Rare Vintage Ford Mustang Prototypes Show What Could Have Been…

Over more than six decades, the Ford Mustang has gone through many styling changes across seven generations. While we’ve all seen the production models, we rarely get a glimpse at what almost happened. Until recently.

Over the years, only a few blurry black-and-white photos of rejected clay models and abandoned concepts had surfaced. But these newer images provide a much clearer and more realistic look at the alternate Mustangs Ford considered over the decades, for better or worse.

The image above shows a 1962 proposal created by Ford’s Lincoln-Mercury design studio. It looks nothing like the Mustang that eventually debuted in 1964. In fact, it resembles a formal small Lincoln-Mercury coupe much more than a sporty youth-oriented Ford.

The two images above show the well-known 1963 four-door Mustang sedan prototype. Just like the original clay model, these renderings reveal a rather awkward-looking sedan, especially with rear doors that appear far too small to be truly practical. As we know, a four-door Mustang coupe never made production. Yet the rumor has never completely disappeared, and many still believe a larger four-door Mustang could eventually arrive.

This 1966 Mustang wagon prototype was also fascinating, and surprisingly practical. Years later, Ford would build a two-door wagon version of the Ford Pinto, but never a Mustang wagon. However, a fully functional prototype was reportedly built and eventually became the daily driver of a dentist in Oregon. (Somehow, my old neighbor Rod Garza also used to be a dentist in Oregon…)

This next proposal dates from 1968 and was an early idea for the 1971 Mustang redesign. Oddly enough, the 1971 model was not considered an all-new generation, even though it grew several inches larger than the car it replaced. The proposal above looks somewhat similar to the final production model, yet also strangely different. Almost like a 1971 Mustang from the Twilight Zone.

For the third generation, Ford experimented with many ideas before finally selecting the excellent design led by Jack Telnack for the 1979 Mustang. The concept above, from 1975, was also based on the new Fox platform but looked far more conventional than the final car. It almost resembled a smaller second-generation Chrysler Cordoba and didn’t appear sporty at all. Or a slightly sportier Ford Granada Coupe.

This last proposal, also based on the Fox platform, dates from 1976. You can tell that within just a year, perhaps even less, Ford had completely changed direction for the next Mustang. The company was now clearly searching for a truly modern and more aerodynamic design, European influenced design.

It’s fascinating to see what the Mustang could have become over the years. Looking back at these rejected concepts also makes one thing clear: in most cases, Ford ultimately chose the better design.