Did Bertone Build a Better 1965 Mustang?
This Carrozzeria Bertone design re-bodies America’s iconic sports coupe, but is it better?
This whole project was the brainchild of Automobile Quarterly, a publication founded and edited by L. Scott Bailey. The project was partially sponsored by airline Alitalia. The travel carrier shipped a brand-new Ford Mustang 2+2 Fastback, equipped with a 289-cubic-inch V8 and a 4-speed manual transmission, over to Bertone’s facilities in Italy.
Bertone’s newest designer, a kid by the name of Giorgetto Giugiaro, was to handle the project from design to implementation for Automobile Quarterly. He was fresh from the recent design of Alfa Romeo’s GTV and Iso’s Rivolta, both from which you can see significant design inspiration within this Mustang project.
Because of budget and time constraints, the car’s design was to retain the original Mustang’s wheelbase and track width. Likewise, the car was expected to retain its original drivetrain, which was all well and good to Bertone. Given these constraints, Giugiaro was essentially given carte blanche in terms of the design language he used for the car’s sheetmetal.
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Starting with the front, the new design featured a lower, sleeker nose cone with two pairs of hideaway lights while retaining the iconic “horse in a corral” grille badge. Giugiaro also moved the F-O-R-D letters close together at the center of the hood. With the hood being so low, Bertone was forced to add a power bulge to keep the stock carburetor and air cleaner happy.
Down the side you can see shiny lower rocker covers accentuating the car’s horizontal proportions while hiding vertical mass. A large fender vent and coachbuilder badging was added as well. The largest change you can see from the side is the innovative roll-down rear quarter window where the large B-pillar usually sits.
Out back, the standard fastback was nixed for a wraparound rear window similar to that found on Plymouth’s early Barracuda models. The stock wheels were tossed for a gorgeous set of Campagnolo-built Elektron-Magnesium wheels. It’s a sharp look.
When finished, the car was shipped back to the U.S. where it was displayed at the New York Auto Show.
It won “Best in Show” that year.
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Bertone then shipped the car back to Europe where it toured continental auto shows to similar reception. In order to recoup some of the costs, the car was advertised by Bertone at $10,000. There is no record of the car ever having been sold, but it was absent among Bertone’s assets when the design firm went belly-up.
L. Scott Bailey attempted several times throughout his life to find the car, but still had not when he passed away in 2012. Wherever this one-of-one Mustang is today, it just doesn’t want to be found.
[source] Car Design News & Ford Performance
