Even If Only The Prototype…
by Wallace Wyss –
Even though in 1967 Ford had a good deal of irons in the fire with the ol’ Snakemeister, Carroll Shelby, the existence of this car without a hint of involvement by Shelby is proof to me that Ford had a Plan B – Ford Mustang after Shelby.
What they had to do was invent a new performance car that didn’t have the Shelby name on it but still looked ready to race.
The power-dome hood in this sketch is very similar to the design on the 2010-2011 Mustang.
This prototype was called Mach I, something about the speed of sound (officially 742 mph at 32°F at sea level). Of course at the time, 1967, we had airplanes that could do well over mach 2 (the SR71) but we didn’t want the Russians to know that.
In late 1966, Ford was already looking to finalizing the design for the 1969 model. The Mustang Mach I was a four seater floorpan made into a two-seat fastback with a chopped top that would’ve made George Barris proud. Each of the rear pillars featured a flip-open racing-style gas cap similar to those on Fifties Indy. And in the case of the race car influencing the street car, they had big ol’ air-scoops on the flanks. The hatchback, which wouldn’t appear on a production model until the 1974 Mustang II. I’d like to credit to Chuck McHose, at least his name is on the drawings.
Now I don’t think Ford ever built production Mustangs with a 427 but this one had them with four four-barrel Weber carbs. The drawings show the hood and fenders coming up as one, I don’t know if it was built like that, sort of funny car style. They also had a movable rear spoiler which I think didn’t go into production on Detroit cars until decades later (Chrysler Crossfire?).
Ford’s experimental one took three seconds to deploy and depended on vacuum pressure. I don’t know, three seconds sounds like forever if you need a couple hundred pounds downforce RIGHT NOW.
The quad exhausts never made it onto Mustang but now that I showed this photo, some Corvette designer will say “I wasn’t born yet” but they have been on recent Corvettes, even the one they make now.
There was one major flaw to the outside rear view mirrors being put on the side windows. That meant you couldn’t roll down the side windows which would induce in me severe claustrophobia. Oh, there was a little pop-open “toll window” to pay the tolls on toll roads but I can just see me, my nose trying to scoop in some air poking out that window.
And the tires. Well, I remember those gold-lined Firestone Indy tires being all the rage in California in ’65 but the truth was they were not for the street. They were supposed to be racing tires. Maybe Ford made a street version later but those Indy 500 tires sure set you apart as a serious driver back then.
Ford did two kinds of headlights, indicating that this was not just a one-hit-wonder, that they were thinking of evolving it. One used Cibie or Marchal-shaped rectangular lamps, open, as they say, the other had plexiglass covered headlamps. Both designs would have been illegal for production cars back then in the U.S.
The car had a full racing interior with wrap around bucket seats, racing shoulder harnesses, the whole nine yards. But I am unsure if it actually ran.
Now I haven’t heard hide-nor-hair of this car in many a year. When Ford dumped dozens of prototypes in 2002, in a sale conducted by Christies, I don’t remember this one rolling across the block.
Is it still there? Well, I dunno. Once Ford loaned me a large key ring with dozens of keys and I went poking about in Dearborn, trying the keys on different buildings. Some had prototype cars gathering dust, some just had junk. I had the feeling they had no idea what they had in storage.
Anyway, I get a kick out of the car even existing in the first place. Though McHose and Pete Stacey had designed the ’67 Shelby clay model right at Shelby American, it wasn’t for Shelby that they did the Mach I. Of course Ford came out with the Boss 302 in ’69, moving one giant step away from Shelby (though he got one of the contracts to race them) and Ford eventually had the tamer Mach I Mustang production car. But, ironies of ironies, last time I looked Ford and the newly reconstituted Shelby company are still making Shelbys….
Another mystery wrapped up inside an enigma from the world of prototypes…..
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR Wallace Wyss started out in advertising where he wrote ads for two of the Big Three. He has owned a variety of sports cars from a 356 Porsche, to front engined and mid-engine Ferraris to a brace of Mercedes Gullwings and a 1971 Karmann Ghia convertible.
The Mach 1, as it was shown at the 1967 Detroit Auto Show with a face closer to production Mustangs of the time. The low-cut roofline and racing-type fuel cap never made it to production, but the hatchback did eventually arrive on the 1974 Mustang II.
This article was originally published here in April 2016.
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