Mustang mayhem
Dear Classic American,
I really enjoyed the Mustang supplement, in particular ‘The Mustangs that never were’. You really have to wonder if the car would have been the incredible success it became – dare I use that hackneyed word: iconic! – had Ford decided to go along with any of those other proposals. It certainly looks as if they were toying seriously with giving it those circular rocket/jet burner tail-lights, they appear on two of the proposals – just as well they didn’t, otherwise the Mustang would have been virtually indistinguishable from the Falcon, a car it already shared much with!
It’s a shame you didn’t find space for some of the other rather horrific mock-ups that Ford put together, including the Mustang-Cougar proposal with strange Citroen Dyane-style lozenge-shaped headlamps, or the weird and wonderful two-seater roadster concept… or the plain hideous four-door version, that nowadays would have been built without a doubt!
Michael Ruiz Twickenham, London
Thanks for the letter Michael, we actually could have filled the whole supplement with nothing but Mustang proposals that never saw the light of day, but felt it was more appropriate to publish a variety of Mustang-related features! We’ve dug out images of the cars you’ve mentioned – it’s amazing to think what the Mustang could have looked like, but in reality most would agree they got the final proposal just right!