[quote=Twin Turbo;6601547]Oh well. Is it wrong that I'm excited to see the S550 car cover?


Nope, i'm as excited as you are ! Wonder if i could order my S550 car cover right away !!!


TWSS

 

There's a couple things I can get from this:

If it's a S550 cover on an S197, we can conclude the S550 is a little smaller or at least sleeker than the S197. Because that cover is having a hard time stretching over the car underneath.

Mechanically, I think the main event in this mule is probably under the hood. We can't see the front fascia, but the way the nose is sitting up in the air has me thinking this could be testing a fairly light motor like the EB4.

 

judging from where the transparent part for the headlights is on the front end, i still feel very worried about how this new Mustang is gonna look even though its barely visible from those images. i want to be proven wrong about a 2 door Fusion.

 

Ford hasn't gotten it completely right since 1969-1970. You actually think this new one is gonna scream "perfect new mustang"? C'mon man. With enough aftermarket accessories, the new one will look ok too. The best hope you have is for a complete Aston ripoff. Kinda like the fusion. Lol

 

Without the stock v6 wheels, it does look like a mini version of a challenger, specially the roof line makes it look that way in the first picture.

Total hack job, and looks like it has extra black plastic over the panels to hide the shape, also looks like there's something under the cover on the roof.

 

Don't you wish the Government was this good at keeping secrets?!?! Someone posted a fender vent looks like its poking out but I think that is just the light hitting the black paint of the fender lip. Thanks for posting these. It's like playing a spy game until it's unveiled.

 

I'd love to know why would they camo a S197 body at all, let alone with a S550 cover...

But I suppose we can perhaps glean from the cover than the S550 also will not have a full fastback roofline (which I was hoping for)?

I was thinking when I saw the spy pics that the profile pretty much just looked like the current car which, barring some camo trickery, made me wonder if the S550 was a much more conservative generational change than we had been led to believe!

 

I hope there's still a fastback hiding somewhere. Dreams of a 2015 fastback are the only thing that keep me going!

 

There's a fast back under there. Maybe with a slight lip.

 

I wouldn't count on a fastback because then there's no chance at a vert.

 

Well, a true fastback features a roofline that terminates at the rear deck lid. The cover I'm seeing more or less seems to follow the same sloping roof/flat, horizontal decklid that the current cars have, which in turn mimics the '65-'66 2+2s.

That's a good point.

 

Why not? 64-70 there were 3 bodies. Coupe, vert, fastback. 79-93 there were 3 bodies. Notch, vert, hatch. Is Ford not capable of 3 bodies anymore? Yeah probably not.

 

Yeah, I'm guessing tooling up for three different body styles wouldn't be considered too cost effective these days. Then again, who knows...?

 

What about the front fender vents in these shots?

 

I think it's just a light reflection.

 

looks like vent to me

 

It does but judging from how shiny and reflective the wheel well lip is, I still think it might just be light reflecting on the black paint where the side c-scoop indent meets the front wheel well flare.

 

Because they know the Mustang forums will go crazy with the slightest bit of S550 news?

The engineers are probably sitting back and have a good old laugh at our guesses

 

Haha......maybe I was right and Ford really are playing with us

http://www.roadandtrack.com/go/futur...totype-or-mule

Legendary automotive spy photographer Jim Dunne has snagged, well, something. But it's probably not what you're reading elsewhere. This is a 2015 Ford Mustang engineering mule, that much is true. It's hard to know much more about it, not only because of the heavy camouflage, but because Ford is actively messing with the press. That's not to say that there isn't real science happening with this car, but hell, look a little closer and you'll see that it's probably not an actual prototype of the next-generation Mustang, especially since we've heard that Ford isn't even building '15 Mustang protos until June.
Those are clearly S197 rockers, but because of the grain in the shots, it's hard to tell if they're just tacked on plastic there as a ruse. Ford's been pulling some shenanigans like that lately. Remember the 5-lug hubcaps on the F Series mules? You can't even tell if the the new fully-independent suspension that's been snagged in spy shots before is present. This might even have a live axle. But the reason for the high-riding stance is probably due to a lack of powertrain in this particular car. Looking as closely as possible, it appears that most of the bodywork is actually current, and really, who's to say Ford doesn't love playing this game with the media and the public, since both groups actively frothing at the mouth for any shred of information about the 2015 Mustang?

 

I just finished posting this on another forum:

Automakers are notorious for using all sorts of tricks to camouflage new test vehicles.

The article notes that the bumpers were removed. Based on the length and height of the rear clip, I'd also hazard a guess that there's something under the covers in the back (probably some plastic "scaffolding" attached to the bumper bolts) propping them up to throw off the perspective on the back of the car. The drawn on headlights are a trick (GM used this trick with the tailights of the C7 Vette on the leaked mule photos) and the 4x4 wheel gap is also drawn onto the cover if you look at the first pic.

So while the photos probably are real, be careful of the conclusions you draw.