the story of how the “Shorty” Mustang was stolen, recovered, sold, and loved over 50 years



A one-off short-wheelbase Ford Mustang may not be the most desirable collectors’ item in the world, but for Bill Snyder of Hudson, Ohio, it’s been his pride and joy for the last 46 years.

In the early 1960s, Ford was experimenting with prototypes for the upcoming Mustang, which would become one of the most influential American cars of all time. They toyed with everything from long, futuristic grand-tourers to sporty, two-seat race cars, and everything in between. Created in 1964, the “Shorty” Ford Mustang was designed by Vince Gardner and built by Ford supplier Dearborn Steel Tubing for a travelling car show.

Only one running prototype of the “Shorty” was ever built, and largely resembled the Mustang that would find its way to production less than a year later, minus a few inches of wheelbase and two rear seats.

While most pre-production prototypes are sent to the crusher when their usefulness has dried up, Gardner decided that his “Shorty” was too special to deserve such a fate. So, he stashed it away in a nearby warehouse and convinced Ford that it had been stolen. Ford claimed an insurance payment on the missing ‘Stang, and the case was seemingly settled.

However, Gardner failed to pay rent on the warehouse space, and upon investigation the warehouse owner discovered the car and took possession of it as payment. “Shorty” was eventually sold to one of the warehouse company’s executives.

Having seen the pint-sized prototype at an auto show four years earlier and fallen in love at first sight, Snyder discovered the car up for sale in Hemming’s Motor News in 1968, and had to have it. “I contacted the seller and immediately sent a driver from my printing business to Connecticut to pick up the car,” said Snyder. “I’ve owned this one-of-a-kind Mustang for the last 46 years.”

Photos and story from http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/thief-enthusiast-one-of-a-kind-shorty-mustang-article-1.1885980 but the story was published in the Feb 2014 Auto Enthusiast magazine

Let me break the news, James Kryta has an incredible collection of Oldsmobiles, maybe the best well kept secret collection that the car magazines have published piece by piece, but never mentioned




The above photos I took at the Grand National Roadster Show 2014

And then I read the March 2014 Muscle Car review, and the name reminded me that I'd seen it before, with an Olds.



Above image from http://www.inlinetube.com/articles/70%20CUTLASS%20W-31%20MCE%2009.htm




Above images from http://www.wingsautoart.com/ and the story of the bottom car is at http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/1207_1972_oldsmobile_cutlass_w_30_442_lansing_legacy/

and you can find more by a simple google search

Thursday, July 31, 2014

the largest British car collection was just sold for 170 million dollars, from a dentist to Jaguar Special Operations dept


Some of the cars had belonged to John Lennon, Elton John, Winston Churchhill, William Lyons, etc list of celebs

130 of the 543 cars are Jaguars; C-Types, D-Types,  E-Types, XK120s, SS100s. There are thirty Mark saloons and twenty XJs. And an XKSS

There has never before been such a collection of British cars, and not likely to ever be another.

For a video interview 

There are also 356 pedal cars

Wow... amazing collection of steam locomotives on ?parade? and exhibition run? Thanks to Marcin in Poland for all the links and photos!




Picture found on https://www.facebook.com/voglerjm?fref=ufi

Marcin emailed me:
Sorry do not speak fluent English, so I use the google translator. always with great interest I follow your blog. Here you can find more about these parades

http://www.parowozy.pl/skansen/
and
http://www.dniwolsztyna.wolsztyn24.pl/parada_parowozow_48.html






http://www.parowozy.com.pl/parada2014.html


http://www.parowozy.com.pl/parada2013.html 





Skip the first 2 minutes and get right to the good stuff!

https://www.facebook.com/skansen.chabowka
http://www.parowozowniawolsztyn.pl
http://www.parowozycompl.fora.pl/parada-parowozow,4/

One place you can watch the locomotives is Chabówka



 greetings from Poland!

 Marcin Kozik