The Shelby American (Winter 2021)

tang began garnering all the atten- tion. The Prototype was ‘old news’ and had served its purpose. It was rele- gated to a Ford warehouse in Dear- born, Michigan. In 1975, Ford donated ‘II’ to the De- troit Historical Museum. It had es- caped the car crusher and would now have a permanent home. Sadly, most automobile manufacturer’s fear of lawsuits resulted in the disposal of their concept cars and few survived. The Mustang II rarely saw daylight over the following 21 years, spending its time in this same dark WW II era warehouse owned by the museum. Occasionally the car was sent to an auto exhibition, or taken out and driven around the Fort Wayne (De- troit) grounds by the museum staff - to “blow the cobwebs out.” This was typ- ical for any museum-owned vehicle that was in working order. By the mid 1980s, it fell into disrepair and was no longer running. Owls Head Museum 1996 - 2011 In 1996, the car was loaned to the Owls Head Transportation Museum, in Owls Head, Maine. There, Peter Curtis and other volunteers had it running in no time, and it remained at Owls Head until its return to the De- troit Historical Museum collection in 2011. As the Detroit Historical Society’s Curator of Collections, it was Adam Lovell’s responsibility to escort us into the very back of the ancient ware- house where we were to view the Mus- tang II. The tall-ceiling building was poorly lit – it’s a warehouse – and was filled with vehicles encased in pressur- ized clear plastic bubbles. After trav- elling several hundred feet we rounded a corner and there it was. At first glance this relic really took my breath away. I just stood and stared for 30 seconds – the Mustang Holy Grail. After carefully rolling the car out from its parking slot and into an open area, we began to examine and photo- graph it. Adam had arranged for sev- eral portable lights to be set up and these helped out tremendously. It didn’t take Mark long to ask permis- sion to open the hood so we could look at the engine. Adam even allowed us to take the air cleaner off the dual car- buretors so we could look for the build date. Our curator kept an eye on us as if he were in a museum with three 12 year-olds. His concern was justified: he later revealed this piece of history was insured for over $3M. Post 1963 History at Ford While the prototype was on display at the 2012 Detroit Autorama, Gary Gumushian approached the museum staff with an interesting story. His fa- ther worked in the department that inherited the Mustang I and II Proto- types – the Ford Marketing depart- ment. Mr. Gumushian drove both the “I” and “II” around town and son Gary fondly remembered being dropped off at grade school in the Mustang II. When asked if other duplicate cars were made, he recalled that two of the Mustang I’s were made: one for show and one that was driven at Watkins Glen. The test vehicle was in an acci- dent and most likely scrapped, but Gary wasn’t sure. He didn’t remember a second Mustang II. Gary even came back the following day to say he’d pondered this question all night and was certain there was only one of Mustang II. He did add that there were special trailers with signage denoting “Mustang I” and “Mustang II” that Ford Marketing used to haul the cars. 1962 Mustang l Prototype You may be wondering about the precursor to the Mustang II. The Mus- tang I was a two-seater and as such was deemed to have only a limited consumer appeal by the Ford market- ing group and the idea was quickly scrapped. No word if Gary’s father had a say in this. Its debut at Watkins The SHELBY AMERICAN Winter 2021 69