Mythical lost Mustang found, but mystery surrounds its history

DETROIT – One of automotive history’s near-mythical lost cars has been found, but mystery still surrounds “Little Red,” an experimental Ford Mustang that’s the father of every Shelby GT 500 performance car ever built.

The car sleuths who tracked it down are hoping to crowdsource info to fill in the blanks.

One of the first Mustangs built with a big-block 428-cubic-inch V8, the Mustang began life as a 1967 experimental engineering car built in Ford’s San Jose, California, plant. It spent years with legendary racer and performance-car maker Carroll Shelby, then disappeared.

Shelby drove it regularly, and thenFord President Lee Iacocca liked it so much that Little Red became the model for the Mustang California Special.

Craig Jackson, chairman of BarrettJackson classic car auction company, unveiled Little Red to a shocked crowd at The Henry Ford Museum recently, inviting experts to inspect the car and help fill in gaps in its history. The crowd included Shelby’s grandson Aaron Shelby and Henry Ford III, great-great grandson of Ford’s founder. The car’s history is so complicated that Jackson has set up a website and Facebook page, where people can contribute details.

“That’s why it’s so important to do this in Detroit,” Jackson said. “The car spent time here after Ford bought Shelby. There have to be people here with photos and information.”

Jackson also owns the Green Hornet, nickname for the experimental Mustang thought to be the first test bed for Shelby GT 500s until he deciphered Little Red’s byzantine paper trail.

The website for photos and info on the cars is shelbyprototypecoupes.com. Information gathered will be used to restore Little Red to original condition, for a car that’s part ’67, part ’68 and some one-off prototype. Jackson has no plan to sell Little Red or the Green Hornet.

Experts thought Little Red had been crushed in the early ’70s, but the V8 Mustang coupe somehow made it from Detroit to a Ford dealership in Littleton, Colorado. Jackson tracked it down by the original identification number it had before Ford transferred it to Shelby’s company, where it went through countless engineering changes.

Shelby’s engineers continually updated Little Red with new parts, turning what began as a ’67 Mustang into a Franken-car with parts from at least two model years and countless experiments. Rumor has it the car tested superchargers and twin-turbocharged engines as well. Little Red had an experimental automatic transmission and unusual features, such as an electric radio antenna and Connolly leather seats.

After being sold in the early ’70s, the car spent years in storage and had its engine stolen after a radiator meltdown. In frustration, the owner left Little Red on a relative’s farm in Texas, where it sat under a tree for more than 20 years until Jackson discovered it and brought it back to Detroit for its public debut.

CRAIG JACKSON/BARRETT-JACKSON AUCTIONS “Little Red” was found in rural North Texas, where it has been stored by the same owner for more than two decades.