1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1. Mike Mueller

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       Ford initially applied the Mach 1 nameplate to a futuristic personal hovercraft, called a “Levacar,” originally displayed at the Rotunda in Dearborn early in 1959. Shown here is Ford Engineering & Research vice president Andrew Kucher, who first proposed using air jets to propel daily transports 30 years earlier. In 1961, the Aluminum Model Toys (AMT) company released a 1/20-scale plastic version. AMT’s model kit even included a blow tube (with mouthpiece) that allowed this little Levacar to ride around on a “cushion of air” just like the real thing. (Photo Courtesy Ford Images)

      Following its prototype stage at Kar-Kraft, the Boss 302 was refined at Ford Engineering, where Mat Donner was responsible for its superb chassis, made up of “mostly adjustments” in his words. Fat F60 Wide Ovals on 15x7 Magnum 500s (painted in standard form, chromed optionally) again appeared, as did those requisite wheel arch mods. Hank Lenox supplied an exclusive power source; he assembled a special 302-cube V-8 based on a modified Windsor block fitted with four-bolt main bearings. On top went new canted-valve cylinder heads then being readied for Ford’s upcoming 351 Cleveland small-block, introduced for 1970.

      Boss production rolled over into 1970 before changing attitudes at Ford deemed the combo no longer viable in the face of tightening federal standards concerning both automotive safety and emissions. The times, they were a-changin’, too.

       MACH 1 LAUNCH

      Mach 1 identification first landed on a Blue Oval vehicle 10 years before it began gracing the 1969 SportsRoof. An out-of-this-world concept, to say the least, the Levacar Mach 1 went on display in Ford’s Rotunda in the spring of 1959, leaving witnesses wondering how the heck the darned thing worked. Not one wheel was in sight, yet brochures claimed a possible top end of 500 mph. What was up?

      The Levacar was. It was suspended a few inches above the roadway or turf by pressurized atmosphere directed through three “levapads.” As soon as it was free of rolling friction, this personal hovercraft purportedly could be pushed to sky-high ground speeds by horizontal air streams, sorta like those that delivered George Jetson to and from work (in glorious color) every Sunday night on ABC television from September 1962 to March 1963. Of course, although this intriguing technology worked fine in Hanna-Barbera cartoons, it never managed to propel its way from the Rotunda into reality. Rorry, Reorge.

       A second Mach 1 sighting came in 1967 when this concept car was created (by customizing that year’s redesigned production model) for the auto show circuit. Further modifications followed for the 1968 show season. (Photo Courtesy Ford Images)

      Far more realistic was Ford’s first Mustang-based Mach 1, a show car initially captured on film in Dear-born’s design studio in November 1966. Basically a custom take on 1967’s restyled fastback, this red-painted beauty featured a radically chopped top and notably large rear-quarter scoops ahead of the wheel openings. Equally hard to miss were two hefty racing-style fuel fillers; one was countersunk into each C-pillar. A revamp for the 1968 show season lengthened the nose and duck tailed the rear, in the latter case tipping off a new exterior cue awaiting SportsRoof customers a year later. A hatchback roof also was added, foretelling a regular-production feature to come for the 1974 downsized Mustang II.

       Ford reportedly spent $150,000 on another 1967 show car, the Mach 2, a fiberglass-bodied two-seater that featured a 289 small-block mounted amidships. (Photo Courtesy Ford Images)

       Mach 1 concept updates for 1968 included more radical nose treatments and a hatchback roof. (Photo Courtesy Ford Images)

      A second concept car, tagged Mach 2, appeared in 1967 with its engine mounted amidships. Ford reportedly spent $150,000 on this attractive two-seat coupe, with plans reportedly calling for it to pick up where Carroll Shelby’s comparatively rude, crude Cobra roadster left off. But again, life couldn’t imitate art. Too bad; in another time, the playful Mach 2 might’ve made the regular-production grade, if only briefly. Kinda like Pontiac’s Fiero.

       Although the regular-production Mach 1 didn’t have its own exclusive brochure in 1969, it did star on the cover of that year’s main Mustang promotional publication, and rightly so.

      With their feet firmly planted in the real world, Ford people apparently figured they didn’t need to go overboard when the moment finally arrived to launch their sales-ready Mach 1. No exclusive press releases were prepared, nor was the car given a coming-out party. It was simply mentioned, rather humbly, during Ford’s 1969 lineup long-lead press conference, held in Dear-born in July 1968.

      “For 1969, we look for great things from Mustang Mach 1,” said merchandising manager William Benton before meandering on to speak in equally understated tones about the Thunderbird, Falcon, and Fairlane.

       Mach 1 magazine ads in 1969 featured two-page photographic representations and artists’ conceptions. Note that the tail striping in this rear view does not feature the die-cut “Mach 1” lettering that apparently was a last-second addition to production models. (Photo Courtesy Ford Images)

      “The Mustang in 1969 will have considerably expanded market coverage and appeal in all-out performance with the Cobra Jet, in luxury with the Grande, and in performance and luxury with the Mach 1,” added Light Vehicle chief engineer Tom Feaheny, reserving his unbridled enthusiasm, perhaps, for Mustang’s redesigned ventilation system. Hell, Benton didn’t even open with 1969’s pony car news, choosing instead “a slightly unusual approach” that first concentrated, with admitted pride, on Ford’s best-selling light trucks.

       Motor Trend (August 1968) and Car and Driver (November 1968) also covered Ford’s latest and greatest pony car right up front. According to Motor Trend’s Robert Irvin, the “Mustang Mach 1 . . . will not put its namesake out of the picture, but rather, into a better one.” Notice Dearborn’s newly hired president, fast-thinking Bunkie Knudsen, beaming above. (Photo Courtesy The Enthusiast Network)

      So what was the Mach 1? Chopped liver?

      Not at all. Nor was it a shrinking violet. As far as publicity pushes were concerned, it was the car itself that honked its own horn early on. With a little help from speed demon Mickey Thompson, an old friend of Bunkie Knudsen’s from his days as Pontiac chief.

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