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Another dream car question: Mach 2: did it survive and was there more than one?

Discussion in 'GT40 & Ford GT' started by bitzman, Jul 20, 2012.

  1. bitzman

    bitzman Well-Known Member

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    I was driving through Dearborn one day and took a peek
    at a garage in the Central Office Building and thought I saw
    two Ford Mach 2 prototypes.

    Here's a picture http://www.carstyling.ru/ru/car/1967_ford_mach_2/

    I think one was red and one was white.
    I thought they only made one. Motor Trend actually drove it and reported on it, it was a running, driving prototype. I heard that a racing version was built but this seems unlikely to me that since Shelby was doing their race cars, you would think it would have involved Shelby. It had a 289 connected to a ZF 5-speed. I haven't seen it since it was introduced, did it escape the Ford net? If there was two, there's twice the chance it did...
     
  2. mrmustang

    mrmustang Well-Known Member

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    Again supposedly held within Fords dungeon of concept vehicles both new and old :ph34r:
     
  3. bitzman

    bitzman Well-Known Member

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    Ford sold a bunch of protoypes in 2002 but until I find the list...

    I won't know if it was included.Here's the story, notice at least one Mustang prototype.


    http://www.thecarconnection.com/tips-article/1003864_ford-concepts-command-millions



    The big moneymaker in that sale was the Focus
    which fetched a million dollars. What broke the ice on selling
    prototypes was that they realized over half of them had no drive
    train so hence they wouldn't have to worry about accidents, etc.
    Of course I guess you could take the body off the prototype
    and put it on a running chassis but since some were unitized cars
    that might not be as easy as when cars had separate chassis.
    So the cars were mostly bought as sculpture, life-size.
    I estimate Ford must have built over 100 concept cars since the '50s, and I have seen some as early as early 50s recently being shown so I think they still have a lot of them in storage if they've still got some from 50 years ago. Maybe if some US congressperson sponsored a car collector's bill which would absolve automakers' of legal liability for concept cars sold for charity more of these would reach the public but don't get your hopes up that this could happen because everybody is scared of the lawyers. I'd be glad to write the proposal if someone can get a car collecting congressperson behind it. Ford would earn a lot of money for charity and we'd at last see some more prototypes running under their own power.
     
  4. roddster

    roddster Well-Known Member

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    I hope it survived. Let's hope Fomoco never files bankruptcy as GM did and have to sell off all these cool prototypes.
    At the age of 15, I do remember standing at the Chicago Auto Show staring at this car - taking it all in. I thought it had a whole mix of elements from the Ford GT, the Mustang, and of course with those wheels, the Shelbys
     
  5. bitzman

    bitzman Well-Known Member

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    Was it ever labeled a Shelby ?

    Most pictures I have seen is it is in clay
    or it is painted red (which it was as a running car).
    But I vaguely remember seeing a shot of it in white with a black
    hood. Did it ever have a Shelby or cobra badge?
    I know the guys in styling sometimes pick up varioius badges lying around and try them on a clay model to see if it exhudes the air of this brand or other like they did put a Mk. V badge on the Mangusta when they were thinking of backing that car's importation. Maybe the timing was bad for Shelby as this Mach 2 was on a '67 floorpan, about the same time Shelby was closing his LA plant. Or he had his hands full with LeMans. Never heard his name mentioned with the racing version I saw pictures of.
    I think it was a more sincerely completed car than some of the mid-engined Corvettes. I drove the Two Rotor which was a finished car but I think the Four Rotor could barely muster enough power to drive up to the top of the show stand at the auto show
     

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