Ford Teased This Incredible Interceptor Concept In 2007 & Never Made It
Interceptor was the answer to Dodge’s four-door Charger. Sadly, it became vaporware, and we’re still mad about it.
Ford has delivered some amazing things when it comes to the Mustang. But we’re gonna call out a missed opportunity. Back in 2007 at the North American International Auto Show, Ford touted a concept car. Ford was already phasing out the Panther platform, and needed a replacement.
The concept shown was called the Interceptor and had every ingredient to essentially be a worthy replacement, and be considered a 4-door Mustang. According to a report from Driving Line, it was even based on the Mustang platform. But, Ford never made it.
The concept itself scoured the Ford parts bin, and would have been production-ready without much effort, it seems. It used a “cammer” Ford 5.0 V8, which was essentially a missing link between the 4.6 modular V8 and the 5.0 Coyote.
Driveline was all Mustang, including a live rear axle. As cool as that is, it may have been the one item to kill the concept. Power was sent to that rear axle via a 6-speed manual. Again, all of those ingredients together would have made it an incredible car.
Interior appointments show this car was still in concept form. Sculpted seats and headrests that deploy from the roof would have never made it to a Ford showroom.
But, styling cues from this car did make it to the sixth generation Taurus. Tell us those tail lights and the chrome strip that links them doesn’t look familiar.
The reason why we’re mad? Not that Ford didn’t make it, but instead they tried to replace the Panther platform with the Ford 500, which didn’t catch on. So they re-named that car as the Taurus.
Ford anticipated this change would work a bit better for the marketing department. It didn’t. Finally after a full revamp, the Taurus filled the police interceptor void left behind by the P71’s departure.
More importantly, while Ford was playing musical chairs with naming their full sized FWD based sedan, Chevrolet had made the SS, and MOPAR was pumping out the Charger. So it’s not like there wouldn’t have been a market for the Interceptor.
Now that the era of V8 sedans is in the far distant future, this concept will sadly never be revisited. Oh what could have been.
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Photos: Driving Line
