Feature Vehicles

FEATURE VEHICLES

1963 Mustang II Prototype By Jim Kreuz The Mustang II “concept” came out of the need to bridge the public’s perception of the Mustang I two- seater from 1962 and the production Mustang to come in April 1964. In the summer of 1963, the Ford Styling department handed design details to Dearborn Steel Tubing (DST) to build the Mustang II prototype. What began as a ’63 Falcon Sprint chassis evolved into a completed vehicle in September 1963, minus the final top coat of paint. On October 6, 1963, just six months prior to the introduction of the mass produced Mustang on April 17, 1964, Ford unveiled the Mustang II at Watkins Glen Raceway in Watkins Glen, New York. On hand to make the introduction was Lee Iacocca, the man who had staked his reputation - and his job - on this car.

After Watkins Glen, the Mustang II was placed on the auto show circuit until early 1964, then it was retired to a Ford warehouse in Dearborn. Following 11 years of mostly storage, Ford donated its valuable piece of history to the Detroit Historical Museum in 1975. With the exception of a handful of car shows, the 1963 Mustang II resided for the following 21 years, from 1975 to 1996, in a WW II era warehouse owned by the museum. By the mid 1980s, it fell into disrepair and was no longer running.

In 1996, the car was loaned to the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Owls Head, Maine, where Peter Curtis and other volunteers got it back in running order. The Mustang II remained there until its return to the Detroit Historical Museum’s warehouse in 2011. 2007 Mustang Saleen Transformer Movie Police Car “Barricade” Saleen did indeed manufacturer vehicles for use in Paramount picture’s “Transformer” movie. The “Bumble Bee” vehicle was the Chevrolet Camaro based vehicle and the “Barricade” vehicle was a Saleen derived vehicle.

Saleen designed 2 press vehicles as replicas of the Barricade unit to promote the launch of the “Transformer” movie; one vehicle was for the west coast and the other was for our eastern territory. The west coast press vehicle unit 055 was dismantled and the east coast press vehicle unit 984, bumper number #07-0467 carrying Ford Vin number 1ZVFT82H875306148 was returned to McDonald Ford in its current press car condition.

This vehicle was used in several show and parade events in 2007 such as Northwood University, Troy Days, Woodward Cruise and other local events throughout the northeast region to promote Saleen’s involvement in the “Transformer” movie and the Saleen branded vehicles.