| |
Mustang Goes West...Almost
A One-of-a-kind Factory Promo Mustang II Survives!
by Chris Richardson
|
Specialty Mustangs - those which deviated from the norm - began right at the forefront with the uniquely-painted 1964½ Indy 500 Pace Car hardtops. Over the years, many promotional and district-only builds made the mix of cars even broader, and have kept restorers and history buffs busy over the years.
Many time, a lone car is built as a proposal vehicle to gauge management and marketing's take on an idea. Given the green light, it might end up in the run along with the rest of the batch. But if the project gets the axe, this now one-off is likely to be relegated to further product development, possible crash testing or, worse yet, stamped with an immediate crush order. Depending on the level of modifications and its foundation (production, pilot or prototype), its fate could go many ways.
Sometimes, though, we get lucky, and a moment in automotive history gets saved. Such was the case for the 1976 Western Mustang.
Doug DeLorme had a long career in the suto industry as a wood model maker and designer. After a brief tenure at GM and a prototypes shop that catered to Blue Oval products, he put in a thirty year stint at Ford Motor Company. It was during this time that Doug became acquainted with this particular 1976 Mustang.
Doug was working at Design Center when the coupe was put on displya for a new product show to garner response on the edge of the new model year. Always looking to bolster district sales with specific-themed vehicles, a 1976 Western F-100 and this Western Mustang were created as "his and hers" concept vehicles and campaigned for distribution in the Dallas, Denver, Albuquerque, and Las Vegas locales, among others. The acceptance of the proposal was overwhelmingly positive. While the pickup was passed over, the Mustang got the nod, but it surely wasn't about to become a volume specialty car, as only 50 units were to be commissioned.
First off, you nearly immediately notice the heavily padded landau-style vinyl top featuring the wrap-around tooled leather-look section and bucking hors medallion. This special pattern carries over to the inside in a two-tone theme on the front and rear seats in dark brown over tan. A similar design adorns the door panels. The steering wheel is treated to a duo-color insert, and the instrument panel cluster gauge surround and passenger-facing dash panel above the glove box are padded in soft, tan vinyl.
All 50 cars were to be identical, with Dark Brown Metallic hue, aluminum wheels with special starburst inserts and raised white letter tires. The list of standard equipment was broad as well, with a 302, automatic tranny, power steering and brakes, air conditioning, AM/FM stereo, intermittent wipers and rear defog.
It all makes for an aesthetically pleasing pony, and one that definitely captured Doug's attention. He asked his wife, Rita, if she also liked it, and with an affirmative on that front, Doug tagged the vehicle as a Ford employee.
Delivery had to happen at a Ford dealership, which occured at Harold Turner Ford on November 18, 1976. The plates that were put on the car are the same the car wears today. Once in the DeLorme garage, Rita used it as daily transportation to Beaumont hospital, only one and a half miles down the road, which made a huge contribution in keeping the miles low. The car was put away during winters, but also Tuffcoat-Dynoled, a franchised Midwest area undercoating company popular in the '70s. There were other potential hazards to the Mustang exterior's well-being that passed with nary an incident - Doug and Rita's three sons earned their licenses behind the wheel of the Western pony. Neither the elements nor new teenage drivers came to harm the original panels and paint over its 27,000 mile history.
So how did this one and only example survive? As Doug followed the progress of the package's development, he learned that work had begun on the project and cars were undergoing the conversion into Western Mustangs. The interiors had been removed and the custom roofs were on their way. It was during this period of progression that word came through that the whole shebang was cancelled. Cost concerns were to blame. This meant that the coupes had to be returned to box-stock condition for sale through the normal dealer outlets. Luckily, the one that Doug had tagged was a saleable production unit, and it was deemed that it could remain as it was built for the proposal.
At the Mustang's 40th Anniversary festivities in Nashville, special guest Gale Halderman, best known for his work with the original Mustang in the from of the fastback bodystyle, stopped by the Western Mustang and told Doug that he remembered the car and was pleased to see that it had survived and was in good hands. It also garnered the attention of enthusiasts from across the pond, being videotaped for television features in both England and Germany.
Had the Western Mustang not ended up with the DeLorme's, a likely scenario could have been this: Purchased by someone who didn't realize the significance of the coupe's background, it is treated as simple transportation. Worn down and rusty after a decade or more of Michigan's not-so-kind climate, the car ends its life relegated to the muddy confines of a local junkyard. Not pretty, is it? But that's the fate of the overwhelming majority of vehicles in the salt-laden Midwest.
So the world nearly saw, albiet on a small scale, a Mustang for the western market along the line of the High Country Specials of 1966-1968 and the California Special of 1968. Thanks to Doug and Rita DeLorme, we know beyond a doubt what that car would have been had the project come to fruition. And, because of them, a unique piece of Mustang's history has been preserved.
|
|
