Back in 1964 when Ford first unveiled the Mustang, product planners, designers and engineers had already spent a lot of time brainstorming ideas to extend the line up. A four door sedan, station wagon and fast back version of the Mustang were all actively considered. The sedan and wagon were shelved because they overlapped with the Falcon . Only the fastback saw daylight, in 1965.
However, through all of the brainstorming Ford executives kept coming back to the idea of using a shortened Mustang to re-create the original, two seater Thunderbird. A two seater convertible was mocked-up, but it did not excite Ford’s planners, but a shortened coupe did gain traction within the top echelons, and so the order was given to build one asap.
Ford commissioned DST Industries, who built all of Ford’s show cars and prototype models, (and still do) to create a fully driveable two seater Mustang. The plan was to display the car at auto shows across the USA to assess its sales potential. DST fabricators started the conversion by taking a Mustang and chopping out the rear seat area. This shortened the car by 40cm .A unique roof, doors, side panels and rear end were made from fibreglass and grafted onto the standard Mustang front end.
Out on the auto show circuit the smart looking car attracted plenty of positive
comments, and was labelled the ‘Shorty Mustang”. Despite its popularity, the overwhelming success of the Mustang (400,000 sales in 12 months) meant that there was no room on the production schedule for a small volume two seater.
Consequently Ford ordered that it be scrapped, as happened with most prototypes once their usefulness had expired. Just why the car still exists today is one of the great Detroit automotive legends. The story goes that instead of being crushed the car was secretly stored in a warehouse by one of the people who had designed it.
This two seater idea uses the fastback doors and a notch back roof line. Not a pretty car.
Supposedly, several months later, Ford reported it stolen and received an insurance payout. It was then that the warehouse owner discovered the car and since no one had paid the storage fees, the insurance company that paid out the claim took possession of the car and later sold it to a private buyer.
Another two seater idea, this one from April 1964, at the time the Mustang was released.
A couple of years later Bill Snyder, who had seen the one-off Mustang at an auto show, spotted an advertisement for it. He immediately bought it and has owned and driven it 20,000km in those years.
Now the fully restored Ford Mustang "Shorty" doing the rounds of the auto shows.
