To earn a point, give the year, make, model, designer, and builder of this strange car
I would have sworn we had this before. Further, I was sure I had posted it. I must be losing my marbles.
If it ever gets percolated up, I can solve it quickly. 8)
Up! for the Experts
Mustang base ?
Mustang base
A 1964 two seater Mustang prototype chassis 100009, which was designed by Vince Gardner and built by Andy Hotton and others from Dearborn Steel Tubing on the shortened Mustang chassis prepared by Ford Engineering.
LOCKED for streamliner.
Great answers. What name was it given at car shows?
If I had to guess at a name, I'd have to say it was the Vivace, but there seems to be some conflict over that name. The current owner of the car says it absolutely wasn't Vivace, but doesn't say what is was. Others say it is the Vivace.
It looks like it may make a fully restored appearance at Amelia Island next year (2013), so we'll see what research has come up on the actual name it used during its show circuit days...
Vivace is not the name I was looking for. I could not find any pictures of the similar-but-different Mustang Vivace, wondering what it looked like.
As I only found one image with the model name I was originally looking for, I will award the point. Over the years, many cars have been described as "Mustang III", and someone attached this name to the Gardner fastback.
A bit more about the story and a couple more pictures (note the differences from the heading - it says it was built by 'Dearborn Steel Tubing' rather than 'Detroit..' and the designer was Bill Gardner rather than Vince..):
QUOTE
The Mustang will be part of Amelia's "What Were They Thinking?"class, a category consisting of eight unique cars that would not find a home on any other concours field.
Built by Dearborn Steel Tubing from a pre-production Mustang chassis, the Snyders' two-seater is a true one-off with fiberglass panels from the cowl to the tail. The wheelbase was shortened 16 inches and the standard 260 V-8 was enlarged to 302 cubic-inches.
"It was custom built and became part of a Ford traveling show," explains Snyder. "That's where I first encountered the 'shorty' Mustang and I loved it. I said 'I'm gonna buy one!' but the Ford salesman said that there would be no such car for sale."
The one-of-a-kind Mustang fastback was designed by Bill Gardner, who was so convinced that Ford would eventually crush his creation that he hid it by building walls around the car in a warehouse. Gardner didn't leave a trail but also failed to pay the rent for the warehouse. Within six months, the Mustang was discovered after the insurance company had paid Ford's claim. The car was taken to the insurance company's New England headquarters, where a company executive bought it.
An ad in a magazine alerted Bill Snyder that his fantasy two-seat Mustang was available. The deal was done and one of Snyder's employees drove Bill's dream car to Ohio.
UNQUOTE
Not sure why I typed "Detroit" instead of "Dearborn". All my images of this car say "Dearborn".
Not sure about Bill or Vince. There are a lot of web sites with each name.
Vince Gardner worked at Dearborn Steel Tubing. He was behind a lot of well-known one-off's and customs, some of which are puzzled elsewhere within this site. There may have been a Bill that worked there, but he didn't design this car.
Some period pics.