If you are a BangShift.com forum dweller than you may be familiar with the posts of of Speedzzter. He’s always got interesting takes on the automotive world and is willing to engage in healthy debate on just about any subject. Add that to the fact that he’s way more literate than we regular editors and it came as a natural decision to let him loose on the blog. His first work is a killer Top 11 list of Special Edition Mustangs Ford Never Made. — Brian Lohnes

It’s becoming hard to keep track of all the “special edition” Mustangs, Camaros, and Challengers these days.  Many of us are already fatigued by all of this overpriced, store-bought, checkbook, BangShifting. But the insane money garnered by two “special edition” Mustangs at the 2009 Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas Auction may give a few enterprising BangShifters some second thoughts. 

One of Galpin Ford’s special “Lee Iacocca 45th  Anniversary Edition” Mustangs sold for a whopping $352,000.00 (including buyers commission). A Prudhomme Edition Shelby Super Snake attracted a gargantuan $302,500.00 at hammer time. For that kind of money, a BangShifter could buy a decent suburban house in many parts of the country.  Or clone the essential features of these two “special editions” many times over.

Some enterprising BangShifters are undoubtedly wondering how they too can join the “special edition” gold rush. Even with the market glut of “special editions,” there are still plenty of notable Mustangers who haven’t been lionized with their own “instantly-collectible” pony cars. 

Here’s the Top 11 “Special Edition” Mustangs that they’ve missed (in chronological order):

11) JOE OROS EDITION: The brilliant styling team led by Joe Oros defined the “pony car” with their elegant and daring “Cougar” entry in a 1962 Ford intramural design competition. The Oros design, sans the Cougar badging Oros favored, passed into production relatively unscathed.  

The JOE OROS EDITION Mustang should be rebadged as a “Cougar.” Other JOE OROS EDITION styling touches should include : (a) A smaller, more delicate “Gen I-style”  Mustang grille, (b) a Thunderbird-inspired notchback roof (even though Oros was an initial champion of the 2 2 fastback), (c) smaller three-bar tail lamps, and (d) shaving off the huge J Mays/SUV-era wheel arches. 

10) BUNKIE KNUDSEN EDITION: In less than two years at Ford, racing-crazed GM-ex Bunkie Knudsen left his mark with such legends as the Mach I, Boss 302, and Boss 429. Knudsen also receives almost exclusive blame for the 1971-1973 “Clydesdale” Mustangs. 

To be sure, Knudsen loved big, powerful, flashy cars. Thus the BUNKIE KNUDSEN EDITION Mustang should have an extended “loop” front bumper, longer rear quarters, and a competition-inspired, “wide body”. A NACA-ducted hood, labeled with Pontiac-sounding “Ram Air” badges, a near-horizontal rear window, and an EFI-equipped John Kaase “Boss Nine” engine should round out Knudsen’s “special edition.”

9) MICKEY THOMPSON EDITION: The “hot rodders’ hot rodder,” Mickey Thompson, followed Bunkie Knudsen over to Ford for some big-time “Total Performance” action, including an all-out assault on the F.I.A. record books with a couple of 1969 Mach Is at Bonneville.

Although Ford collector Brent Hajek and Ford Racing have already done a fair job honoring those legendary Mach Is with a modern Cobra Jet Mustang that’s fitted for chasing speed records, there’s room for a production MICKEY THOMPSON EDITION Mustang. It should have plenty of “M/T” badging (including “M/T” cast aluminum valve covers on a sizzlin’ Modular mill), 1969-style Mach I striping, a simple, old-school “Cobra Jet” hood scoop, and a serious roll cage.  

8) ANNA MUCCIOLI EDITION: Lee Iacocca’s “Little Cubic Zirconia”, the infamous 1974-78 Mustang II, is almost always pitched as a response to Anna Muccioli’s complaint at the 1968 Ford shareholders’ meeting. 

Muccioli griped that Ford had “blown up” the Mustang and wondered aloud why Ford couldn?’t leave cars small. In the Iacocca-nurtured backlash against Knudsenism, Muccioli’s “appliance motorist” musings resulted in the V8-less, Pinto-derived 1974 Mustang II. Muccioli was reportedly so impressed that Ford’s P.R. team arranged for her to trade in her old 1965 Mustang on a new Deuce.

Huge increases in Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements may force radical changes to America’s favorite Pony Car. Some Dearborn bean-counters and bureaucrats are likely already talking up the modern equivalent to the Mustang II, hence the ANNA MUCCIOLI EDITION. Resisting the cheap joke here (e.g. a Muccioli-badged pedal car Mustang or a Barbie-style toy Muccioli Mustang), a “Mustang” for latter-day “Anna Mucciolis” simply couldn’t be based on the current RWD platform. 

Rebadging a chopped-top Mexican Ford Fiesta, and adding a few vintage styling cliches such as a gaping Mustang II grille and fat tri-bar tail lamps, would translate the Anna Muccioli “small, sporty appliance motorist” idiom into the bland, government-controlled FWD four-cylinder world. Or you could just rebadge a Honda coupe . . .

(Either way, most Mustangers hope that the ANNA MUCCIOLI EDITION isn’t a Ford in our future)  

7) JOHN CLOR EDITION : John Clor is a long-time Ford P.R. guy, author, and adamant defender of the Mustang II. He’s a loyal soldier for the Blue Oval who seems to cheerfully pitch whatever Ford’s selling at the moment. But Clor has opined that blogs are “smog.”

So a blogger-designed JOHN CLOR EDITION Mustang would likely feature some of the “best parts” of Clor’s beloved Mustang II like the tiny 13-inch wheels, extended “railroad tie” bumpers, a massive air-grabbing grille, giant tail-lamps, and a wheezing four-cylinder engine. (How’s that for a “smogger,” John)

6) JIM WANGERS EDITION: Legendary ad man and erstwhile drag racer Jim Wangers is irreversibly linked with the great Pontiacs of the Knudsen/DeLorean era. And Wangers has already licensed his name to various “special edition” GTOs. 

One of the most infamous Mustangs of all time, the 1976-78 Mustang II Cobra II was a true all-show and no-go “sticker supercar” (especially when powered by the standard Pinto 2.3 liter four). It marked the depths of Mustang’s disco-era malaise. And it was conceived and built by Jim Wangers’ “Motortown” company.   

Thus, a JIM WANGERS EDITION Mustang would build off of the JOHN CLOR EDITION, adding giant billboard graphics (or perhaps a full body wrap) and massive spoilers, befitting a king of the put-ons.

5) JACK TELNACK EDITION: Ford Design boss Jack Telnack fought the corporate battles necessary to transform Ford’s legendary pony car from a flabby cartoon into a lean, mean, European-inspired fighting machine: the 1979-1993 “Fox-body” Mustang. Telnack also championed Ford’s aerodynamic revolution, which shaped the beloved 1987-93 “Aero Fox.”

One wonders whether a futurist like Telnack would really approve of current retro, aerodynamically-compromised ‘Stangs. Thus, a JACK TELNACK EDITION Mustang should bag tradition in favor of a sharp, wind-cheating aerodynamic nose, rectangular “aero” lights, and a return to less-cluttered body sides. It should also have an optional hatchback and an optional SVO-style “biplane” wing/spoiler.

4) MICHAEL KRANEFUSS EDITION: Ford “imported” Michael Kranefuss from Germany to fix Ford’s disastrous abandonment of racing during the 1970s. Kranefuss built Ford’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) into a credible factory racing and performance parts operation. One of SVO’s early aspirations was building production high-performance cars. Kranefuss had distinctly European ideas about that, which led to the misunderstood 1984-86 Mustang SVO. The lessons Ford learned from it led to Ford’s long, successful line of Special Vehicle Team performance cars.

A MICHAEL KRANEFUSS EDITION Mustang would again push the boundaries of what a Mustang should be. A DOHC EcoBoost four, fitted with Ethanol Boosting Systems’ revolutionary direct Ethanol injection, IRS, Recaro seats, and a sensible, Germanic “elephant grey” interior would be a modern day SVO, befitting a “Kranefuss” badge.

3) TOMMY KENDALL EDITION: Now, Tommy Kendall is a Speed TV host and broadcaster. But back in the 1990s, Kendall wheeled a Roush Racing Mustang Cobra to more victories in SCCA Trans-Am competition than many of the earlier Trans-Am racers already honored with “special edition” Mustangs. Although nostalgia over the wide-body silhouette-era of Trans-Am racing pales in comparison to the 1966-71 “stock car” era, Kendall’s achievements are worthy of some “special edition” love.

A TOMMY KENDALL EDITION Mustang would need to capture the radical zeitgeist of  a purpose-built, flared-fender racing car.   Nothing less than a huge “IMSA-style” wide-body and monstrous foot-wide wheels would do. A flashy paint job in “Mountain Dew” colors would also be de rigeur. And true to form, the driver’s seat would need to go back a few extra inches to accommodate lanky drivers of Kendall’s towering stature.

2) JOHN COLLETTI EDITION : One could argue that there have already been tens of thousands of John Colletti “special editions.” Colletti, the former iron-willed boss of SVT, famously cancelled an entire year of SVT Cobras because they failed to meet his demands. He marshaled the legendary supercharged “Terminator” Cobra through the byzantine Ford bureaucracy, and thereby created the ultimate regular production Fox-based Mustang. 

But you get the feeling that Colletti was never given free reign. We got a small hint of what John really wanted when Ford Special Vehicle Engineering swapped a “mountain motor” Boss 429 into a late model Mustang. Colletti’s Boss was for “one-upping” the BBCs of GM performance honcho Jon Moss on the show and magazine circuits.

Thus, a JOHN COLLETTI EDITION Mustang would feature a hulking, force-fed Kaase “Boss Nine” engine, fitted with both gasoline direct injection and Ethanol Bosting Systems’ direct ethanol injection. A Colletti-patented “Supercooler” would tie the air conditioning system into the “Boss Nine’s” charge air cooler, allowing for a quick shot of even colder, denser air and higher boost pressure. And in true Colletti fashion, the overdrive gear wouldn’t be so tall as to require any downshifts when you punched it at speed. 

1) BRIAN WOLFE EDITION: Perhaps it’s too soon to honor current Ford Racing chief Brian Wolfe with his own special edition. Besides, every Cobra Jet race car that Ford Racing builds is a tribute to Wolfe’s tenacity and vision. Wolfe has been active in the trenches of Ford performance for decades. For example, he was an important performance development engineer during the heyday of the 5.0 Mustang. 

Therefore a BRIAN WOLFE EDITION Mustang should be a stripped-down, street-legal version of the Cobra Jet race car, but in the “classic” 5.0 liter displacement.  Perhaps that DOHC 5.0 could be built from the wide-bore-center “Coyote” V8 .

BangShifting entrepreneurs, start your “special editions” . . . .