1968 Mercury Cougar on 2040-cars

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The 1965 Ford Mustang could have looked a lot different

The 1965 Ford Mustang is unquestionably an automotive design icon, and nearly every generation of Mustang has some connection to that original car. Because it's such a universally-known vehicle, we were amazed to see all the different designs that were being considered. Head of Ford's archives Ted Ryan recently shared photos of design proposals for the original Mustang on Twitter that he and Jamie Myler found, and we reached out to them to find out more. As Ryan initially noted, the photos were taken on August 19, 1962, and they are proposals for the Ford Mustang. Apparently Ford had committed to doing a Falcon-based youth-oriented car at this point, and it did have plans to launch the car in 1964 for the 1965 model year. But after having little success with early design proposals, the company asked all of its design studios — the Advanced Studio, Lincoln-Mercury Studio and Ford Studio — to submit proposals. With only about two years before the planned launch, Ford was understandably short on time, and it's believed that the studios only had a month to create and present these designs. Lincoln-Mercury design proposal View 8 Photos The majority of the designs, a total of five, came from the Advanced Studio, and part of this was because they already had a couple of concept designs in reserve it could present. Two other models representing three design possibilities came from Lincoln-Mercury, and just one model with two options came from Ford. The Advanced Studio proposals are shown in the gallery at the very top of this article, and the Lincoln-Mercury and Ford proposals are in the gallery directly above this paragraph. The Advanced Studio's most radical design is the one that was clearly related to the Mustang I concept that would be shown later that year with huge wraparound rear glass, turbine-inspired bumpers and enormous side scoops. The other proposals from the studio were more conservative, featuring simple lines, grilles reminiscent of the Falcon, and one even borrowing the jet-thruster-style taillights made famous on the Thunderbird. Lincoln-Mercury had some impressively bold designs, particularly its fastback that had buttresses to extend the shape all the way to the tail. This car had two different side trim possibilities. The other Lincoln-Mercury design was toned down a bit, but had two interesting possibilities for side detailing, as well as some crisp, low-profile tail fins.

Question of the Day: Most degraded car name?

When Ford came up with a not-so-sporty version of the Pinto and slapped Mustang badges on it in 1974, that was a low point for the Mustang name. When Chrysler applied the venerable Town & Country name on perfectly functional but unglamorous minivans, it saddened many of us. But perhaps the biggest demotion for a once-proud model came when, in 1988, General Motors imported a misery-enhancing Daewoo from Korea and called it the Pontiac LeMans. The original Pontiac LeMans was a great-looking midsize car with fairly advanced (for the time) suspension design and engine options including potent V8s and a screaming overhead-cam straight-six. The Daewoo-based Pontiac LeMans was a cramped, shoddy hooptie that served only to ruin the LeMans name forever, while stealing sales from the Suzuki-based Chevrolet Sprint. Sure, using the once-respected Monterey name on the Mercurized Ford Freestar was bad, but Mercury didn't have long to live at that point. I say the downward spiral of the LeMans name was the most agonizing in automotive history. What do you think? Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Auto News Ford Mercury Pontiac Automotive History Classics questions ford pinto names

The AM37 is literally the Aston Martin of boats

While sports car companies such as Porsche and Lamborghini are looking to SUVs to expand their offerings, Aston Martin has taken a page from Mercedes and designed a boat. Specifically, it's a 37-foot powerboat appropriately named the AM37. The boat was developed with help from Mulder Design and Quintessence Yachts, and is available in two different versions, both of which should the aquatic equivalent of Aston Martin performance. The standard AM37 is available with two different pairs of engines from Mercury, either 370-horsepower diesel engines or 450-horsepower gas engines. If that's not enough, Aston also offers the AM37S, which comes with a pair of 520-horsepower gasoline Mercury engines. Like road-going Astons, this boat is absolutely gorgeous. The lines are simple, crisp and clean. It features a beautiful wood deck, and an impressive double-curved, single-piece glass windshield. And if you get tired of the sun, the AM37 features a powered, carbon fiber bimini top. The interior completes the package with a carbon fiber dashboard, lots of leather and polished steering wheel, throttle and joystick. It's also incredibly well-equipped with seating for eight, air conditioning, mood lighting, refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, a bed that folds out from the table, and even a bathroom. Aston Martin didn't release pricing or availability for the AM37. However, we suspect that if you really want this boat and have the means, pricing doesn't matter, and you're probably willing to wait. Related Video: Image Credit: Aston Martin Auto News Aston Martin Mercury Luxury boat