In Kissimmee, Fla., under the long shadow of Disney’s Magic Kingdom, we experience a sleight-of-hand that Mickey’s Fantasia wizard might approve of. What appears to be a bygone-era Ford Mustang, white stripes flashing on a blue body, roars like it’s 1968 again, scouring the street for Chevy Camaros to joust with in an impromptu pony-car clash.
This barrel-chested fastback certainly looks the part. It features a slender-rimmed teak steering wheel (recalling a Chris Craft helm), and a trusty Hurst shifter rising from the floor, roughly the length of a croquet mallet and topped with a white cue-ball knob. Yet none of this is “authentic," at least not by the carbon-dating standards of the traditional restoration world. This muscle car never saw the inside of the three factories that churned out nearly 790,000 examples of the original Mustang in 1967 and 1968 alone.
The hand-trimmed-leather interior includes analog gauges, lap seats, and a rear bench. E.C.D. Automotive Design
This car is built by Florida-based E.C.D. Automotive Design and comprises several thousand entirely new and customizable parts. At a starting price of $270,000, buyers can indulge their inner Steve McQueen with their own late-1960s-style Mustang tribute, available in fastback or convertible guise.
Founded over a case of beer by a trio of car-loving Brits in 2013, E.C.D. made its bones with lavishly remade Land Rover Defenders and, much more recently, Jaguar E-Types. Projects have included Landies converted to electric drive for clients such as former NFL quarterback Drew Brees. Fresh from a new listing on the NASDAQ, E.C.D. is widening that British Invasion to embrace Motown. To help do so, it has acquired Oklahoma-based Brand New Muscle Cars. The plan is to produce fantasy Mustangs, Corvettes, and other American classics at E.C.D.’s new, and sprawling, 100,000-square-foot facility.
From the article by Lawrence Ulrich
Pricing on these modern pony cars with bygone-era styling starts at $270,000. E.C.D. Automotive Design
