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Ford's Secret Mustang Pickup Emerges After Years Hidden
By @sharedot · · 6 pages
- Automotive
- Ford Mustang
- Concept Cars
Ford revealed a one-off S550 Mustang Ute built in secret by its EVB Metal Shop, ending years of hiding inside the Experimental Vehicles Building.
The Truckstang Ford Never Showed Anyone
Ford has quietly revealed a pickup truck based on the S550 Mustang, a one-off concept that spent years hidden inside the company's Experimental Vehicles Building. Matt Korczyk, Ford's U.S. Heritage Fleet manager, posted photos of the Mustang Ute to Instagram, marking the first time the creation has ever been seen outside Ford's walls. The car began life as an S550 fastback finished in Cyber Yellow before Ford's EVB Metal Shop transformed it into a ute with a pickup-style bed, according to The Supercar Blog. It has now joined the Ford Heritage Fleet as a Mustang unlike any other.
Why Ford Built a Mustang Truck in Secret
The surprise is that this was never a production study at all. According to CarBuzz, Korczyk explained on Instagram that the concept was built by the team in the Ford EVB Metal Shop as a way to train apprentices, giving them real-world, hands-on experience by building a concept car. The hard part of a concept is not the design work but turning sculpted ideas into actual steel, and the build took hundreds of hours to convert a stock Mustang into a truck. Korczyk calls it a reminder of how important skilled trades are to Ford, both training those skills and giving apprentices a stage to show them off.
Does the Mustang Actually Work as a Ute?
Design-wise, the conversion is a surprisingly clean fit. CarBuzz notes the cut of the roof sits almost perfectly, giving the car a baseball-cap look like the Mini Coupe, then sweeping in to meet the widest point of the Mustang's rear fenders. The signature three-lamp taillights do not leave much width for a tailgate, which CarBuzz calls the biggest obstacle to any production possibility, but the dead rear seats and tiny trunk of the coupe become genuinely useful bed space. CarBuzz also observes it is likely not a running car, pointing to the front wheel gap that suggests no engine sits up front.
What Comes Next for the Pony Car
Ford never planned the Ute for production, but it fuels a fun counterfactual as the brand tilts toward trucks. CarBuzz reports CEO Jim Farley, a self-declared huge Mustang fan, has made clear the car is not going away, though he would love to make it lighter, and that all Fords will have a hybrid option by 2030, including Mustang. Sedan rumors remain on-again, off-again, so CarBuzz expects some notable change to the Mustang within a few years. Meanwhile, The Supercar Blog hopes the Heritage Fleet team spends more time on the car, maybe even making it run.