While the idea never made it to production, one finished example did make it to the road. But where is it now?
How the Ford Mustang Station Wagon was born
The October 1966 issue of Car and Driver revealed the Mustang Station Wagon to the world.However, the car went through several different designs in order to present the American automaker with options.
The body lines on the Ford Mustang made for a seamless transition to the Mustang Station Wagon. As reported by
, Hagerty said that “Cumberford purchased a brand-new 1965 Ford Mustang and commissioned the build. The idea was to take the station wagon concept and sell it as an add-on kit for existing cars.”
Cumberford collaborated with Barney Clark, an executive with J. Walter Thompson (Ford’s advertising agency), and with Italian coachbuilder Construzione Automobili Intermeccanica. He shipped a 1965 289-powered hardtop to Italy. According to
, “the car got a wagon roof, a bottom-hinged tailgate, a retractable rear window, a relocated fuel filler, and folding rear seats.” Including shipping, the whole project cost less than $10,000.
Unfortunately, when the project was completed 11 months later, Ford wasn’t interested in the oddball car. The Mustang Station Wagon never made it past the concept stage. However, there was demand in the market for this long roof muscle car.
Apparently, Cumberford sold the conversion kit to Hobo, a California-based company. At the time, the kit was less than $600. Eventually, the concept for the station wagon was sold, and that’s the last anyone has heard of it.
That was until 2009, when a “story on Hemmings Daily detailed reader John Murphy’s experience of seeing the car parked on a street in a suburban New Jersey neighborhood in 1966,” MotorTrend reports. Murphy was able to snap some photos before he was chased off by a couple of guys. Could it possibly have been Clark and Cumberford in the flesh?
The hope with the new conversion was to improve handling and provide more cargo space.
The unusual variant had a rare front bench seat and back seats that folded down. This allowed for a ton of storage room in the back. MotorTrend notes that in the back of the car, the “hatch was hinged at the bottom like more of a traditional 1960s wagon clamshell.”
notes that according to Cumberford, “The Mustang had a Falcon chassis with rear leaf springs. It was nose-heavy, and when you hit a bumpy road, the rear end would skip around.”
Cumberford hoped to improve this by adding some weight in the rear.
He started brainstorming changes on a drawing of a Mustang coupe. “The white Mustang was an early-build model with a 260-cubic-inch V8 and an automatic transmission,” according to Hagerty. Cumberford’s goal was to make the car easy to produce, so he kept the coupe’s side glass and window mechanisms and cut the roof above the door.
Hagerty also reports that “Intermeccanica’s craftsmen fabricated a new rear roof section, a tailgate, folding rear seat, and cargo floor.” The goal was to make it look like a Ford vehicle, not a custom car. But even with a fresh green coat of paint and snazzy features from the Mustang’s GT package, this station wagon did not impress the executives at Ford.
The Mustang Station Wagon paved the way for custom builds
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The Mustang Station Wagon is rumored to have been seen in Amsterdam, but there are no confirmed reports as of yet.
Since its creation, the rare classic has inspired countless custom builds. At the Fabulous Fords Forever show at Knotts Berry Farm, Gloria Hoskiko’s G.T. 350 was spotted. The pristine model was white with thick blue stripes down the center, notes
Joe Kamp’s custom station wagon took him three years to build. It was red with gold stripes and featured Camel-colored vinyl seats. First functioning as a show car and the occasional weekend ride, the wagon was eventually auctioned to a car collector for under $30,000.
The Mustang from the mid-60s was also converted into a convertible station wagon with a fiberglass roof. According to MotorTrend, “The Hobo top was designed by Arthur Camp and manufactured by Joel Patrick, Inc. in Sherman Oaks, California.” It retailed for $595 and was marketed as great for families and extra luggage.
Though we wouldn’t rule it out, it's not likely we’ll see any iterations of the Mustang Station Wagon hit the Ford catalog anytime soon. For now, the creative genius of this rejected model will live on in American auto history.