as an American car as stylish as European cars of the era. It featured pop-up headlights and a wedge nose rather than the traditional blunt nose of a Mustang. Ford built a pair of Mustang Mach 2 cars including the red show car that was entirely road legal and a white development car. Some journalists of the era were invited to drive the red car at the Ford Dearborn Proving Grounds. Despite the popularity of the road car Ford executives killed the project due to the complexity and overall cost. Sadder still is that both of the prototype cars built were destroyed to keep them out of competitor鈥檚 hands. Ford鈥檚 Mustang Mach 2 goes to show that the Ford GT and coming mid-engine C8 Corvette weren鈥檛 first to the mid-engine American sports car wars.

A good car can be fairly plain-jane, as this Dart clearly illustrates. A Triumph Stag is a car you don't see very often in the United States. Yet somehow, this one snuck in. The groovy British sports car is stylish yet simple. Nothing overly complex or complicated. This one has been kept in stock condition, and is very well-maintained. Last of all is this 1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z. It's impossible not to want one of these at least a little. The color is pretty, and T tops are just plain cool. So that's that. It was an impressive turnout, with lots to look at. You've got to admire car culture, and the people that drive long distances to show off their car. The people are friendly and talkative, the cars are cool, and on days like this, the weather is perfect. There's no place on Earth like a good car show.

Ford鈥檚 mysterious Mustang-inspired electric crossover is beginning to take shape. The Blue Oval published a brief teaser video on its official Facebook page to announce that its electric car offensive is around the corner. Ford has dabbled in EVs before; it sold a battery-powered Focus in many markets, and it experimented with an electric Ranger pickup during the 1990s, but these were low-volume vehicles based on existing, gasoline-powered models. The Mustang-like model was developed with electric driving in mind from the get-go. It鈥檚 important to make the distinction between Mustang-inspired and Mustang-based. There鈥檚 no evidence suggesting the two cars will share any major components. Ford鈥檚 video explained engineers are tuning the crossover with driving enjoyment in mind, and they鈥檙e using 3D simulators to dial it in, so this might be where the Mustang connection comes from. The design is expected to borrow styling cues from the emblematic pony car, too, though it won鈥檛 be a low-slung coupe.

Ford previously floated a 300-plus-mile driving range, but full technical specifications remain guarded. Blending Mustang genes and the instant torque delivered by electric motors should unlock brisk acceleration. Product planners even considered resurrecting the hollowed Mach 1 name for the crossover, though they allegedly abandoned those plans when fans of the original, V8-powered Mustang Mach I released in 1969 cried foul. The video confirms Ford will place the infotainment system鈥檚 screen on top of the dashboard rather than embedding it into the center stack. It鈥檚 a layout that makes it possible for Ford to update the hardware without needing to fully redesign the center stack. The model could receive a bigger screen at some point during its life cycle, for example. Ford鈥檚 assertion that electric cars are coming asks more questions than it answers. We don鈥檛 know exactly when they鈥檙e coming. Digital Trends learned the company will introduce something electric at the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show opening its doors in late November, and there鈥檚 a good chance it will be related to the camouflaged prototype shown in the video. We expect sales will begin during the 2021 model year, though nothing is official yet.