Ever wonder what it would look like if Ford had made
the Mustang mid-engined? We hadn’t until recently, but this one-off creation is
a pretty good guess. It’s called the Mach 40, and it’s essentially a mashup
between a 1969 Mustang Mach 1 and a first-gen Ford GT. Only it wasn’t built by
Ford. This was a private affair.
The Mach 40 project is the brainchild of one Terry
Lipscomb, an engineer whose curiosity and passion do not appear to have wained
as he transitioned to retirement. He hired Mike Miernik to design the car,
Eckert’s Rod & Custom to perform the modifications, and Hardison Metal
Shaping to craft the bodywork.
The low-slung vehicle measures just 109
cm tall, which is a little higher than the original GT40 that inspired its
creation. But that’s still marginally lower than the heights of the newer Ford
GTs. It’s a feat made possible only by moving the engine to the back.
Lift that glass hatch though and you won’t find the
5.8-liter V8 from the original Mach 1, as it would have been too difficult to
turn it around. Instead they fitted the 5.4-liter supercharged V8 from a 2006
Ford GT. And they didn’t leave it in stock form, either: giving it up to 850
horsepower, with flex-fuel capability to let it burn ethanol where it’s
available.
That all makes for one very interesting set of
wheels. No wonder the programmers at Sony and Polyphony Digital saw fit to
include it in the latest update to Gran Turismo Sport. And a good thing, too,
because with only one example ever made, that’s about as close as any of us
will ever get to driving this unique machine.
