Small Mustang, Big Price
Your eyes do not deceive you: the Mustang in the above pictures is indeed a few centimetres shorter than it's supposed to be. However, this is no hack-job, it's a legit Ford prototype that will go under the hammer shortly.
Let me tell you the history of Shorty, the shortened Mustang.
Once upon a time (in 1964, actually) Vince E. Gardner decided that one of the best ways to outline the 1965 Mustang's changes was to create a shorter version of it. He took a pre-production fastback vehicle, shortened the middle by 406mm, and created this one-off car to tour the auto shows. To further differentiate it from a production car, the whole body was made from fibreglass, it featured an independent front suspension, a bespoke rear and a 302 cubic inch (5 litre) V8. I can already hear Ford's purists yell: "But the Mustang didn't have a 302 until 1967!" That's true, Shorty's engine was actually a bored-out version of its original 260 cubic inch powerplant.
The story gets even better: after a year of touring the various shows, Ford decided to destroy the prototype, since there were no plans to build a production version of the car. Upon hearing that the management wanted to destroy his creation, Gardner went to Ford's warehouse and stole Shorty in the dead of night. He hid the car in a rented storage unit, and built a wall in front of it to keep it safe. Meanwhile, Ford collected the insurance money for the car and moved on.
However, Vince only paid the first month of storage fees, and the owner eventually found the car by destroying the fake wall. An employee from Ford's insurance company bought Shorty, and it sat around for decades before being completely restored at the turn of the millennium.
Auctions America is currently tasked with the sale of the Ford Mustang Shorty, and they expect it to sell for around $600,000.
