See the similarities.

"Similar to the Chevy Corvette, the Ford Mustang has occasionally been imagined as a mid-engine sports car. In fact, the very first concept to carry the name was a mid-engine machine, and it revisited the idea with the 1967 Mach 2 concept. But apparently Ford had another prototype from the mid-1960s that even it doesn't remember.

Ford Performance recently shared the story and the photos of a mid-engine Mustang prototype shown above. According to the division the photos were discovered by a retired Ford Archives head and shared with John Clor, content manager of Ford Performance Enthusiast Communications. They were originally taken on May 2, 1966. Clor and Ford have contacted multiple former Ford designers and experts, and none of them are familiar with the vehicle. All that they've been able to determine is that the photos show the car in the "International Studio" at Ford's complex in Dearborn, and that it doesn't seem to be the same as the Mach 2, which used 1967 Mustang parts and a different front end construction, whereas this car has 1966 parts, plus it has some noticeably different styling.

It's a shame Ford doesn't have more information or more photos of the vehicle, since it looks like it would have been pretty cool. It has a layout similar to the De Tomaso Pantera, with a longitudinal Ford small block V8 mounted in the middle, with a transmission and rear differential mounted inline behind it. Filling up the extra space between the tail and the engine is a full-size spare. The car is just a two-seater, with low-mounted bucket seats, and the whole car looks shorter than a regular Mustang, particularly at the back where the rear overhang is very short.

Because Ford doesn't have other information on the car, it's asking the wider world for help. If you have information about this car, send it to ClubHub@Ford.com. And if you can solve this mystery, Ford says it will provide a reward.

Seen at Atlanta cars and coffee.
Click to view attachment

More pictures here:

https://performance.ford.com/enthusiasts/qu...ne-mustang.html

Very cool! With the success of the new Corvette, I wonder if Ford is looking at this idea again more seriously now? I know those cars are different animals, but since Ford used the Mustang as the basis for the new e-SUV, it wouldn't surprise me what they'll do next.

Maybe what Porsche/VW should have done with the 914. Sourced a small, light V8 like the Rover aluminum 3.5 or maybe a V6 like Ford's Cologne.

Maybe, but they didn’t want the 914 to be better than the 911.

BOSS!

But they didn't need a water cooled V-6. All Porsche had to do was to start making 914-6s with some parts from the same year 911S. Imagine a 1973 914-6 with the 2.4S MFI engine and transmission, front suspension, and rear brakes from a 73 911S.

It would have been faster, lighter, and better handling than the 911. If you put in the stuff from a 911 RSR, plus flares and bigger tires, and did the equivalent lightening mods to the 914 chassis, you would have had a giant killer of a race car.

It would have been inexpensive as all of the parts were already developed for the 911. Some costs would be incurred when they adapted the rear 911 brakes.

From the perspective of Porsche, it would have been cheap, fast, and easy.

But Porsche wouldn't do that. To keep the 911 as top dog, they hobbled anything else in their lineup that could possibly threaten it.

They still do it today.

Carerror, and Marty has the car today. Porsche did test the engins with prototype 914114. A test mule that had a VW four and a 911 2.2 S in it. Porsche told them to distroy the car. 914114 was stolen and shipped to America where it was stolen I think twice more.
The car that Porsche is racing today is a mid engine 911. Carerror, Porsche should be backing the model that they paid good money to thier engineers for. Porsche is racing a Cayman.
Stupendous engineering, stupidass management...
Just my opinion...