Mid-Engined Sports Cars to Station Wagons: 5 Mustangs That Never Happened

• November 15, 2020
• Story By
  Mike Garrett

With production and sales of the all-electric Ford Mustang Mach E imminient, it will be interesting to see how the Mustang faithful accept the Mach-E, which is easily the most unconventional vehicle ever to wear the Mustang badge, far eclipsing even the Mustang II of the 1970s.

Yet for as rule-breaking as the Mach E is, this is far from the first time that Ford has experimented with its iconic car. We’ve gone back through the press archives to highlight five unusual Mustang Concept cars and prototypes that have been built over the models 55+ year run.

1. 1966 Mustang Station Wagon Proposal

Over the decades there have been a few different concept or proposals of a Mustang Wagon, but this one from 1966 might be the most pleasing to the eye.

While a Mustang Wagon never saw the late of the day, if they had built it one could imagine being as sought-after as the Chevy Nomad of the 1950s. With its added practicality, perhaps the Mach-E is the closest spiritual relative to these Mustang Wagon prototypes of the past?

2. 1967 Mustang Mach 2 Concept

Even before the debut of the groundbreaking C8, the Corvette had long flirted with a move to a mid-engine layout. But did you know that the Mustang did as well?

In 1967 Ford toured the Mustang Mach 2 Concept around the auto show circuit, with a rear-mounted 289 small block V8. Had it ever evolved beyond the show car stage, it could have been a more affordable version of the GT40 or the DeTomaso Pantera.

3. 1970 Mustang Milano Concept

Another one-off Mustang built for the auto show circuit was the Mustang Milano, which was shown a the 1970 Chicago Auto Show. Based on the production 1970 Mustang fastback, this stylized car featured a lengthened nose and a more aggressively sloped roofline among other changes.

Among all the cars on this list, the Mustang Milano may be the closest to a production car, as a lot of these elements would eventually make their way onto to the redesigned 1971 Mustang fastback.

4. 1976 Mustang III Concept

If you thought the Mustang II of the 1970s represented a big departure for the car, what about the nearly forgotten Mustang III Concept from 1976?

With styling by Ghia, the Mustang III took the already compact Mustang II and trimmed even more away, with an extra short rear overhang and a squared off nose. Had something like this ever reached production, Mustang purists may have taken to the streets.

5. 1980 Mustang RSX Concept

While the Fox Body Mustang that debuted in 1979 represented a heavy modernization of the car, it wasn’t nearly as wild as the Mustang RSX Concept from 1980.

Also styled by Ghia, the wedge-shaped Mustang RSX looks basically like a Fox Body Mustang mixed with a DeLorean. Underneath it was standard Mustang underpinnings, and while it no doubt looked incredibly modern in 1980, this would have been a little much on a production car.

With rumors that Ford may soon expand the Mustang brand to include other models beyond the current Mustang coupe and Mach-E, this likely won’t be the end of cars that look to take the name in a new direction.