5.0 Mustang & Super Fords Magazine

5.0 Mustang & Super Fords Magazine

Horse Sense: While his largest automotive project, the Concept 3 isn't car-holic David Haymond's first shop job. He has restored or modified a '29 Model A roadster (when he was 13 years old), a '57 T-bird, four '65 Mustangs, and a Lambo Countach-just for something different. It doesn't take long to figure out that David Haymond is an extremely intelligent individual. Only a few minutes after meeting him and circling his magnum opus Concept 3 roadster, we were self-consciously in the presence of an exceptional human being. Relative to the usual human fodder, David is excruciatingly creative, approaching obsessive in his drive, and clearly skilled with his hands. He manifests an eye for beauty, function, and an understanding of historic precedent. His car is cool, too. That made it all the more fun to ask him the unfair and unanswerable, "Why?" when viewing his magnificently rendered re-creation of Ford's Mach III show car. Let there be no mistake: What David has finished is an accomplishment, not the hollow diploma of merely having enough money to buy a well-crafted automobile or the vacuous pomp afforded those with bolt-on horsepower and some vinyl skull appliqus.

But he knows the deep satisfaction won only by those who have really tried and succeeded. What David has achieved is building his own Mach III concept car, arguably at the production level had Ford taken it that far. That he did it in his home shop for his own amusement is the truly bewildering part, but that's talent for you. What is a Mach III? The Mach IIIs did their job, making the magazine and car show rounds. I drove the red one for the June '93 issue of Super Ford magazine, but it was ultimately destroyed in a 1994 transporter fire while returning from a Canadian show. The green car is still extant, but it's shuttered away these days. Forget any ideas about owning one-the car never saw serial production (even if we poised the possibility 14 years ago) and the survivor is Ford and Mustang history. It's difficult, even in retrospect, to say what single theme or item highlighted the Mach III, but if forced to choose, the voluptuous exterior styling would be our pick.

If you like them rounded, the Mach III is your gal. The details, from the LED taillights to the cleavage-bearing windshield, were well ahead of their time. Some of the curves and cutlines would've been tough-or impossible-for a production car, and the windshield, so curved and so low you had to look under or over the header, was obviously a designer's folly. The overall shape was exciting and has carried a classic timelessness of proportion. The powertrain was also impressive. Behind the engine, the Mach III was competent, but not revolutionary. Built off the '94 Mustang GT engineering hack chassis, the Mach IIIs wore a then-novel T56 manual six-speed gearbox and the standard 8.8-inch live-axle rearend. The chassis and suspension were pure production SN-95, and in all, the two cars were never fully finished with details such as a top, side windows, or working instruments. In truth, they weren't designed for real driving.

We were allowed to motor the red car for photography purposes and get a hint of the power, but were casually informed that 35 mph was the limit. Let's also recall the Mach IIIs had nothing more than a slap-dash show car interior. The rearview mirrors were bits of flat glass, the blue suede interior highlights quickly glued in place, and the instruments as faux as Paris Hilton's respect for the law. It was hard not to keep glancing at the phony gauges to check the rpm, only to find the overly ornate needles stuck in the same position. It was like trying to gain meaningful information from prom night decorations. Fake can't be found on David's Concept 3. A self-confessed compulsive builder, he latched onto creating a Mach III for himself upon seeing the original in a magazine. He "had to do a car project," loved the Mach III's looks, and willed himself to build one for his own pleasure. Thus, it had to work, and well. Plus, David is not one to suffer kitsch.