VINTAGE: Unique ‘Shorty’ Mustang Show Car

Never meant for production, the fiberglass 1964½ Ford coupe built on a shortened chassis will be shown at the Amelia Island concours.

Media Release | Posted February 12, 2013 Amelia Island, FLA

The shortened early Mustang fastback is custom fiberglass from the cowl to the rear. (Photo: Amelia Island Concours)

A unique 1964½ “Shorty” Mustang will be headlining the 18th annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance from March 8 to 10 in the “What Were They Thinking?” class, a category that will consist of eight unusual cars that would not find a home on any other concours field.

Bill and Chris Snyder own the 1964½ Mustang two-seater, which is a true one-off. It’s fiberglass from the cowl to the tail. Seeing it is like hearing a familiar piece of music, but in a minor key.

All the design signatures that shout “Mustang” are there, but they’re wearing someone else’s clothes. In this case, the fastback fiberglass panels of Dearborn Steel Tube Co, which built it on a pre-production Mustang chassis that was pulled for research and experimentation.

The unique Mustang show car was preserved by a longtime admirer who lucked into purchasing it. (Photo: Amelia Island Concours)

“It was custom-built and became part of a Ford travelling show,” Snyder said. “That’s where I first encountered the fiberglass ‘shorty’ Mustang and I loved it. I said ‘I’m gonna buy one!’ but the Ford salesman said that there would be no such car for sale.”

The one-of-a-kind Mustang fastback was designed by Bill Gardner, who became convinced that Ford would consign his show car to the usual unhappy fate of cast-off Detroit experimentals and prototypes: the crusher. So he stole it and walled up the fiberglass mystery Mustang in a warehouse in Inkster, Mich.

Gardner didn’t try to sell it and he didn’t leave a trail, but neither did he didn’t pay the rent for the warehouse. Within six months, the car was found behind the wall and by then, the insurance company had paid the claim. Ford didn’t want it, so the shorty Mustang was taken to the insurance company’s New England headquarters and parked outside.

A company executive bought it and soon placed a for-sale ad in a car-collector publication, which alerted Bill Snyder that his two-seat fantasy Mustang was available.

The deal was done long distance and since one of Snyder’s employees was headed for New England on an unrelated trip, he picked up Bill’s dream car and drove back to Ohio.

Snyder’s mystery Mustang started life as one of 10 pre-production chassis. The wheelbase was shortened 16 inches and the standard 260cid V8 was enlarged to 302 cubic inches. It’s a recipe that still appeals to Bill after more than four decades. “The car goes like stink,” he said.

The 2013 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance will be held March 8-10 on the 10th and 18th fairways of The Golf Club of Amelia Island adjacent to The Ritz-Carlton in Florida. The show’s Foundation has donated over $2 million to Community Hospice of Northeast Florida, Inc. and other charities on Florida’s First Coast since its inception in 1996.

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