- Is The Ford Mustang Mid-Engined?
- Mustang I: The Original Mid-Engine Mustang
- 1966 Mid-Engine Mustang Prototype
- Mach 2: The Stillborn Mid-Engine Ford Mustang
- Will Ford Build A Mid-Engine Mustang?
Ford so very nearly built a mid-engined Mustang. And on several occasions too.
Read in this article:
- Mid-Engine Mustang: Fact or Fiction?
- Is The Ford Mustang Mid-Engined?
- Mustang I: The Original Mid-Engine Mustang
- 1966 Mid-Engine Mustang Prototype
- Mach 2: The Stillborn Mid-Engine Ford Mustang
- Will Ford Build A Mid-Engine Mustang?
Social media has been ablaze of late with a video resurfacing showing a mid-engine Ford Mustang GT. There's only one problem: it's not real. Not the video nor the car itself. It's really just a mashup of the Mustang and the Ford GT.
There are many things to know about the history of the Mustang, but did you know the mid-engine Ford Mustang was once seriously considered by Ford? And did you know that real prototypes were actually built in the late 1960s?
Is The Ford Mustang Mid-Engined?
No, the Ford Mustang in production form is not and never has been mid-engined. Ford has maintained the traditionalism of the pony car since it was born in 1964. That means for 59 years, the Mustang has had the engine up front, a gearbox in the middle, and has always been rear-wheel-drive only.
Rumors suggested the next-gen Mustang would be all-wheel-drive, but those appear to have been unfounded as the 2024 Mustang was revealed sporting its traditional RWD layout and a whole lot of similarities to the outgoing model.
However, Ford did have plans for a Mustang with the engine in the middle…
Mustang I: The Original Mid-Engine Mustang
Before the Mustang as we know it today came into existence, Ford Motor Company released a concept in 1962 called the Ford Mustang I. It was not the pony car we know and love, but was rather an open-top two-seater concept with a mid-engine layout featuring a four-cylinder engine. It wasn’t an inline-four either, but a 1.5-liter 60-degree V4 behind the cockpit producing up to 65 horsepower and 86 lb-ft of torque, depending on the application. But in the mid-engine concept, it produced up to 109 hp in race car spec. The engine was the Ford Taunus V4, built at the historic Cologne plant, which powered the car of the same name. This was mated to a four-speed transmission.
The Mustang I was developed by a committee led by the late Lee Iacocca, father of the Mustang, and was meant to be a mid-engine sports car to “fill a vacuum between Go-Karts and the Corvette” and compete in FIA category 9 racing.
Because of this, it was small and lightweight, featuring a spaceframe chassis and a one-piece body riveted in place. The seats were integrated into the body like a Mercedes-AMG ONE. More than this, it was meant to have four-wheel independent suspension, front disc brakes, and rack-and-pinion steering.
Only two cars were built, each finished in just 100 days, boasting adjustable pedals and a telescoping steering wheel. It made its public debut on October 7, 1962, lapped at the United States Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, New York, by F1 driver Dan Gurney. That drive set media tongues wagging about the concept's production viability, though the mid-engine Mustang concept was never intended for production. But the Mustang name was out there, and Iacocca was drumming up massive support for a smaller Ford sports car.
In 1963, the Mustang II concept debuted, eventually evolving into the front-engine pony car icon, the original Ford Mustang.
But the Mustang I wasn't the only mid-engine prototype Ford ever built…
1966 Mid-Engine Mustang Prototype
In 2020, photos emerged from the Ford Archives of another, previously unknown mid-engine prototype. Based on a 1966 Mustang Convertible chassis (identifiable by the front suspension, lower frame rails, front crossmember, and a few other details), this prototype had a mid-mounted layout with a V8 at its heart. Originally believed to be a precursor to the Ford Mach 2 concept, this theory was put to bed by Roy Lunn, the “Godfather of the GT40,” who had overseen development of every mid-engine vehicle program at Ford. When asked about it at a Ford Luncheon in honor of his career, Lunn reportedly said, “Sorry, I'm not sure what that is…”
The Mach 2 was based on the chassis of a 1967 Mustang, which meant that this 1966-based prototype wasn't the foundation of the Mach 2. However, it later emerged via Ford Performance that it was an early, early testbed for packaging a mid-engine layout in the original Mustang and that, at the time, 1967 bodies were not yet in production, so the foundational work was done using the 1966 chassis.
Mach 2: The Stillborn Mid-Engine Ford Mustang
The project that evolved from the prototype above was something quite special and was the result of a request to “execute design-engineering studies on a Ford Cobra-style vehicle” given to Ford's Advanced Concepts Department in 1966.
The original Mach 2 had three versions, all built by the Ford-owned Kar-Kraft from Brighton, Michigan. One was a non-running chassis, one was a red car built to production standards that various publications of the era drove and conducted road tests on, and the last was a white-painted model used for intense track testing.
Originally destined for production as a mid-engined sports car, it was never meant to be a mid-engine Mustang, which is why the Mustang name was never used for the project. It just so happened that a Mustang chassis was what Ford had available at the time on which to build the prototypes.
With a 289 V8 in the running prototypes, its performance was mighty, and Ford wanted to take the battle to the Corvette. The mid-engine sports car program was not intended to cannibalize the GT 40, either.
In a report from the Advanced Concepts Department titled Road Sports Car Studies, it was said that the original request had mentioned Shelby American as being the recipient of the new Ford product, likely in the form of bare chassis and loose parts, from which it would build the complete vehicles. It never happened this way.
In production guise, it was meant to retail for under $7,500 with both coupe and roadster versions available. The original production run was meant to be 500 units strong, starting in 1968, potentially tripling to 1,500 per year.
Ford was so serious about the Mach 2 that it had full details on what the street version would be like, with a 289 V8, a ZF five-speed transaxle, and a 2,650-pound curb weight. The race version was estimated to keep up with a 427 Corvette, and rumors suggested it would house the Ford 351 motor.
Ford toyed with various designs, even laying out multiple generations of the Mach 2, the Blue Oval firmly believing Chevy was building a mid-engine Corvette. The Mach 2A design would share design elements with the 1971 Mustang, while the Mach 2C looked like an Italian supercar.
The Mach 2 never actually came to fruition, however, and there has never been an official reason why that was the case. It might not have officially been a Mustang, either, but its roots are obvious.
The history of the Mach 2 is fascinating, and it's well worth reading the full Ford Performance article on its origins, development, and, ultimately, its demise.
Will Ford Build A Mid-Engine Mustang?
If the Mach 2 was intended to rival a mid-engine Corvette, then surely Ford must be contemplating the same now that the C8 Corvette has finally put the engine behind the cockpit, right? Sadly, however, a mid-engine Mustang remains unlikely. The front-engine version is superb and has dominated sales, and the Ford GT has earned the Blue Oval an absolute fortune, being the most expensive Ford on sale and winning at Le Mans a few years back.
Renders like the ones you see here and elsewhere online help us imagine what it might look like, but ultimately, Ford is unlikely to build a mid-engine Mustang now or in the future.
Keyword: The Mid-Engine Mustang Is More Real Than You Think