Mysterious Mustero may be a brumby

ANYONE seen a Ford Mustero of late?

There might still be one or two of the rare utes somewhere in Australia.

Yes, the Mustero is actually a Mustang ute, or pick-up truck.

When Ford’s Mustang launched in the mid-1960s, the two-door ‘pony’ car could be had in coupe, convertible or fastback form, and they all sold like the proverbial hotcakes.

But Ford’s enterprising dealership in Southern California added a Lew Bandt touch, producing a Mustang ute called the Mustero.

The name was an amalgamation of Mustang and Ranchero, a small pickup Ford was building at the time.

Beverly Hills Ford got the blessing of the Detroit company to market their creation.

It modified the Mustang’s roof, moving it a little forward to create space for a strong fibreglass bed in lieu of the back seats and boot.

The side windows were re-styled and the rear quarter panels were modified.  

A neat tonneau cover completed the picture and the finished product remained very much like the original.

While it certainly was a very attractive pickup, it came at a price.

The dealer price of a Mustero conversion was US $6500, compared to rival Chevrolet’s upgraded El Camino at half the price.

Mustero could be bought with Ford’s 289 cu in V8, as used in the Shelby Cobra and 1965-67 Shelby Mustang GT350, but its output of 271hp was still over 100hp less than the factory El Camino. 

The Chevy was also more practical in that it had a proper box frame and larger cargo bed.

Alternatively, you could buy an upmarket Lincoln Continental convertible for $6300.

Unsurprisingly, Mustero sales were slow and Beverly Hills Ford offered the conversion for only a year.

Their records showed they produced only 50 Musteros, with 40 shipped to dealerships in overseas markets.

Australia, already famous for its utes, thanks to Lew Bandt’s efforts in 1933, would likely have been one of those markets.

The Mustero has since become sought after by collectors, but an unknown number of Mustang owners, inspired by the Beverly Hills product, carried out their own conversions — so it’s become difficult to distinguish true Musteros from copycat creations.

Because of their rarity, the few remaining in the US are fetching considerable prices.

Collector car auctioneers Mecum say only four (real ones) are known to exist in the US.

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In 2021, they offered one, said to be the last one built and estimated the ‘barn find’ would fetch US $75,000-$85,000. 

It was a very rough one, fitted with a later 302 engine, but sans transmission.

It was found on the banks of a creek in West Virginia, so it was more of a creek than a barn find. 

Yet, it was withdrawn after bids ground to a halt at $55,000.

In 2017, an immaculate example showed up on eBay with a “Buy It Now” price of $100,000 – that’s $149,000 in our money.

A somewhat cheaper alternative for Ford fanatics was a 1/43 scale diecast model of it by IXO, priced at US $150.

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