[ED Note: The Bishop, our daydreaming designer, regularly shares with us his wild ideas. From a reborn Mustang II to a tiny RV house, his ideas range from thoughtful and practical to outright loony.] Ford’s late sixties to mid seventies mid-sized entry (well, they CALLED it mid-sized) was quite popular and was available in some exciting versions. The sinister-looking 1969-71 GT coupes could be had with the Cobra Jet 428 and were arguably quite underrated latter day muscle cars at the time. This design was apparently approved by then-Ford President Lee Iacocca after one viewing and was one of the favorite cars of his career:
sources: Performance Ford and Muscle Car Sales I mean, even the crappiest, most Malaise of the Torinos had cool cred that it really didn’t deserve:
source: Fast Toy Club Manufacturers are trying to scrounge up ANY name these days to lend credibility to a new car, so why not use the Torino moniker? But where? I have an alternate reality in mind. The whole Mach E controversy of A-Mustang-Can’t-Be-A-Four-Door is a horse that’s been beaten to death, but I am going to grab a crowbar and respectfully beat it some more.
While I am not exactly going to set myself on fire in the Dearborn headquarters in protest, I do have to fall into the camp of it being a Bad Idea. My first ride in a car as a two-day old infant was supposedly in our old 1965 289-powered Mustang convertible, so I should have SOME respect for this car. I mean, even Iacocca seemed to nix this four door concept at the beginning, and he would famously sell ANYTHING he could make a buck on:
source: Ford Authority It’s just too confusing to have a still-being-produced icon named after a new electric car. Plus, the Mach-E should really be its own line of cars like the Prius–but this would be a Prius with teeth. It’s undeniably a good car; the fit and finish alone on this thing at the price point should tell any new EV startups to just give up and make electric… I dunno… something else. Well, here at the office I always say go ahead and criticize if you can offer a solution, and I’m doing that here. Let’s remove the simulated Mustang trim on the Mach-E and add something different. Presenting the Torino GT:
sources: Car Buyer Labs and The Bishop It’s funny how the evil full width black grille of the old GT fits perfectly onto the Mach E body, and it’s even better since it doesn’t have to be a grille at all with no radiator. No headlight doors needed in 2021. Light the whole thing up, baby! Obviously, the projector lights are carefully blended in at the edges and the rest is just for looks. Get this in a Tesla’s rear view mirror:
Honeycomb taillights in back like the old GT? I mean, it’s perfect.
sources: US News , Volo Cars, and The Bishop Also, do not forget that back in the day the Torino was a full line of cars:
sources: Pinterest, Pinterest, Mecum and Mecum; Coupes, wagon, even the Ranchero pickup, so as a name it would perfectly suit a complete line of Ford’s EV cars. Next models could include: -A Santa Cruz-style Ranchero -A notchback ‘wagon’ body akin to a Prius V, the XTRA. -An actual coupe, with available graphics package so that Huggy Bear can see you coming.
sources: Diehl Auto , Ford, and The Bishop This alternate reality would bring a great, versatile name back to life and not further shit on the ICE Mustang legacy. Remember the 1982 Cougar station wagon? Or those four-door Thunderbirds? Yeah, let’s not do that again. At least to a layman, these seem to be the places where good design really makes a vehicle stand out these days, given how fast the tech has evolved. On the highway at night the other week, I saw my first Rivian in my rear view. It was immediately clear to me what it was, as the lighting is like nothing else out there. P.S. I’d liked Galaxie/Galaxy myself, complete with redesigned round taillights…but this has won me over to Team Torino. I loved the Torino back in the day, especially the Ranchero. I also know someone who still has a ’72 GT he got new – that’s a love affair. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=starsky+and+jutch+theme&qpvt=starsky+and+jutch+theme&view=detail&mid=7E4847990ECC26EAF69B7E4847990ECC26EAF69B&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dstarsky%2520and%2520jutch%2520theme%26qpvt%3Dstarsky%2520and%2520jutch%2520theme%26FORM%3DVDVVXX This is coming from a member of the Mustang faithful so take it as you will, but my biggest problem with calling it a Mustang is that Ford should have believed in it enough as its own cool thing. It’s a great vehicle that proves EVs can be for everyone (just like the Lightning does) not just the rich. If Ford had given it a unique name, like say the Amp (b/c that’s the part of electricity that kills you, maybe), 30 years from now we’d be on Autopian-verse-gamma or whatever talking about the Amp as Ford’s model T of the 21st century instead of arguing about if it’s a proper Mustang. As for your design, I like the idea of the lights through the grill. But that’s where it ends on the front. I think it is grinning too much and I am really aggravated by the hood scoop. Plus it looks like it has multiple chins. I think the real light treatment is better and I like having a variety of body styles. Naming the Mach-E as a Torino would work. I’ll always have soft spot for that name. However, Ford used Mustang in order to get press coverage. Torino would never have done that. Didn’t The Dude own a beat-to-shit later one as well? As for the Maverick, they probably held a focus group and asked, “How many of you remember the Ford Maverick?” One person raises their hand. “How many think ‘Maverick’ sounds tough and outdoorsy?” Everyone raises their hands. “Maverick it is! Yeehaw!” On another note, having seen the Mach-E in person now a few times, I’m surprised at what an ugly vehicle it is. It doesn’t look so bad in pictures, but in real space, it’s just a lumpy mess. The GT and Xtra look better, but I think it would HAVE to be a coupe to start as a retro nod. The Starsky and Hutch Limted Edition should go like hell (so max engine or EV output) but otherwise, keep it simple and retro with less screen and infotainment chicanery. “…not further shit on the ICE Mustang legacy.” I was on this train when I first heard about an EV CUV Mustang, but it’s hard to care now. The Mustang’s legacy isn’t that it was powered by an ICE. Everything was until it wasn’t. The legacy of the Mustang is the concept of the pony car and with its good price/performance/livability ratio. Honestly, a CUV Mustang still offends me a little, but the EV part couldn’t matter any less. And then at that point, the arguments are going to begin all over again… “I love these new electric Mustangs.” “Wait, which one do you have?” “A Mach-E!” “That’s not an EV Mustang….this is!” You justify the CUV by deciding that you need one vehicle that can do it all rather than a pair of vehicles, but then you limit the range by making it a battery EV instead of a plugin hybrid? More so than normal CUVs, The MachE is proof that most people are driven by how they want to look rather than by objectivity. What would have happened if they made it a Torino? It’d be like now, but they’d have run out of blue ovals faster. Now having said that, calling it a Torino or even giving it the Thunderbird name would have been better. Sometimes I think Ford’s marketing people have no idea of what they’re doing and have no concept of Ford’s history (let alone Lincoln’s) and what the various model names stand for in the eyes of Ford vehicle buyers/users.
