Dream Garage: Ford Mustang

For sale at Taylor & Crawley London W1. Tel: 020 7823 2599 www.taylorandcrawley.com

You can make a fine meal from simple ingredients, and the Ford Mustang is proof. Not many men get to be solely responsible for a new class of car, but when in 1963 Lee Iacocca sketched out a compact 2+2 Ford with sporty looks on family car running gear, he created the first ‘ponycar’ – and horsepower addicts have blessed him ever since. If you ordered the vanilla version with a sluggish six, it still looked as good as the top-spec V8 – and no one could tell that both of them ran on the works from the Blue Oval’s bread and butter Falcon saloon – much as the Capri was really a Cortina in a party frock.

Naturally it wasn’t long before the Mustang was wailing around racetracks, pulling in a stack of successes on both sides of the Atlantic. The Tour de France, drag racing, SCCA, Trans-Am – Mustangs were everywhere, especially when modified by Carroll Shelby to create the famous GT350, and they have continued to make an impact in historic racing.

Purists prefer first-series looks, so this coupé in Bullitt green made a good basis when Allan Lloyd imported it to the UK to build an Appendix K racer to contest the FIA Touring Car championship.

“He built it about 14 years ago,” says David Clark of Taylor & Crawley, “and spent a lot of money. But it worked – he won the title.”

Clark knows the car well: “It’s been in and out of my hands a few times. I raced it in the Spa Six Hours, finishing sixth, and then Rob Hartley ran it very successfully in the Masters Series along with Richard Oldworth. I bought it back meaning to race it but I haven’t got around to it.”

Prepared by John Freeman Racing and thoroughly overhauled since its last event, the car has a Steve Warrior 4.7-litre engine halfway through its rebuild cycle and a new paddle clutch, and is ready to race. Eligible for the Masters series and Goodwood Revival, it would make a competitive entry in a range of other historic events too.

“It’s really nice to drive,” says Clark. “People imagine they’re heavy but they’re not. Same with the Falcon I used to share with Rowan Atkinson; it looked big but that was a delight on the track. In the right hands this car could be a front-runner.”

Factfile

Year: 1965
Engine: 4.7-litre V8, four-barrel Holley carb
Gearbox: four-speed manual
Power: around 400bhp
Suspension: front: double wishbone, rear: live axle, leaf springs
Top speed: dependent on body
Number built: (1965) 559,451
Price: £55,000