Brevity is not always the spice of life
Clearly a Ford Mustang, even less car-savvy contemporaries recognize that immediately. Especially when you look at the front or the rear, it is immediately clear that this is a very close relative of the pony car introduced in 1964.
But something is wrong. Something is missing. That's right, the two rear seats are conspicuous by their absence, the wheelbase is around 40 cm shorter and the "glass house" is more reminiscent of an Aston Martin DBS, which didn't even exist at the time, than a Mustang.
The car was designed by Vincent E Gardner, who had already worked on the Cord Model 810. And the short Mustang was built in 1964 by the company "Dearborn Steel Tubing", which already had a lot of experience with special orders from Ford. Ford Marketing had said "yes" to the experiment back then, knowing full well that the four-seater Mustang was the right car for the time.
After all, the short version was shown around with glee, but soon disappeared from the scene because Gardner locked the car in a warehouse on his own initiative. However, as he forgot to pay the rent, the prototype reappeared a few months later. In the meantime, however, the insurance company had already compensated the manufacturer Ford for the suspected theft and had thus become the owner of the car. An employee bought the car and advertised it soon afterwards, whereupon it was incorporated into a collection and disappeared again. It was not until the new century that the car was rediscovered, so to speak, and appeared on the Concours parquet after a restoration.
From today's perspective, the "Shorty" even looks a little short, mainly because people have become accustomed to the long fastback version. However, the car cannot be denied a certain elegance and sophistication in its lines and it is understandable that Auctions America has estimated the unique piece at USD 400,000 to 600,000. This special piece will go under the hammer at the Ford Lauderdale auction, which will take place between March 27 and 29, 2015.
More information about the auction can be found on the Auctions America website.
