Will there be a mid-engine Mustang?

[Jetnoise]

this is why you don't let marketing live. Corpses on display tends to dissuade stupid in the future.

Marketing…..Turning a blind eye to reality ….is what turn you into a corpse. ask HP
Does future you …..remember your affinity for fax machines. …bag phones & Hardwired cell phones in your car….electric cars are a scam and will never be accepted…..ask Elon bout that one

understanding marketing is not your forte’ I get it.
a smart mfr and its marketing make it easy for the buyer and the seller To advance in technology while having name recognition. It’s called smart sustainability For a world leader in automobile manufacturing.

Throw your resume at Ford’s marketing team. You’re a shoe in

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[Cobra Jet]

Something could be coming....
https://carbuzz.com/news/ford-cooking-up-chevy-corvette-c8-rival

 

[shogun32]

Something could be coming....
https://carbuzz.com/news/ford-cooking-up-chevy-corvette-c8-rival

since when is competitive analysis which everybody's been doing for 60 years grist for a thin gruel article based on hopium and tea leaves?

Now if a S550 Mustang was running around town with the engine where the back seats is and mated to the C8 transaxle was spotted, we'd have something interesting to talk about. Move the cabin maybe 6" forward, the engine bay would be a giant frunk and we'd FINALLY be rid of the useless pretense of a back seat.

 

[LSchicago]

Ford experimented with a Mid engine Mustang before the first Mustang was built and again in 1967. I wouldn't put it past them to study and or build one again.

 

[Maglin]

I don't think so. The Mustang has never really been a Corvette competitor. The vette is a sports car where the mustang is a Pony/Muscle car. Being as Ford already has a GT that is mid engine I don't think they would want to dilute it's allure with a mid engine Mustang that would remove the rear seat (along with it's tax/insurance advantages) for a mid engine Mustang. That being said we don't know what they have in store for the distant future.

If they where to make one would I buy it? That is an easy YES!!!! I would hope they take some cue's from the old Pantera.

 

[Cobra Jet]

Ford experimented with a Mid engine Mustang before the first Mustang was built and again in 1967. I wouldn't put it past them to study and or build one again.

Yes. You’re referring to Project LID. I’ve posted about it on VMF and the BOSS302 forums.

Here’s the post:
Many probably are not aware but there was a 1969 mid-engine BOSS 429 built and it was called Project LID (Low Investment Drivetrain).

According to some sources, after its prototype cycle it was to be shredded, but apparently was not.

Here's the story courtesy of Macs Motor City Garage web site:
https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/the-lid-project-fords-secret-mid-engine-boss-429-mustang/
If you're not a link clicker, here's the content of the story from MMCG:

Ford’s Secret Mid-Engine Boss 429 Mustang

Posted on September 3, 2016 by MCG

REVISED AND UPDATED — In 1969, Ford built a single prototype for a mid-engined version of the Boss 429 Mustang. Here’s the true story behind this wild machine—with an intriguing update.

We’ve told some of this tale before here at Mac’s Motor City Garage, including it in the feature Five Forgotten Ford Mustangs (April 14, 2014) and posting a stand-alone feature in May 2015. Here’s the latest.

Built by Ford Motor Company’s Special Vehicles unit and its private Detroit-area skunkworks, Kar Kraft, this fascinating 1969 project was known internally as the LID Mustang. The LID initials signified Low Investment Drivetrain—a mid-engine configuration done on the cheap, using as many off-the-shelf components as possible.

One well-known issue with the production Boss 429 Mustang of 1969-1970 (1,358 examples built) was its poor weight distribution, the result of cramming a big, iron hemi V8 between the front wheels of a light, short-wheelbase chassis. The LID concept addressed this problem by relocating the engine from the front to directly over the rear wheels. Here’s how the deed was done.

A standard Boss 429 engine and C6 automatic transmission were turned around backward and installed in a fabricated, removable rear subframe, with the engine centered directly over the rear axle centerline. A custom-built transfer case, similar to a marine drive, turned the output 180 degrees and fed it to a 9-inch Ford rear axle, which was converted to independent operation with articulated half shafts and u-joints. A special axle housing incorporated an engine mount and pickup points for the Koni coilover shocks and rear control arms. The modular, drop-out layout was obviously devised with low-volume production in mind—and at a much lower cost than the conventional solution, an exotic and expensive European transaxle.

On the outside, the LID Mustang was trimmed not like a Boss 429 but like a standard 1969 Mach I Sportsroof, with little to give away the revised engine location. Note: There was even a hood scoop up front. The stamped steel wheels, eight inches wide at the rear and six inches in the front, were reverse offset (in front-wheel drive fashion) to preserve the stock track width, then disguised with full wheel covers taken from the Lincoln parts bin.

The rear seat was removed and the area trimmed with black carpeting, while up front, the former engine compartment housed the battery, radiator, and air-conditioning condenser, with electric fans to provide cooling.

For access to the big V8 out back, the rear glass was replaced with a Sports Slat rear louver assembly mounted on hinges and folding struts. The LID project was a complete success in this way: The Boss 429’s static weight distribution was reversed from 60/40 percent front to 40/60 rear. But to the engineers’ surprise, except for a reduction of wheelspin, there was no significant improvement in performance. With that discovery, the LID Mustang program was stopped in its tracks. However, the car was fully operational and street legal. You can see it in action here in this awesome home movie recorded by Kar Kraft employee Larry Lawrence back in ’69.

So what was the fate of the lone mid-engine Boss 429? According to a short article on the beast in the December 1970 issue of Motor Trend, at that point it was awaiting its appointment with the crusher at a Detroit-area salvage yard. Since the unique Mustang hasn’t been seen since, we presume that’s where this story ends.

UPDATE — Well, that’s where the story ended when we first published it in May of 2015. But since then, we’ve received some very interesting info from multiple and highly credible sources who worked at Ford at the time. Not so fast, the insiders tell us: There’s an excellent chance the LID Mustang wasn’t destroyed. In fact, they doubt that happened at all.

Here’s what’s known for sure: After its test program was completed, the car was sent to a fenced-in bullpen at of the Dearborn Proving Grounds, and there it sat with some other discarded test mules as the months stretched into a year or more. From there the Mustang was supposed to be sent to the shredder but instead, our moles assert, the car simply disappeared one day—poof. So we shouldn’t be surprised, they say, if the one-of-a-kind Mustang has simply been sitting in a private garage somewhere in Dearborn or Allen Park for the past 40-odd years, and one day it reappears. We’ll be looking forward to that day.

This additional link contains Kar Kraft video footage of rare builds (including LID and the KK B429 assembly line) taken by former KK Employee Larry Lawrence in 1969:
https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/video-a-tour-of-kar-kraft-in-1969/
---

Where is LID today? Grab your sleuthing caps and post what you know or can find!

 

[LSchicago]

I forgot about the Mid Engine Boss 429. I have the Kar Kraft book too. I was referring to the 67 Mach 2/Mach 2C.

 

[boB]

It would no longer look like a Mustang because as it is now the mid-engine won't fit. The good part is there is an off-the-shelf transaxle from Tremec.

 

[shogun32]

It would no longer look like a Mustang because as it is now the mid-engine won't fit. The good part is there is an off-the-shelf transaxle from Tremec.

so you move the greenhouse forward 4" plus you have oodles of room for the driver footwell since there is no firewall to contend with. Nobody accused me of being able to draw but compared to the grotesque look of the Foxbody I can't say this looks that bad or loses the plot...

 

[Hi-PO Stang]

Oh ! Now I see why Ford is bench marking the C8 and is no longer taking orders for the Ford GT.

 

[331GT]

nah…. I think seeing the engine disappear altogether is more likely.

This, although i hate to admit it. id be lying if i said i havent already thought this could be the last or one of the last performance internal combustion vehicles i buy. i hope not but sure seems more likely than not. im still not a fan of the C8. ive always loved vettes too. i thought the C7 was fabulous. i thought the C8 would grow on me more but it hasnt. the lines and the look of it-it looks great, it performs amazingly well for the money. but every time i see one on the road i think it's something else, some euro exotic im not familiar with yet until i realize it's a vette. ive wondered if chevy is looking to the future with this-they know the hardcore vette guys who grew up with C2,C3, and beyond may not like it, but the younger guys who dont know the older ones as much wont have this "it's a vette, it shouldnt be mid engine" mindset. this will be what they know from the start, not the good old days of a BBC (big block chevy you pervs ) front engine vette. i simply cannot see Ford doing this with the mustang but you never know.

 

[331GT]

Yes. You’re referring to Project LID. I’ve posted about it on VMF and the BOSS302 forums.

Here’s the post:
Many probably are not aware but there was a 1969 mid-engine BOSS 429 built and it was called Project LID (Low Investment Drivetrain).

According to some sources, after its prototype cycle it was to be shredded, but apparently was not.

Here's the story courtesy of Macs Motor City Garage web site:
https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/the-lid-project-fords-secret-mid-engine-boss-429-mustang/
If you're not a link clicker, here's the content of the story from MMCG:


This additional link contains Kar Kraft video footage of rare builds (including LID and the KK B429 assembly line) taken by former KK Employee Larry Lawrence in 1969:
https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/video-a-tour-of-kar-kraft-in-1969/
---

Where is LID today? Grab your sleuthing caps and post what you know or can find!

interesting, never saw that before, thanks for posting

 

[Interceptor]

Why?

 

[Labradog]

No, there's no reason to. Next big move with be to a true electric mustang that puts the weight in the floor for the batteries and rear electric motors anyway. Looking forward to it when they get solid state batteries going.

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